Christmas Pinwheel Cookies + Video
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Christmas Pinwheel Cookies steal the show every time – and you can see why! They’re colorful, mouthwateringly sweet, delicate and soft, and just beautiful to look at! Pinwheel Christmas cookies can be made with your own homemade or store-bought dough. Talk about easy!
Feeling a bit overwhelmed? I’ve included a quick video to walk you through the whole process!
Table of Contents
Christmas Pinwheel Cookies
I just don’t think you can shove any more Christmas cheer into a cookie than I have with this recipe.
Sweet and colorful sprinkles on the outside with super soft swirly sugar cookie on the inside – this dessert really speaks to your inner child during the holidays!
Speaking of which, these spiced eggnog cookies also have their way of appealing to our holiday nostalgia while also giving us something brand new!
Now that I’m thinking about it, I should really add them to my perfect holiday party recipe list!
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
- Sugar Cookie Dough – I love to throw together my basic sugar cookie dough that I use for all of my classic Christmas cookies when I make Christmas pinwheel cookies.
This especially chewy brown sugar cookie dough is delicious to use, too – but any will do, even if it comes straight from the grocery store. - Red Food Coloring – Gel food coloring is best. You get bright, brilliant color without the mess of liquid coloring.
- Christmas Nonpareils Sprinkles – Red, white, and green – all we need! Don’t let me squander your creativity, though. Use your favorite sprinkles or colored sugar!
Christmas Pinwheel Cookies Tips & Things to Know
- Choose the Right Dough – I know that I said any dough works for making swirl cookies, but I may have been exaggerating a bit.
Most dough works – it just needs to be soft and pliable. To avoid tough dough, don’t overmix and be sure to use a low-protein flour. - Use the Right Equipment – A stand or hand mixer will save you loads of time!
It’s the best way to ensure the dye makes its way all the way through the batter without overmixing (see above). - Be Creative With Decorations – Any sprinkles and any colors can be worked into pinwheel Christmas cookies!
Feel free to divide the dough into three parts and add a green swirl to the mix as well – it’s just as easy to do and looks even better!!
And snowflake sprinkles and with a pale blue swirl would be the perfect winter wonderland treat.
Best Practices for Shaping Christmas Pinwheel Cookies
Don’t be intimidated by the intricate design – throwing together a batch of swirl cookies is as easy as any other recipe!
There’s just a few simple things you need to know before you get started.
The most important thing to know is that the dough must be chilled before trying to form the pinwheel.
Not just because it’s easier that way! It also keeps the cookies from expanding too much in the oven and lets you cut perfect circles – basically, it guarantees a killer presentation.
You’ll want some parchment paper and a rolling pin. Keep the layers even (¼” thick, ideally) for the best presentation!
Be careful when sticking the two dough halves together, and roll slowly (but with pressure!) to make sure the two layers merge.
Finally, when rolling your pinwheel log over the sprinkles, don’t press down too hard! You want to get those sprinkles into the dough but you don’t want to ruin your shape.
Christmas Pinwheel Cookies FAQ
Just a simple sugar cookie dough, some food coloring, and sprinkles! Plus a little holiday spirit, but you don’t need to add that to your grocery list.
Whether or not extra colors, flavors, or fillings are added is up to you – there’s so much room to be creative and add your own flair!
Yes! There are two ways you can go about this: add the flavors when making the dough initially, or add the flavoring once the dough is divided. I would personally recommend adding the flavor before so that you don’t overwork the dough.
I’d recommend a combo of lemon and peppermint! Wouldn’t that be sweet and refreshing? Orange and white chocolate would also be absolutely heavenly… Now I need to go try it myself!!
It depends!
If you want to bake the cookies and serve later, you can store them on the countertop for up to a week.
If you want to prepare the dough to bake later, then go ahead and form the pinwheel log and store in that fashion. Wrap it up in plastic wrap and chill for a couple of days – any longer and the colors start to bleed together.
And if you want to freeze the prepared dough, you can do so up to 3 months ahead of time – you must really like to prepare for the holidays!! Just let it thaw before slicing and baking.
Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Christmas Pinwheel Cookies + Video
Ingredients
- Best Ever Sugar Cookie Dough, or your favorite
- red food coloring, gel is best
- Christmas nonpareil sprinkles, they are the little balls
Instructions
- Separate dough into 2 halves. Add red food coloring to one half. Add 1/2 of your cookie dough to a stand mixer and add red food coloring until your mixture reaches your desired color. You can also knead food coloring into dough until completely combined if you do not have a stand mixer.
- Place red cookie dough on parchment paper. Roll red cookie dough to about 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Set aside.
- Place plain cookie dough on parchment paper (or wax paper). Roll plain cookie dough out to about 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Stack cookie dough sheets on top of one another with the parchment on the outside.
- Remove the top parchment and roll over the dough gently with a rolling pin (to help the 2 doughs become one). Begin on one end and roll the cookie dough into a log (removing the remaining paper as you go). If dough is too soft to work with, refrigerate for 30 minutes and then try again.
- Once dough is formed into a log, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile: pour sprinkles into a cookie sheet. Unwrap dough and roll into sprinkles. Rewrap and refrigerate 3 hours to overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Slice cookies and place on cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake according to your sugar cookie directions or until the cookies feel set.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published December 2015, updated and republished December 2022
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We’re Donna and Chad, the dream team behind The Slow Roasted Italian. Our focus is on taking complicated OUT of the kitchen. Life is busy enough, making meals should be fast and easy, to help make your life as simple as possible. Read More >>
Made these cookies yesterday with my daughter and granddaughter – they turned out so cute! They are a nice addition to our Christmas cookie palate! 😊 It would be really helpful if you corrected the cooking temperature though – very confusing to be given two different cooking temps, especially when using the dough recipe that was suggested. 🤨
my video wouldn’t play. I’m a visual learner so videos that play are extremely helpful.
Same here! Visual learners make up 2/3rds of the population, so we are the minority. Need video please!❤️💕😊
I’ve made these for about three Christmases now. They’re fantastic! They’re not hard to make at all, so don’t be intimidated by the recipe. Make sure you have a lot of sprinkles on hand. I doubled your cookie dough recipe so I ended up with about 48 cookies. I baked at 350 for about 12 minutes. They are soft and perfect, not to mention beautiful.
Hi Diane!
We’re so glad you enjoy the recipe! It’s a personal favorite of ours.
TSRI Team Member,
Devlyn
Hello! I’m going to make these tonight. Do the sprinkles stick on well after you’ve already refrigerated the ‘non-sprinkle dough’ the first time? Or do you put something on the dough then put sprinkles on?
Hi Kayla!
They should stick to cold dough, but if you’re having trouble let it warm up a bit to stick them on. Hope this helps!
TSRI Team Member,
Devlyn