Pinwheel Cookies in a Different Way

Healthy version recipe using Whole grain flour

I wasn’t aware of Pinwheel cookies, whirls, swirls; however, you address them until lately. When my 5-year-old daughter showed a picture and asked about me, “Mommy, What are those? These cookies look so yummy”.

I found the recipe in my daughter’s monthly parental booklet from school, It’s one of the activities for kids to try out, and for obvious reasons, they got it into a healthy version of it.

Perhaps due to lack of popularity in Singapore, these cookies don’t look familiar, and I have not found them around here in bakeries too. I find out that these cookies originate from New Zealand while some say they are Germans.

From the look of it, I imagined they were hard to make, but it turns out they are not but require time, especially time needs to rest the dough. Cookies will turn out chewy the more the dough sits.

Even so, I thought to give it a try with some slight variations in the ingredients, but still, try to stick with the healthy version of it. In the coming days, I will share with you the original Pinwheel cookies, once after I have attempted them.

Ingredients for 16–18 pieces

Preparation Time: 3 hours & Cooking Time: 12 Minutes

1 + 1/4 cup (160g) unbleached All-purpose flour

1/4 cup (40g) Whole grain flour ( I used whole wheat flour)

8 tablespoon (112g) softened unsalted butter

1/4 cup (70g) granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon (1.4g) salt (Kosher salt is recommended but I used normal cooking salt)

1 egg in room temprature

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon beetroot juice ( grate and squeeze)

Parchement papper

Cling wrap (Plastic wrap)

Optional

Icing Sweetened Condensed milk 2–4 drops red food coloring (If you are lazy to make Beetroot juice)

Preparation

1. Whisk all-purpose flour, whole grain or wheat flour, salt, baking powder in a bowl.
2. Beat butter and sugar together in a separate bowl until they are light and fluffy.
3. Add in egg, vanilla essence into the butter mixture, and beat them for around 2 minutes.
4. Add in the flour mix into the butter-egg mixture. Using a beater with a paddle or dough hook attachment, knead the mixture until it constitutes a soft dough. You may knead by hand, too, but needs a bit more effort.
5. Knead the dough further for around 2–3 minutes using hand. Working the dough are all essential steps to soften the cookies.
6. The dough shouldn’t be sticky. Add a bit more flour to adjust the consistency. The final dough ball will look shiny and soft.
7. Split the dough ball into halves
8. Add Beetroot juice into one half dough ball and combine well. Keep the other half dough ball aside.
9. Flatten each dough ball into a square shape. Individually wraps flatten dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate them for close to 2–3 hours.
10. Put the chilled dough on a parchment paper and spread it about 1/4″ thickness. Replicate the same step until the doughs are in an equal rectangular.
11. Place the colored dough on the top of the plain dough and roll them tightly.
12. Wrap the dough log with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough log for around 1 hr. This measure is necessary else; we can’t cut the log into perfect pieces.
13. Preheat the oven to 356 °F (180 °C), meanwhile trim the edges and cut the chilled log into 1/2″ pieces.
14. Bake the cookies for 11–12 minutes until sides are slightly brown. Transfer the cookies immediately to a cold surface.
15. Pinwheel cookies are soft centered while crispy outside the edges.

Notes

• You may use food coloring if you do not intend to use natural color.
• For an added taste, drizzle icing or condensed milk over the cookies.
• You may store the cookies in a tight container at room temperature for up to 4–5 days.

You may enjoy this recipe,