Enjoy classic chocolate and vanilla pinwheel cookies using this tried-and-tested homemade recipe. These mesmerizingly beautiful and delightfully soft pinwheel cookies come together by layering and rolling chocolate and vanilla cookie dough together..
Look into the pinwheel cookies… you are getting hungry… very hungry…
Today’s recipe actually uses the same base dough as mint chocolate checkerboard cookies and these neapolitan cookies, but since pinwheels have the tendency to overspread, I add a *touch* more flour. This gives you extra insurance, just in case the dough starts to get a bit sticky.
It’s All Made From the Same Dough
Love a good swirly slice-and-bake cookie? Try these cinnamon roll cookies!
What’s the Texture Like?
They may look like crunchy cookies, but they’re surprisingly soft in the centers, thanks to the soft chocolate dough and the extra egg yolk. If you can handle a sticky chocolate dough, you’ll be rewarded with a soft cookie! Let’s get started.
Let Me Walk You Through This Process
Make the Dough & Chill It Briefly
The dough comes together with a mixer fairly quickly. After it’s all mixed together, divide it in half. Don’t get worried if it’s not perfectly even—if one portion of the dough is a little less than half, use that one for making the chocolate dough, since you’re going to add more ingredients to it:
Place half of the dough back into the mixing bowl and add cocoa powder, milk, and the optional espresso powder:
Now you have 2 doughs: vanilla and chocolate. Using lightly floured hands, shape each into small rectangles, about 1 inch thick, and about 4×5 inches. (The exact measurement doesn’t matter much here, but it will when you go to roll the doughs out after chilling.) You can use flour on the counter and your hands when you’re shaping the vanilla dough, but you can use cocoa powder instead when you’re working with the chocolate dough. (Or just stick with flour.)
Wrap doughs up and chill for just 60–90 minutes. The point is to chill the doughs just long enough so they’re easier to roll out and handle, but also still pliable and bendy. If the doughs chill too long, they’ll be too stiff. 60–90 minutes is your sweet spot! If you’re making these as part of a marathon holiday cookie baking day, this is the perfect amount of time to tackle quick no-chill recipe like shortbread cookies.
Tip: The chocolate dough is stickier than the vanilla dough. It’s not quite as sticky as these double chocolate chip cookies, but cocoa powder usually produces a sticky dough. That’s why, when we roll the doughs together to make the pinwheel design, we have the vanilla dough on the bottom. Vanilla will be on the outside of the cookie. If we swapped them and had the chocolate dough on the outside, the cookies would spread even more.
How to Roll Pinwheel Cookies
Tip: If you’re having trouble getting the doughs to line up nicely, see the Troubleshooting section below. You can straighten up the edges with your hands.
Working from one of the long edges, begin rolling. Go slowly, and try to roll it as tightly as possible. You can kind of meld the doughs together with your fingers at the beginning to get the roll started..) If you notice bare or cracked spots of vanilla dough, just patch it up with your fingers as you go. Doesn’t have to look perfect.
Chill the Dough Logs for 2 Hours
You’ll end up with a log of dough that’s about 14 inches long. Slice it in half. Wrap up both logs of dough, and chill them in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, and up to 4 days. This chilling time can be much longer than the first, because we’re done rolling/shaping the dough and it no longer has to be pliable.
Let’s Slice & Bake the Cookies
When you’re ready to bake, use a sharp knife to slice each dough log into 14 cookies, about 1/2 inch thick. If any of your cookies look a little misshapen, you can reshape into a circle before you put it on the baking sheet..)
Place the cookies about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet and bake.
How to Prevent Pinwheel Cookies From Over-Spreading
Troubleshooting Pinwheel Cookies
Variations
Or try a mint chocolate version, like these checkerboard cookies. Flavor/tint the vanilla dough just as you do in that recipe.
For another slice-and-bake favorite, try my brown sugar shortbread cookies next.
Pinwheel Cookies Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. Dough will be thick and sticky. Remove from the mixing bowl—no need to rinse out the mixing bowl.
- You should have a little less than 2 lbs. of dough, or somewhere between 800–900g. Divide the dough in half. Note: It’s ok if the portions aren’t exactly half. If one half is slightly smaller, use that one for the chocolate dough.
- Place half of the dough back into the mixing bowl. Add the cocoa powder, milk, and espresso powder (if using). Beat on low speed until dough is combined.
- The doughs are sticky, so just do your best in this step. Place both doughs on a lightly floured work surface. (Tip: I like to use cocoa powder as my “flour” for handling/rolling the chocolate dough.) With lightly floured hands, carefully form each dough into a 1-inch-thick rectangle block, about 4×5 inches in size. Wrap both dough blocks up in plastic wrap, parchment paper, or aluminum foil. Refrigerate for 60–90 minutes. The *key* is to only refrigerate until the dough is less sticky, but still pliable enough to bend and shape. Chilling any longer will make it difficult to roll together. If you need to chill it for longer than 90 minutes, make sure you let it sit at room temperature for 15–30 minutes before continuing with the next step.
- Remove vanilla dough from the refrigerator and unwrap. Keep chocolate dough in the refrigerator. Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper. Note that I like to place the parchment paper on top of a silicone baking mat to prevent it from sliding all over the counter, or you can tape it down. (Do not roll the doughs directly on the counter because you may have a hard time lifting/transferring them.) Using a lightly floured rolling pin, begin rolling out the vanilla dough. Flip the dough every now and then between rolls to ensure it’s not sticking to the parchment. Roll out to an 8×14-inch rectangle, and use your hands to ensure the sides are straight and smooth. The thickness will be between 1/8–1/4 inch. Set the dough aside, and it’s most helpful if you refrigerate the vanilla dough at this time. Pick up the vanilla dough using the parchment paper and place the whole thing in the refrigerator as you roll out the chocolate dough. Lightly dust another piece of parchment paper with flour or cocoa powder. Using a lightly floured (or cocoa powder-ed) rolling pin, roll the chocolate dough out to an 8×14-inch rectangle, or very slightly smaller. Remove vanilla dough from the refrigerator. Carefully peel the chocolate dough off the parchment and do your best to line it up on top of the vanilla dough. Flatten the chocolate dough on top as best you can, gently patting it down to remove any air bubbles between the layers of doughs. Patch any torn chocolate dough pieces back together. And feel free to use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to straighten up any uneven edges.
- Starting with a long side, tightly roll the 2 doughs together, making sure there are no gaps between them. You can use the parchment paper under the vanilla dough to assist in rolling. Go slowly, and try to roll it as tightly as possible. You can kind of meld the doughs together with your fingers at the beginning to get the roll started..) If you notice bare or cracked spots of vanilla dough, which usually happens (don’t worry!), just patch it up with your fingers as you go. Doesn’t have to look perfect. Once you have your log of dough, cut it in half, so you have two 7-inch-long dough logs.
- Wrap each dough log in plastic wrap, parchment paper, or aluminum foil and refrigerate for 2 more hours and up to 4 days.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Slice each log into 14 1/2-inch-thick cookies.
- Arrange cookies about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets—expect these cookies to expand quite a bit in the oven. If the dough got a little soft from working with it, chill the cookies on the baking sheet in the refrigerator for 10 minutes before baking. Bake for 14–15 minutes or until very lightly browned around the edges.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Coarsely chop the chocolate. Melt in a double boiler or the microwave. If using the microwave, stir every 20 seconds until it’s smooth. Dip half of each cooled cookie into the chocolate. Add sprinkles on top of chocolate, if desired. Allow chocolate to completely set at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1 week. Refrigerate cookies dipped in chocolate after a few days.
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