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Pinwheels and Checkerboards Recipe

Pinwheels and Checkerboards Recipe photo by Taste of Home

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My mom used to make these cookies every Christmas, and I still love them. They are so colorful...and you can get two kinds of cookies from one dough! They're perfect for including in gift boxes.—Jill Heatwole, Pittsville, Maryland

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Pinwheels and Checkerboards Recipe

Prep: 30 min. + chilling Bake: 10 min.

Yield: 60 Servings

30 10 40

Ingredients

1-1/4 cups butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Red and green gel food coloring
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

Directions

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
Divide dough into fourths. Tint one portion red and one portion green. Stir chocolate into another portion. Wrap chocolate and plain portions in plastic wrap; chill for 1 hour or until easy to handle.
For pinwheel cookies, divide red and green portions in half. Roll out each portion between waxed paper into a 9-in. x 6-in. rectangle. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Remove waxed paper. Place one green rectangle over a red rectangle. Roll up tightly jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; wrap in plastic wrap. Repeat. Chill for 2 hours or until firm.
For checkerboard cookies, divide plain and chocolate portions in half. Roll out each portion between waxed paper into a 6-in. x 4-in. rectangle. Cut each rectangle lengthwise into eight 1/2-in. strips.
Stack the strips in groups of four, alternating plain and chocolate strips and forming eight separate stacks. Form a four-stack block by alternating chocolate-topped and plain-topped stacks. Repeat. Press together gently. Wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 2 hours.
Unwrap and cut pinwheel and checkerboard dough into 1/4-in. slices. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 9-11 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: 6 dozen pinwheel and 4 dozen checkerboard cookies.

Originally published as Pinwheels and Checkerboards in Taste of Home December/January 2004, p27

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Pinwheels and Checkerboards

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Reviewed on Nov. 29, 2012 by tahoeblue08

I have made these every year since first seeing the recipe. They are fun to make, look beautiful, and taste good, too!

Reviewed on Dec. 10, 2011 by NancyHanks

I've been making these for years. They are very time consuming, but worth doing just once a year (or twice... I did do a red, white and blue checkerboard version for the 4th).

I think they taste great, too. I flavor some of the dough with almond extract and that way have 3 different tastes from one dough.

I make one roll of the pinwheels with the green on the outside to get another look.

Reviewed on Dec. 19, 2010 by senzascusa

Looks-wise, these are hard to beat. Just handed out 16 homemade Christmas baking trays tonight which were highly acclaimed and included these colourful goodies. They look fantastic. Tastewise they are nothing to write home about--just typical.

Looks wise they get 5 stars, taste 3 stars.

VERY time consuming. Excellent instructions made them fail-proof, but rolling out 8 balls of dough to such a specific size was monotonous, so I wouldn't make these again soon. But yes, they look FAB.

Reviewed on Dec. 11, 2010 by lenavoth

Just became an annual Christmas cookie in our house! :)

Reviewed on Dec. 19, 2008 by Deedra80

I made these cookies for gifts I cant wait to give them out...They look so nice all together! Merry Christmas

Reviewed on Dec. 18, 2008 by buttons73

Reviewed on Dec. 18, 2008 by LilyBird13

I've made these for several years and my family loves them. Plus they are so pretty on a cookie plate.

Reviewed on Dec. 14, 2008 by dmmg

Thanks I always wanted to make these but I did not know how. Thanks again Taste of Home, you always come to our help when needed.

Reviewed on Nov. 27, 2008 by honeybunch_On

I am so glad to have found this recipe.....I made these over 40 years ago for my young family but had lost the recipe.....now I can make them again for my grandchildren.

Thank you so much for sharing...