• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Edible Garden

  • Popular Categories
    • Dal Recipes
    • Chicken Recipes
    • Egg Recipes
    • Indo-Chinese Recipes
    • Mushroom Recipes
  • Kerala Recipes
  • Chocolate
  • About
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
You are here: Home / Chocolate / Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by step

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by step

February 27, 2016 64 Comments

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepSpiral cookies or pinwheel cookies – I have been eyeing this recipe for spiral cookies for a while now. They are so pretty and look so homely and nice right? That’s what actually got me started on this quite messy yet great decision to try them myself.

Disclaimer: I am not very artistic. I believe artistic people can make food look nicer and this is especially true for desserts and some bakes.
That really didn’t discourage me though. I have step-by-step pictures and although my cookies didn’t turn out as smooth and spirally as SJ’s, they still wow-ed a lot of a people and tasted great.

Other cookie recipes you may like – chocolate melting moments, microwave chocolate chip cookie, banana oatmeal cookies.

We need to prepare 2 batches of dough and since each require 1/2 an egg yolk, let’s get that out of the way.

Step by step pictures:

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepLightly beat an egg yolk and set aside. We will later halve this.

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepMelt (or bring to room temperature) 1/2 cup unsalted butter and add 1/2 cup sugar to that. Beat until well combined.

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by step

Add 4 drops of vanilla essence to this along with a pinch of salt. Mix well. Now add half the beaten egg yolk and 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour.

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepMix well to form a soft dough like so. Don’t knead, just incorporate with fingers and bring together.

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepFor the chocolate dough, do the same with the butter and sugar, but omit the vanilla and add 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder. Mix well.

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepTo this, add 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour. If you find the dough too soft, you can add a couple of spoons of flour. I didn’t have to add extra though.

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepAgain, combine well with fingers to form a soft dough. No need to knead. Heh.

Now, refrigerate both doughs for 30 mins. Take out your book and read while you wait. If you are impatient like me, go take a nap and you won’t feel the time pass.

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by step

After 30 mins, take out the chilled dough, transfer to a floured surface and roll out as above. This is not going to be the easiest thing to do. I later heard that if you do the rolling between plastic sheets or butter paper, it makes things very easy. Do try that because in this method, there were a lot of broken pieces that I had to patch in later.
Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepGently transfer the chocolate layer and place it over the vanilla layer. I used a spatula – say hi to my fave steel spatula.


I know this doesn’t look perfect. That’s ok. Trust me on this and let’s carry on.

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepNow, roll the flour from the short end, gently, covering up as many split areas as you can. Its ok even if the layers are not ultra-smooth and imperfect. Like I said, wait for the end-result and you’ll see.

SJ mentions refrigerating at this point but I was super-charged after my nap so I ignored that.

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepCut gently into 1/2″ discs. Look at that!

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepAre they pretty or what?! I didn’t use a sharp enough knife which is why the biscuit sides are not as smooth as I’d have liked them to be. Anyway, lesson learned.

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepHere’s another look. I couldn’t get over how pretty they looked. It was almost like when I saw the Taj Mahal for the first time. Almost.

Note the huge hole on the top of my dough log? It doesn’t matter if you get a similar one. Keep cutting and ignore that. Everything will turn out fine.

Spiral Cookies or Pinwheel Cookies Recipe, step by stepBake in a pre-heated oven at 350F/180C for 15 mins until the white part of the cookies turn a light golden brown.

Now that you ask, I have no clue how’d I find out if this cookie is done if it were all chocolate. I guess I’d go by the smell and time on original recipe as I did for my chocolate melting moments.

Here’s the recipe again, all in one place.

Recipe for Spiral CookiesMakes: 28 cookies (approx.)

Ingredients:
For the Vanilla Dough:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 egg yolk, beaten
4 drops of vanilla essence
A pinch of salt
For the Chocolate Dough:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 egg yolk, beaten
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions:<

1. Start with the vanilla dough. Beat the until and sugar until well incorporated. Add the egg yolk, salt and vanilla essence to this. Mix again.

2. Add the flour next and mix well to form a soft dough.

3. For the chocolate dough, beat butter and sugar, add the cocoa powder and mix well without any lumps. Then add the egg yolk and mix well. Finally, add the flour and mix well to form a soft dough.

4. Refrigerate both doughs for 30 mins.

5. After 30 mins, roll out gently into flat squares (as square as you can make it). Place the chocolate layer over the vanilla layer. Roll out from the short end gently.

6. Cut into discs of 1/2″ thickness and bake and transfer to a greased or lined cookie sheet.

7. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350F/180C for 15 mins until the vanilla part turns a light golden brown. Keep an eye on the cookies starting from 10 mins, just to be on the safer side.

These spiral cookies, my friends, will wow your friends. Guaranteed!

Share This Recipe
  • Facebook0
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest0
  • Twitter
  • Google+0
  • Email
  • Print
0

By nags Filed Under: Chocolate, Cookies

logo
Food Advertising by

Subscribe

for your weekly recipe fix.

Previous Post: « Indian Potatoes in Red Coriander Sauce {Recipe}
Next Post: Palak Khichdi Recipe | Spinach Khichdi Recipe »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rimli

    December 20, 2012 at 4:06 pm

    i made dessert this way but never tried cookies. such a good addition.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous

    October 3, 2012 at 4:16 am

    Can i make it without using eggs?

    Reply
  3. Anonymous

    March 2, 2011 at 5:29 am

    Tried this recipe..
    needed an extra 2 eggs for the vanilla dough & an extra 1 egg for the chocolate dough. also a heaping tablespoon of butter for each to get the dough to work.
    other htan that, turned out yum. Was like sugar-shortbread cookies.

    Reply
  4. Nags

    December 16, 2010 at 1:43 am

    yay!! so glad the easy spiral cookies turned out well for you. eager to see the pics, do share the link 🙂

    Reply
  5. yarn_lady

    December 15, 2010 at 10:20 am

    just made these and I am surprised at how easy it was to bake them!! thanks a lot! put up a pre baked pic on FB!!

    Reply
  6. yarn_lady

    December 14, 2010 at 5:43 pm

    wow this looks delish!! I have bookmarked this to try tomorrow!!! thanks for all these super duper easy recipes!!!!

    Reply
  7. Suhaina

    July 9, 2010 at 7:18 am

    Nags, I tried this cookies yesterday.Came out well.The rolling part was fun. thanks for the wonderfully explained recipe..

    Reply
  8. Nags

    July 9, 2010 at 7:22 am

    Thanks for trying Suhaina 🙂

    Reply
  9. Sushma Mallya

    April 1, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    Yummy cookies,loved all the pics nags…Nice one

    Reply
  10. RAKS KITCHEN

    April 1, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    Vanilla and chocolate layer,make a pretty combo,looks good…who bothers how it looks when it tastes good!!

    Reply
  11. Lakshmi Venkatesh

    April 1, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    Looks real delicious and very very tempting. Beautiful colour combo. Always had an eye on it, everytime I see them in a book. Ur step by step instructions are simply superb.

    Reply
  12. Hb

    April 1, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    Aha aha!Sj, the celebrity. Those cookies look gorgeous. I don't know why u kept saying they look bad, there is a hole here and all that. Grr.

    Reply
  13. meeso

    April 1, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    Adorable cookies, and great to give as a gift 🙂

    Reply
  14. Anupama

    April 1, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    I have no doubt that they will wow my friends because they have wowed me now 🙂

    Reply
  15. Priya

    April 1, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    Scrumptious spiral cookies!

    Reply
  16. aquadaze

    April 1, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    i can finally access your blog!! you are right, these cookies look awesome. The first (and only time) I made them, I didn't want anyone to eat them! Must say, you have loads of patience to take step by step pics.

    Reply
  17. Simran

    April 1, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    These were the first cookies I ever made. AND my first blog post. I love these 🙂

    Reply
  18. jayasri

    April 1, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    wow, looks great, will definitely try this, I just logged on & see in dash board full of posts, I would have missed this.., couldn't resist not to write a comment

    Reply
  19. Nags

    April 1, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    Sakshi, why bother with couriering? I will bake you some fresh when you visit me in SG. What say?

    Reply
  20. Sakshi

    November 23, 2009 at 5:46 am

    I still remember the taste of the cookies SJ had parcelled me. I am not that good at baking and scared about trying this intricate artistic stuff. Btw Nags do you have plans like SJ to courier some? *grins*

    Reply
  21. Nags

    November 23, 2009 at 5:47 am

    Sakshi, why bother with couriering? I will bake you some fresh when you visit me in SG. What say?

    Reply
  22. Nina

    November 18, 2009 at 4:28 am

    great recipe – i tried it last night and the cookies are delicious! i just substituted whole wheat and brown sugar for the chocolate dough to make it healthier for my daughter – and the contrast of colours is lovely!

    Reply
  23. Nags

    November 18, 2009 at 4:41 am

    That's awesome Nina. Great ideas to make it kid friendly 🙂

    Reply
  24. parvati

    November 13, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    Thank to the step-by step documentation. This is really kind of you to do it for your reader.

    I am going to try it out soon

    Reply
  25. Bharathy

    November 12, 2009 at 11:24 am

    ha ha ha say HI to my steel spatula :)…I am laughing here!! :D..
    Lovely cookies!..will def make it soon and let you know! 🙂

    Reply
  26. Pravs

    November 12, 2009 at 2:28 am

    wow ! what a cookie.. i am wowed too 🙂

    Reply
  27. Mahimaa's kitchen

    November 12, 2009 at 2:23 am

    looks pretty 🙂 good post..

    Reply
  28. sowmya.s

    November 11, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    they look so good ..infact they look just perfect…

    Reply
  29. arundati

    November 11, 2009 at 3:55 am

    yeah they are very pretty…. and not all that complicated… although i dont tell anyone that… i made them too way back when i first started baking!

    Reply
  30. jayasri

    November 10, 2009 at 10:43 pm

    wow, looks great, will definitely try this, I just logged on & see in dash board full of posts, I would have missed this.., couldn't resist not to write a comment

    Reply
  31. sangeeta

    November 10, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    hmm..i got late but see it there…on my blog

    Reply
  32. Sudeshna

    November 10, 2009 at 5:24 pm

    Nags,
    I saw this same recipe a few days back in a Bengali cook show, the cookies look great.

    Reply
  33. my kitchen

    November 10, 2009 at 5:21 pm

    Lovely cookies,Nice step by step clicks,delicious one

    Reply
  34. Simran

    November 10, 2009 at 2:20 pm

    These were the first cookies I ever made. AND my first blog post. I love these 🙂

    Reply
  35. aquadaze

    November 10, 2009 at 9:07 am

    i can finally access your blog!! you are right, these cookies look awesome. The first (and only time) I made them, I didn't want anyone to eat them! Must say, you have loads of patience to take step by step pics.

    Reply
  36. chakhlere

    November 10, 2009 at 3:58 am

    wow!! Those look so gorgeous. Great cookies.

    Reply
  37. Priya

    November 9, 2009 at 9:15 pm

    Scrumptious spiral cookies!

    Reply
  38. Sreelu

    November 9, 2009 at 6:46 pm

    Now Nags you did wow me with these cookies , excellent step by step instructions as well

    Reply
  39. 5 Star Foodie

    November 10, 2009 at 2:23 am

    These look so pretty and sound really delicious!

    Reply
  40. sandhya

    November 9, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    beautiful cookies nags, nice step by step pictorial

    Reply
  41. Mriganayani

    November 9, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    Nags – looks awesome as always! Perfect cookies – want to chow down a whole plate of these! Alas…!

    Reply
  42. Anupama

    November 9, 2009 at 4:58 pm

    I have no doubt that they will wow my friends because they have wowed me now 🙂

    Reply
  43. RV

    November 9, 2009 at 3:43 pm

    Cookies look sumptuous…

    Reply
  44. Home Cooked Oriya Food

    November 9, 2009 at 2:44 pm

    awesome cookies. Yum!

    Reply
  45. Lavi

    November 9, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    Lovely Cookies Nags!! Now your cookies inspire me to try!

    Reply
  46. meeso

    November 9, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    Adorable cookies, and great to give as a gift 🙂

    Reply
  47. Soma

    November 9, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    OOOo. this is super cute. I have to do this when my oven gets fixed (does not look like it is going to happen this year), but this is saved.

    Reply
  48. Hb

    November 9, 2009 at 12:01 pm

    Aha aha!Sj, the celebrity. Those cookies look gorgeous. I don't know why u kept saying they look bad, there is a hole here and all that. Grr.

    Reply
  49. SJ

    November 9, 2009 at 11:02 am

    Hey thanks for trying it out and all those step by step pics- you have a LOT of patience. I just wanted to finish baking them! Parchment paper definitely helps in rolling and refrigerating the rolls firms it up so it won't crumble when you cut.

    Reply
  50. Sharmila

    November 9, 2009 at 10:23 am

    What patience Nags! And every single snap is wonderful. This step by step guide is very helpful. I'd love to try this out as recently I have been baking cookies successfully … finally. 🙂

    Reply
  51. Lakshmi Venkatesh

    November 9, 2009 at 10:17 am

    Looks real delicious and very very tempting. Beautiful colour combo. Always had an eye on it, everytime I see them in a book. Ur step by step instructions are simply superb.

    Reply
  52. Happy cook

    November 9, 2009 at 10:10 am

    Looks so so good, i am sure gonna try this too in the christmas cookies season.

    Reply
  53. Arundhuti S. Rama

    November 9, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    they look super delicious!

    Reply
  54. Arch

    November 9, 2009 at 9:13 am

    SJ's cookies rock !! Thanks for the step-by-step..this has been on my to-do list, and I think I will finally get down to making it this weekend, for my lil one's bday – a good enough reason to make these…

    Reply
  55. sangeeta

    November 9, 2009 at 9:01 am

    haaah…sigh!1
    Sakshi had led me to SJ's blog when she had got a parcel n posted about it…( good memory of mine when it comes to food)…i though this SJ seems to be a great cook then…later found out she is an artist , a scientist, a crafts person n what not….i never tried these as whenever i have attempted with cookies it has been a day of only cookies n no food for both of us…..freshly baked cookies are like an addiction….n these are so with the looks too…great post..
    i'll do something today that i have been procrastinating for long n let you know…

    Reply
  56. Pari

    November 9, 2009 at 8:47 am

    Lovely spiral cookies, had made them long time back. Actually it's been ages I made any cookies..lazy me.

    Reply
  57. Sushma Mallya

    November 9, 2009 at 8:42 am

    Yummy cookies,loved all the pics nags…Nice one

    Reply
  58. Kamalika

    November 9, 2009 at 7:59 am

    Awesome … looks too good .. nags . These
    cookies reminds me of zebra cakes ..

    Reply
  59. Tina

    November 9, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    Wow so perfect and attractive….

    Reply
  60. Sonia

    November 9, 2009 at 10:26 am

    Ha! I know the amazing taste of this cookies! But I like warm so everytime I MW for few seconds..and taste…heavenly! 🙂

    Reply
  61. Nags

    November 9, 2009 at 9:26 am

    Sharmilee – they were somewhere in between 🙂

    sangeeta – what are you upto?? 🙂

    Raks – they taste awesome!! 🙂

    Arch – I have bookmarked three recipes from your space, so stay tuned and watch out 😀

    Reply
  62. RAKS KITCHEN

    November 9, 2009 at 9:06 am

    Vanilla and chocolate layer,make a pretty combo,looks good…who bothers how it looks when it tastes good!!

    Reply
  63. Sharmilee! :)

    November 9, 2009 at 8:46 am

    Looks perfect, was it crunchy or chewy?

    Reply
  64. The Wandering Minstrel

    November 9, 2009 at 8:36 am

    lurvvvvly!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hello!

I am Nags, the face behind Edible Garden, a food and recipes website for the busy (and sometimes lazy!) cook since 2007. My recipes are meant to be quick yet healthy and delicious - Nothing fancy, nothing too difficult. Follow Me On Instagram for real-time food and life updates.

ADS

logo
Food Advertising by

Popular Recipes

Instant Oats Idli Recipe with Rava, Step by Step
Kerala plum cake recipe
Butter Chicken Recipe, Indian Butter Chicken Masala Recipe
dosa recipe-how to make dosa
pressure cooker eggless sponge cake recipe (no oven cake)
vegetable pulao recipe
Eggless No-Bake Mango Cheesecake Recipe Step by Step
garlic pull-apart rolls recipe, eggless
paneer butter masala recipe restaurant style

Browse Older Recipes

Translate

Copyright © 2021