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Patriotic pinwheel cookies are the perfect red, white and blue dessert for your holiday celebrations. These pinwheel cookies feature layered sugar cookie dough that is rolled with parchment paper, chilled and sliced before baking. If you want beautiful 4th of July cookies that are easy to transport and serve, try this soft pinwheel cookie recipe!

Patriotic Pinwheel Cookies

Patriotic pinwheel cookies are the perfect red, white and blue dessert for your holiday celebrations. These pinwheel cookies feature layered sugar cookie dough that is rolled with parchment paper, chilled and sliced before baking. If you want beautiful 4th of July cookies that are easy to transport and serve, try this soft pinwheel cookie recipe!

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Chill time 1 hour
Servings 20
Author Michelle Medlin for ohmysugarhigh.com

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter room temp (1 stick)
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • red food coloring
  • royal blue food coloring

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Add the vanilla and beat again.

  4. Add the flour and mix just until combined.

  5. Remove the dough and separate it into three equal sections.

  6. Shape one piece of the dough into approximately a 4x2 rectangle (does not have to be exact), wrap it securely in wax paper and place it in the fridge. (This will be the white portion of the cookies.)

  7. Add other two portions of dough to two separate bowls. Color one dough portion red and mix until it's incorporated. Color the other dough portion blue, mixing again until it's incorporated. Add enough dye to get the colors that you want.
  8. Form both red and blue dough into separate rectangles between wax paper as in step Refrigerate all dough for 30 minutes.
  9. Place the red dough in between two pieces of wax paper and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8-inch thick. Repeat separately for white and blue dough.

  10. Peel the top layer of wax paper off of the red dough and then peel the wax paper off one side of the white dough and use the other side to transfer the white dough on top of the red dough. Peel off the wax paper from one side of the blue dough and use the other side to transfer it atop the white dough. Very lightly roll the three layers together. Trim all sides to remove excess dough.

  11. Starting at the shorter end of the rectangle, roll the dough as tightly as possible into a log. Wrap the log in wax paper. Stand the roll up in a glass to prevent the cookies from getting a flat side. Place in the fridge to for 4 hours or freezer for 30 minutes.

  12. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350ºF and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

  13. Remove the dough from the fridge and slice each log into 1/4-inch rounds. Place the rounds about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets, as the cookies will expand when baked. You may need to do more than 2 batches.

  14. Bake the cookies for 9 to 11 minutes until pale golden. Let sit on tray for 3-4 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Recipe Notes

Makes 18-24 cookies, depending up thickness of cookies slices.