Holiday cookie recipe: Peppermint pinwheel recipe plus how to enter
Shauna Cruz of Vallejo, Calif., was one of the 10 winners of our first Los Angeles Times Holiday Cookie Bake-Off with these peppermint pinwheels.
“Four years ago, my roommates and I started the ‘Annual Christmas Cookie Sweatshop’ party for our friends and family, and I make over 1,000 cookies for them to eat and decorate [Hence the ‘sweatshop’]. Every year, there is high demand for the peppermint pinwheels!”
You can find the recipe below.
Think you can do better? Well, don’t just sit there! Show us. Enter our fourth annual Los Angeles Times Holiday Cookie Bake-off. Entries must be submitted by Nov. 19 at midnight.
Go to our Facebook page and submit your cookie recipe, along with a short essay about why your cookie is such a holiday favorite. Include a photo if you can; voters will want to see proof.
Every year we get hundreds of entries and thousands of votes cast, so get your recipes up quickly.
You, the readers, will vote online for your favorites. Voting ends at midnight Dec. 2, then we’ll test and taste the top 50 vote-getters at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Pasadena to come up with the 10 we like best.
We’ll take top vote-getters and try out the cookies in The Times Test Kitchen. The finalists will be invited to the Los Angeles Times for a tour of the Test Kitchen, and will be photographed and featured in a Saturday section article during the holidays.
Peppermint pinwheels
Total time: 50 minutes, plus chilling time
Servings: About 4 dozen cookies
Note: Submitted by Shauna Cruz of Vallejo, Calif., originally published in Taste of Home magazine.
3/4 cup (1 ½ sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/4 teaspoon red liquid food coloring
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, or stir in the flour mixture by hand until evenly combined to form a dough.
3. Divide the dough in half, and add the food coloring and peppermint extract to one of the halves.
4. On a large work surface, roll each portion of dough between wax paper into a 16-by-10-inch rectangle. Remove the wax paper and place the red rectangle over the plain one, then roll up the dough lengthwise jelly-roll style. Wrap the roll in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or until firm.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap the roll and cut it into slices 1/4-inch thick. Place the slices 2 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake until set, 12 to 14 minutes. Cool 2 minutes before removing the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Each of 4 dozen cookies: 58 calories; 1 gram protein; 7 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 3 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 12 mg cholesterol; 3 grams sugar; 30 mg sodium.
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