Tiny, crunchy and infused with a perfect amount of peppermint, these Peppermint Pinwheel cookies are a slice and bake cookie, which is rolled in sanding sugar or non-pareils and baked. 

Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies were not a part of my wheelhouse growing up.

Gingersnaps were and peanut butter kisses and chocolate chip cookies of course, but I don't remember either my mom or my grandma ever making a peppermint roll-up cookie. 

There was at least one extra magical year when my mom made peppermint candy cane cookies. Those were delicious and looked so festive on the tray.

But, my mother worked full-time. She was an R.N. and took care of my dad and I. 

So, the candy cane cookies, which involved rolling dough into long strips and then twining them together into candy cane shapes must have been cumbersome.

Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies are less work but they do entail a couple of steps beyond your basic drop cookie recipe.

If you'd rather keep things really simple and make drop cookies, here's a bunch.

Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

How to Make Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

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So, basically you're going to make a sugar cookie dough. Not unlike these easy vintage sugar cookies.

Or, these peppermint crunch sugar cookies, which I totally forgot I ever made and photographed and wrote about until I was searching my archives for related cookies to link to in this post. 

Can you say meno-brain? That's my slang for an addled memory brought about by my post-menopausal/parenting a teenage boy years.

But I digress.

How to Make Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

1. So you're making a peppermint-flavored sugar cookie dough.
2. Then you'll divide the dough in two parts.
3. You'll add red food coloring to half the dough and mix until it turns red.
4. You'll roll each dough into rectangles, stack one rectangle on top of the other, clean up the edges, then roll the double dough stack into a log.
5. Chill.
6. Then roll into sanding sugar or non-pareils.
7. You'll slice and put the cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
8. Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes depending on how thick you make your slices.

I sliced mine about a quarter inch thick and baked them for ten minutes.

Peppermint Pinwheel Cookie Recipe

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Yield: 36

Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

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Peppermint Pinwheel cookies are diminutive red and white slices of lightly peppermint flavored sugar cookie, with edges rolled in sanding sugar or non-pareils.

Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Additional Time: 8 hours

Total Time: 9 hours 40 minutes

Ingredients

• ¾ cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
• ¼ teaspoon red liquid food coloring

Instructions

Preparation:

Prepare a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper or a silpat if you prefer.

Gather dry ingredients: flour through salt

Make sure you've got peppermint extract and red food coloring in the house.

Make the Dough:

Cream butter and sugar in a medium mixing bowl until fluffy, about three minutes. 

Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula so you don’t have any unbeaten butter clumps.

Add egg yolk, vanilla and peppermint extracts and beat another minute to combine.

Add dry ingredients. Mix until flour is just combined otherwise you'll have a tough cookie.

Divide dough in half.

Leave the half the dough in the mixing bowl. Add red food coloring or whatever color you want to use and beat until there are no more vanilla dough-colored streaks left. 

Prepare dough for chilling:

Flatten each dough into a rectangle.  Wrap in plastic wrap. Put in fridge for at least two hours. The thickness of the rectangle really doesn’t matter at this point. You’re just making it easier to roll out after the dough is done chilling.

Bake the Dough:

When you’re ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees f.

Place a piece of parchment paper on your work surface to make rolling out the dough easier.

Roll each rectangle to about a quarter inch thick.

Place one rectangle of dough on top of the other. Push down firmly.

Slice any uneven edges you might have.

Starting at one edge--either short or long--I recommend a short edge, roll dough into a cylinder shape.

Pour a quarter cup or so of the sanding sugar onto the parchment paper and roll the dough cylinder into the sugar. 

If you’re having trouble getting the sugar to stick. You can dampen a paper towel with water to moisten the dough with.

Using a sharp knife, slice dough into quarter slices and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.

These cookies do not spread the way drop cookies spread so you should be able to bake many more than a dozen at a time.I used a half-sheet pan and baked at least 24 at a time.

Cool the Cookies:

Bake for 10 minutes at 350.

Let cool for two minutes before moving to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Notes

Chilling this dough is paramount so that you're able to roll out it without a minimum of sticking.

Use parchment paper when you're rolling it out.

The thickness of the dough rectangles don't matter when you're first putting the dough in the fridge to chill.. You’re just making it easier to roll out after the dough is done chilling.

Recommended Products

This post and/or recipe may contain affiliate links, which means if you click through and make a purchase, I'll earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. See Disclosure policy.

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Nutrition Information

Yield 36 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 77Total Fat 4gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 15mgSodium 70mgCarbohydrates 10gFiber 0gSugar 4gProtein 1g

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Cookie Packaging

Package these beautiful cookies you just made in clear goody bags or in a cookie box. 

I found this red and white polka dot cookie box at Target a few Christmases ago. 

I can't find the polka dots anymore but they did have these cute red and green striped boxes.---aff link.

Pro-tip: stock up After Christmas for next year.

I think these cookies would be a perfect snack if you were going to spend the afternoon watching a Christmas movie like Elf.

But, Peppermint Pinwheel Sugared Cookies aren't just for the holidays. So maybe you're going to bake cookies and watch:

A Scary Movie like Get Out!

Your turn:

What's your favorite peppermint memory? Have you ever made peppermint cookies?