I've been thinking about pinwheel cookies ever since I saw the cookies on a stick from
Carolyn at Occasional Cookies on
The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle. Carolyn's cookies are fabulous. They are like a special glammed up sparkly version of cookies my mother makes every year at Christmas. The secret benefit to my mother's cookies however is that they require much, much less effort.
(Or so it seems. Because, to be honest, I haven't tried making Carolyn's beautiful cookies. I'm impatient. And my children would eat all the beautifully colored ropes of cookie dough before they were ever wound into the oh-so-impressive looking Lollypop Cookie. And then I would cry. And they would cry. And we would all be eating macaroni and cheese for dinner. And crying. And my husband would walk in the door and stare at all of us, and maybe wish he had some extra work he forgot about that he needed to go back to work and take care of. So... you know...I had to find an easier way.)
So I made pinwheel cookies. On a stick. Super easy. Make a batch of your favorite chocolate cookie dough.
Or use mine. And before you add the flour, drop in some black food coloring. And then make a batch of your favorite vanilla cookie dough and add orange food coloring right before the flour. If you want, you can totally add some orange extract in there as well. But that's your call. I'm not here to tell you what to do.
Chill the dough. Even if you never chill dough. You want it to be real, real stiff. Then roll each dough out into its own rectangle. My mom rolls the dough out onto floured kitchen towels. I don't. It's okay though, we've worked through our differences, and I'm pretty sure my mother still loves me anyway. I have to tell you what I use though, because I think it might change your world. Well, maybe. Just a little bit. I use VINYL. Yep, clear vinyl that I purchased in the fabric department of a big box store back ever so long ago when I lived in a land that had big box stores. It was the best $2.37 I EVER spent. (I also use it for fondant cakes and pie crusts and ...you know....stuff.)
Okay, so you have your two different colors of dough rolled out into their two different rectangles on their two different floured dish towels (or pieces of vinyl.) Take the edges of one towel/vinyl and just flip the orange on top of the black. OR the other way around. I really don't care. And I promise not to tell my mom.
Then you are going to roll it all up together. Starting with one of the long sides of the rectangle, lift the edges of the towel and gently help the dough start rolling onto itself. Keep lifting the towel and the dough will just roll itself right up.
I didn't actually take a picture of this part....but it's not too complicated. Cut the dough roll into two pieces and wrap them each in clear plastic wrap. I only cut it in half because I have a little freezer, and because it's easier to carry that way. Then freeze the dough over night. Or for a couple of weeks. Whatever works for you.
When you are finally ready to bake your cookies, take your rolls out of the freezer and immediately start cutting off 1/2" chunks of dough and put them on a greased baking sheet. Yes, you can make them thinner. But I like them thick and puffy. And you want the dough to still be kind of frozen so that it stays rounded when you cut it, instead of all squishing down to the bottom and making some kind of weird ovalish NOT cute cookie.
You can leave them just as they are, or insert some sucker sticks before baking. (PS -- Do you SEE this tiny baking sheet? This is what fits in my little Korean oven.)
And then, you know...bake them. I baked mine at 350F for 15 minutes. You can leave them as they are, or wrap them up with plastic wrap and ribbons so they look like giant, oversize candies. Or...you could just eat them. Right away. And not tell anyone.
