Mary Ann's Blog
Twelve Days of Baking: Peppermint Pinwheels
December 2, 2011
Day 10: Santa’s Peppermint Pinwheels
My children always left these festive looking peppermint cookies for Santa. Somehow they reasoned that this was his favorite so I make them every year and even as adults, my children still love them. You will too. For best results, chill the dough for an hour or so before rolling.
Santa’s Peppermint Pinwheels
Makes about 3 dozen
1 cup unsalted butter,softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon peppermint extract
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
6 drops red food coloring
6 drops green food coloring
In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the egg and extract.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together then beat into the butter mixture. The mixture will be thick.
Divide the dough in half and add the red food coloring to one half of the dough and beat well to blend.
Add the green food coloring to the second half of dough and blend well.
Wrap each dough separately in wax paper and refrigerate 1 hour.
Roll each dough out between floured sheets of parchment paper into a 12 inch square.
Place the red dough on top of the green and trim the edges to fit. Starting at one end, roll the doughs up on themselves to form a tight log. Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Unwrap the log and with a sharp knife cut crosswise into ¼-inch thick slices. Place the slices, spacing them about ½ inch apart on parchment lined or lightly greased baking sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are set and just starting to brown at the edges.
Remove from oven and transfer cookies to a cooling rack.
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