Baking and the holidays go hand in hand. Even if you never soften a stick of butter, measure a cup of flour or pull out your mixer the rest of the year, come December, the pressure to turn out batch after batch of home baked treats is REAL.
But what if you aren’t comfortable baking? What if you simply don’t have the time to make cakes/cookies/pies from scratch? What if you have a house full of little ones who insist on “helping”?
And what if all of the above applies to you? We’ve got you. Because all you need to turn out these charming, holiday-ready swirled cookies is a tube of sugar cookie dough!
We’ve jazzed up a simple tube of refrigerated cookie dough to create pinwheel cookies that require no mixer, no fancy tools and no special techniques.
Best of all? Because this is a no-mess, no-fuss recipe, it’s also perfect for even the littlest hands to assist!
View this post on Instagram
Hanukkah Spiral Cookies
Ingredients:
1 tube refrigerated sugar cookie dough
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
Blue food coloring
Blue sanding sugar (optional)
Directions:
Cut the dough in half and set one half aside.
Break the halved dough into pieces and place in a medium bowl, along with 2 tablespoons of the flour. Knead the flour into the dough until it is completely incorporated.
Roll the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper, into a rectangle of about 10” x 6” (don’t worry if the sides are not perfectly straight at this point).
Slide the dough, still between the parchment sheets, onto a baking sheet.
Break the other half of the dough into the bowl with the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. Add blue food coloring and use your hands to work the ingredients together until they are completely incorporated, adding more food coloring if needed until the desired shade is achieved. Roll out the dough as above, stack it onto the first sheet of dough and refrigerate for one hour.
Place the blue dough onto a work surface and peel off the top sheet of parchment paper.
Peel off the top sheet of paper from the plain dough and invert it over the blue dough.
Peel off the top sheet of parchment.
Use your rolling pin to lightly roll over the dough; this will help the 2 sheets to bond. Trim the edges so that you have a rectangle, and rotate the dough so that one of the long sides is facing you.
Gently begin rolling the dough into a tight spiral (you can use the bottom sheet of parchment to assist if needed). If using the sanding sugar, sprinkle a generous layer onto a baking sheet and roll the dough in it to coat.
Wrap the log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees; line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Slice the log into slices 1/4” – 1/2” thick and place on the 2 baking sheets.
Bake for 8 – 10 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Notes:
1. If you have an electric mixer (either stand or hand), this makes quick work of incorporating the ingredients.
2. Rubber gloves will prevent staining if mixing by hand.
3. Cooled cookies can be frozen for up to 2 months.
4. Sprinkles and non-pareils can be substituted for the sanding sugar.
5. Gel food coloring results in the most vibrant color but regular liquid food
coloring can be used as well.
