This Pinwheel Cookie recipe makes a pretty cookie for Valentine's Day, but can also be used for a pink birthday party or baby shower! The delicious sugar cookie dough colors can be changed up for a boy's party or even your team colors.
Jump to:
Why We Love These Cookies
Easy - what could be easier than pre-made cookie dough? (Have a really killer simple sugar cookie dough recipe? Have at it!)
Fun - can you imagine showing up at a party with pinwheel cookies in tow? You'll be the rockstar guest for sure!
For another fun treat, check out how to make chocolate covered OREOs and this entire list of easy to make Valentine's Day cookies or this list of Valentine's Day desserts.
What You Need to Make these Cookies
You'll need just four ingredients for these adorable cookies.
Ready-made sugar cookie dough - makes this pinwheel cookie recipe super easy!
Red, pink and white nonpareils sprinkles
Red liquid food dye - we used McCormick liquid dye.
All purpose flour
Scroll down to the recipe card for full instructions.
How to Make this Recipe
Remove the cookie dough logs from the refrigerator, letting it come to room temperature.
Once they are softened, place one of the rolls of cookie dough in a large bowl. Add a half teaspoon of red food coloring to the cookie dough.
Use an electric mixer on low speed to mix the color thoroughly. You can adjust the color by adding more dye until you have the color you want.
You'll need two pieces of parchment paper as long as the long side of dough.
Lay out the first piece and place a roll of cookie dough on top. Sprinkle the dough lightly with flour so the dough doesn't stick.
Cover the dough with another piece of parchment and roll the dough until it's around a half inch thick.
Repeat this process with the red cookie dough.
Peel back the top layer of parchment paper on both logs of rolled cookie dough.
Place the plain rolled out log on top of the pink dough. Start rolling up at one end, using the parchment paper to guide the dough as you roll the dough.
Refrigerate the roll of dough for about 30 minutes so it's easier to work with in the next step.
Using a large baking sheet with an edge or a jelly roll pan, spread the nonpareils sprinkles out as evenly as possible.
Place the cookie dough on the baking sheet and roll dough over the sprinkles, covering the outside of the dough.
Wrap the dough in parchment, wax paper, or plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours or overnight. We found plastic wrap to be easiest for holding the sprinkles in place.
Just before removing the cookie dough from the fridge, preheat the oven to 350º.
Using a sharp knife, slice the roll of cookie dough into ¼ inches slices.
Place the pinwheel cookies about two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake cookies for about 12 minutes or until the edges/cookies are light golden brown. If you touch the cookie in the center, it should not leave an imprint. If it does, they need another minute or two.
Once you've taken them out of the oven, let the baked cookies cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before moving to a wire rack. Cool at least a bit more before serving.
Show off your easy pinwheel cookies on a pretty platter!
Frequently Asked Questions
If you don't want to use sprinkles, you could color the outside with colored sanding sugar.
The easiest way is to make your own natural dye. You will have to experiment a little just as you would with any dye to get the color to the perfect hue. You could also use crushed nuts or chopped dried cranberries instead of sprinkles.
These cookies will keep for 4-5 days after baking. If you want to freeze the pinwheel cookies, it's best to freeze them individually at first, for an hour or so. Then you can combine them into a smaller airtight container and store in freezer for up to 12 months.
Top Tips
Don't skip letting the dough chill or you may end up with cookies that spread too much and have a distorted pinwheel design.
If you want to make these cookies a couple of days in advance, you can actually prepare the dough as directed but don't add sprinkles yet. Keeping the dough in the refrigerator longer than a 2-3 days may cause the dye to spread ruining the pinwheel affect.
Store dough in the refrigerator where it will keep for 2-3 days. Unwrap the log of dough and roll it in sprinkles, slice, and bake as instructed.
You can freeze the cookie dough after you've added the sprinkles. Simply place the wrapped roll in a freezer bag. Cut the roll in half if it doesn't fit. The dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw the dough overnight before making the cookies.
If this makes a lot of cookies for your family, you could also freeze half of the dough and make a half batch. I love having cookies in the freezer for last minute warm cookies and milk!
Variations
As mentioned above, it's easy to change up these cookies to so many different variations!
- Change the colors of the dough to make them perfect for a baby shower, game day, or a holiday!
- Green dough for St. Patrick's Day would be fun!
- Make Christmas pinwheel cookies with green and red dough, fun for the holiday season and so pretty on a Christmas cookie tray.
- Add chocolate chips to one of the dough rolls to make vanilla and chocolate swirl cookies.
- Buy a roll of chocolate dough and simply combine them following the directions above. How easy is that? You could even dip the edges in melted chocolate after baking.
More Delicious Desserts
Like our content? Follow us on Pinterest!
Pinwheel Cookies
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
- 2 rolls ready-made sugar cookie dough divided
- 1 cup sprinkles of your choice red, pink and white nonpareils used
- Red liquid food dye
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator, letting it come to room temperature.
- Once it's softened, place one of the rolls of cookie dough in a large mixing bowl.
- Add a half teaspoon of red food dye to the cookie dough.
- Use a hand mixer to mix the color thoroughly. You can adjust the color by adding more dye until you have the color you want.
- Lay out a piece of parchment paper and place a roll of cookie dough on top. Sprinkle the dough lightly with flour so the dough doesn't stick. Cover the dough with another piece of parchment and roll the dough until it's around a half inch thick.
- Repeat the same process with the red cookie dough.
- Peel back the top piece of parchment paper on both logs of rolled cookie dough. Place the plain log on top of the pink dough. Start at one end, using the parchment paper to guide the dough as you roll it.
- Refrigerate the roll of dough for about 30 minutes so it's easier to work with in the next step.
- Using a large baking sheet with an edge, spread the sprinkles out as evenly as possible.
- Place the cookie dough on the baking sheet and roll it over the sprinkles, covering the outside of the dough.
- Wrap the dough in parchment or plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours or overnight.
- Just before removing the cookie dough from the fridge, preheat the oven to 350º.
- Slice the roll of cookie dough into ¼ inches slices.
- Place the pinwheel cookies about two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes or until the edges/cookies are light golden brown. If you touch the cookie in the center, it should not leave an imprint. If it does, they need another minute or two.
- Once you've taken the cookies out of the oven, let them cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before moving to a wire rack.
- Fully cool on a wire rack.
Share your Thoughts!