Zach loves to make pinwheel cookies. Whenever I ask him what kind of cookie he wants, we always eventually end at some kind of pinwheel cookie. We’ve dealt with pinwheels before, and they aren’t the easiest recipe in the cookbook. It does take some practice to really get the rolling technique down for this type of cookie, and it does require a ton of patience. Patience that I sometimes lack. That’s why Zach is the perfect “Santa’s Little Helper” for this recipe. Not only has he made endless amount of pinwheels, but he’s also a pro. We had to make a pinwheel cookie for one of our Christmas cookies this year, and with Zach’s help, we got the job done.
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Peppermint is one of the holiday’s biggest candies. I’m not a huge fan of peppermint by itself. It sticks to your teeth and I just don’t find it very pleasing to eat. I do however like the pepperminty taste and aroma that goes along with eating something with peppermint in it, so anything with peppermint in it is a home run. Ghirardelli’s® Peppermint Bark is one of our favorite candies. It’s the kind of candy that has a special little place in a bowl on our counter during christmas time. Zach’s mom was thoughtful enough to supply us with an almost endless amount of peppermint bark, so we had a ton we could use for a fabulous recipe.
*Hint* Freeze the bark before you chop it! You’ll be glad you did.
We incorporated this bark into our pinwheels, and avoided peppermint extract all together. I feel that extract can have a fake flavor if not used right, and I really just didn’t want to deal with it. I would advise though that if you do happen to use peppermint extract, make sure you actually by PEPPERMINT! There is such thing as MINT extract, and although delicious in many other recipes, it tastes like spearmint and that would just destroy these cookies!
*Please Note (again)* That these cookies do not take over 3 hours to prep! There is so much inactive time in this recipe that it really does take almost all day to make them. A lot of waiting with this one. It’s just like dealing with any other sugar cookie dough. You need to let it chill for quite a while before you start handling it, so please don’t stick this step. You will for sure get frustrated.
A necessary component of making this kind of pinwheel recipe is having two different types of dough. You will still need a sugar cookie base for these, but get creative! There are other options in making pinwheels. You can make one dough and place some kind of spread on top and then roll, like we’ve done with our Pumpkin Pinwheels. This is a different kind of pinwheel though. This one involves two doughs. You don’t have to use chocolate and peppermint like we did. Use whatever you would like! We just thought that chocolate and peppermint were “holiday-like” flavors. We may just have to experiment with more pinwheels after the holidays are over, but don’t tell Zach. He may have a panic attack if I get him involved in anymore pinwheel making =). We’ll keep it between us for now!
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