Valentine’s Day Pinwheel Cookies

Get ready for a sprinkle-heavy post. We’re making Valentine’s Day pinwheel cookies today! Don’t worry — the recipe may seem long, but that’s just me making sure I put everything into great detail for you. These cookies are super doable! 

Oh haaaaaay! Before we get into these beauts pictured up there, can we all just take a minute to celebrate Missy Elliott’s new song? I listened to Under Construction *all the time* on my (gasp) CD player back in the day, so needless to say, I was over the moon to hear that Missy was getting back in the game. Long live Missy Elliott!

Okay, so back to today’s bake. Valentine’s Day Pinwheel Cookies! This was my first time making pinwheel cookies (and slice and bake cookies) and let me tell ya, they are really easy to make. I don’t know why it took me so long to try and make them! All you need is sugar cookie dough, and a little bit of patience — there’s lots of cooling time to take into account here.

These can be adapted to just about every occasion and holiday, but I thought they’d be perfect for Valentine’s Day. Who could resist the fun spiral pattern and those heart-shaped sprinkles adorning each cookie? Not I.

As I mentioned before, this is just a sugar cookie dough so prep time is super quick! This recipe is great because it’s not tooth-achingly sweet — perfect for those of you who think you may have a cavity but you refuse to go to the dentist because the dentist is just never ever fun. Not that that’s me or anything. Ahem.

To get a vibrant red color, I used 2 whole tablespoons of red food coloring! To be honest, I think I could have added even more! You can adjust to your preference, of course — just take it one teaspoon at a time.

Once you get past the process of making the dough and rolling it out, the fun part comes. I especially enjoyed pouring out a whole jar of sprinkles into my baking sheet and rolling the dough logs in it. I think we could all use more sprinkles in our lives, don’t you? And let’s not forget the moment when you slice through the log and see that beautiful spiral pattern come through. Pure bliss, I tell ya!

I hope you’re better at slicing cookies than I am because that was definitely not my strong suit here! I started out strong in the beginning, but somehow started slicing at an angle so a few of the cookies were uneven. Let’s just say that’s all a part of the charm, shall we? 😀

Give these a shot and let me know how it goes by leaving a comment and rating the recipe! I bet they’d make for great gifts for your special someone, too. 🙂

Tools/Ingredients I used:

1. Wilton Micro Hearts Sprinkles
2. Chicago Metallic 10×15 sheet pan – for rolling the dough logs in the sprinkles
3. Kitchen scale – for measuring out the dough

Happy baking, everyone!

Note: this post contains affiliate links.

Valentine’s Day Pinwheel Cookies

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 3.6 from 46 reviews

• Author: Ann
• Prep Time: 285 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 300 minutes
• Yield: 3 dozen cookies 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Method: Baking
• Cuisine: American

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Description

These whimsical sugar cookies are perfect for Valentine’s Day! The best part? You can adapt this to any occasion and holiday!

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Ingredients

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• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring
• Sprinkles/decorations of your choice

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Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
2. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter at medium speed until smooth. Then, add the sugar and cream the mixture together for a couple of minutes until fluffy.
3. Add the eggs (one at a time) and vanilla extract and continue beating at medium speed until combined.
4. Slowly pour in the flour mixture and stir at low speed until combined.
5. Remove the dough from the bowl and split it in half. I used a kitchen scale to ensure that both portions were even.
6. Return one of the dough halves to the bowl of your electric mixer and add the red food coloring. Beat until you reach the desired red color.
7. Shape each dough half into an 8-inch square. Wrap each square in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
8. Remove the squares from the refrigerator and slice each of them in half — you should have four rectangles at this point (two white, two red).
9. Take out two sheets of wax or parchment paper and place a white dough rectangle on each sheet. Then, place a red dough rectangle on top of each white rectangle.
10. Take out two more sheets of wax/parchment paper and place them on top of each dough stack. Roll out each stack into a rectangle about 1/4-inch thick. Rolling the dough in between the two sheets makes life a *lot* easier.
11. Remove the sheet of wax/parchment paper from the top of each stack and starting from the short side of the rectangle, roll each stack into a log — you want to make this as tight as possible so there are no gaps in your cookies!
12. Pour the sprinkles out into a shallow baking sheet or dish and roll each log into the sprinkles until fully covered.
13. Wrap each log in a sheet of wax or parchment paper, and then plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
14. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. Roll the logs on the counter a bit to get rid of any flat sides.
15. Unwrap the logs and slice each of them into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Place each cookie about an inch apart — they’ll expand slightly (not much!) while baking.
16. Bake each sheet for 10-11 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
17. Repeat until all the dough is used up.

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Notes

Recipe adapted from Just A Taste .

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