Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies
A delicious pinwheel sugar cookie recipe perfect for Christmas, these little Peppermint Pinwheel Sugar Cookies are incredibly easy to make and require no decorating!
Christmas Pinwheel Cookies Recipe
Pinwheel sugar cookies are one of those classic desserts that look super intimidating and tricky to make – but honestly couldn’t be easier!
To make these Christmas pinwheel cookies, you simply:
- Prepare your sugar cookie dough
- Divide in half and dye one half red
- Roll out the two doughs into flat rectangles
- Lay the red dough on top of the plain dough
- Roll the two doughs into a log form
- Refrigerate
- Slice the log into cookies
- Bake
That’s it! They really are that simple – and you can customize your colors and flavors to any occasion or preference. Red and green? Almond flavored? Pink and purple? You can even roll the edges in sprinkles for an added flourish.
These peppermint pinwheel cookies have a light vanilla-peppermint flavor that isn’t too overpowering and serves to enhances the sweet flavor of these melt-in-your-mouth cookies.
If you want to add a delicious twist and make these peppermint pinwheel cookies glossy, you can dip them in a sugar cookie glaze.
To make a sugar cookie glaze, combine:
- 1 cup powdered icing sugar
- 1-2 Tablespoons warm water
- 1 Tablespoon butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
Dip the cooled sugar cookies in the glaze and then place on a cooling rack set over a cookie sheet to allow the excess glaze to drip off. Allow glaze to harden before storing or serving.
Can this cookie dough be frozen? The unbaked dough or the baked cookies can be frozen for up to a month. Some people may say that the cookie dough can be frozen for up to three months, but you will see a quality loss around the 2 month mark.
Peppermint Pinwheel Cookie Ingredients
- Unsalted butter, room temperature
- White Sugar
- Large Egg, room temperature
- Vanilla Extract
- Peppermint Extract
- All-purpose Flour, plus more for rolling
- Baking Powder
- Cream of Tartar <– I buy the big container or from a bulk store as those little jars are so expensive! You can also use to make snickerdoodle cookies or homemade play dough!
- Salt
- Red food coloring <– this set of food coloring has lasted me forever and I love that it creates highly saturated colors with just a drop
Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.
Tip: do not exceed the recommended 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract or these cookies will end up tasting like toothpaste!
Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Mixing bowl
- Electric mixer <– this is a great hand mixer if you don’t want to make the investment into a stand mixer
- Cutting board
- Rolling pin
- Sharp kitchen knife
- Parchment Paper
- Cookie Sheets
- Cooling racks <– I have and love these tiered cooling racks, they save so much counter space and are also oven-safe
- Small bowls
How to Make Pinwheel Sugar Cookies
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Beat in the egg, vanilla extract and optional peppermint extract until combined.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt.
Beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
Divide dough in half and dye half red with the food dye.
On a clean, floured surface, roll each dough out into a rectangle approximately 1/4” thick, and then layer the red dough on top of the undyed dough.
Roll the doughs up in a log form and then wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate one hour.
Preheat oven to 350F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Remove the dough from the fridge and cut the cookies in 1/4” thick circles. (Discard the uneven ends.)
Place the cut cookies on the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 8-12 minutes, until just slightly golden.
Pin this Christmas Pinwheel Sugar Cookie recipe for your holiday baking:
Grab your free printable for our peppermint pinwheel cookie recipe:
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Sugar, Spice and Glitter.
Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies
These peppermint pinwheel cookies are super easy to make and have a light peppermint-vanilla flavor that just melts-in-your-mouth.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract, optional
- 2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Red food coloring
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Beat in the egg, vanilla extract and optional peppermint extract until combined.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt.
- Beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
- Divide dough in half and dye half red with the food dye.
- On a clean, floured surface, roll each dough out into a rectangle approximately 1/4” thick, and then layer the red dough on top of the undyed dough.
- Roll the doughs up in a log form and then wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate one hour.
- Preheat oven to 350F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and cut the cookies in 1/4” thick circles. (Discard the uneven ends.)
- Place the cut cookies on the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 8-12 minutes, until just slightly golden.
Notes
Tip: do not exceed the recommended 1/2 teaspoon for the peppermint extract or these cookies will end up tasting like toothpaste.
Make the red dough slightly more pigmented than you want the red layer of your baked cookies to be, as the baked cookies will be less pigmented than the dough (as you can see in our pictures).
If you want to add a sugar cooke glaze to these cookies, simply combine:
- 1 cup powdered icing sugar
- 1-2 Tablespoons warm water
- 1 Tablespoon butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
Dip the cooled sugar cookies in the glaze and then place on a cooling rack set over a cookie sheet to allow the excess glaze to drip off. Allow glaze to harden before storing or serving.
Can this cookie dough be frozen? The unbaked dough or the baked cookies can be frozen for up to a month. Some people may say that the cookie dough can be frozen for up to three months, but you will see a quality loss around the 2 month mark.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
36Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 59Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 15mgSodium: 39mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 0gSugar: 4gProtein: 0g
Sugar, Spice and Glitter uses an auto-generate nutrition calculator. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate unless analyzed in a scientific lab, so these should be considered more of a guideline than medical information.
I hope your family (or whoever you treat with these delicious peppermint cookies) loves them as much as my friends did!
More Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipes
