Today we’re sharing a fun and festive Halloween Pinwheel Cookies recipe. These colorful cookies are easy to customize — switch up the colors to suit your celebration, whether that’s classic orange and black, green and orange, or black and deep red.
Halloween Pinwheel Cookies
Holiday baking is one of my favorite things — it’s a great chance to play with color and shape and create treats that match the season. These pinwheel cookies are versatile: change the palette for other holidays or events, like red and white for Valentine’s Day, red and green for Christmas, or team colors for school events and game day.
Halloween Pinwheel Cookie Recipe Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Unsalted butter (softened)
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Gel food coloring (two contrasting colors)
Equipment Needed
Large mixing bowl – A sturdy bowl makes mixing easier and keeps things stable while you prepare the dough.
Parchment paper – Lining your baking sheet with parchment makes cleanup and serving simpler.
Baking sheet with sides – Sheets with edges help prevent slipping when transferring to the oven.
Heat-resistant potholders – Use safe, heat-resistant potholders when handling hot pans.
Great Halloween Recipes
Crazy Eye Cookies
Bloody Colada
Chocolate Pretzel Owls
Candy Corn Chocolate Bark
Frankenstein Twinkies
Explore more Halloween recipes and quick, easy cookie recipes to find ideas for parties and seasonal treats.
Follow Tammilee Tips on social media for more recipe posts and inspiration.
Halloween Pinwheel Cookies
Ingredients
- 5 C All-purpose flour
- 2 Teaspoons Baking powder
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 1/2 C Unsalted butter (softened)
- 2 C White sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
- Black food coloring
- Burgundy food coloring (or another contrasting gel color)
Instructions
- Cream the softened butter and sugar together until the mixture is smooth and not grainy.
- Add all four eggs and continue mixing until incorporated.
- Add the vanilla and mix.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until everything is thoroughly blended.
- Divide the dough into two equal portions and place each portion in a separate bowl.
- Color one portion with black gel food coloring, making sure the dough is evenly colored.
- Color the second portion with burgundy (or your chosen contrasting) gel food coloring until evenly tinted.
- Form each colored dough into a ball, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least one hour.
- When chilled, choose which color will be the outer layer of the pinwheel. Flour two cutting boards and the rolling pin.
- On a floured surface, roll out the primary color dough. Dust the secondary dough with flour and roll it out as well.
- Use a metal spatula to lift the secondary dough and lay it on top of the primary dough. Press together gently and roll them together to create an even layered sheet. Trim any excess dough so the edges align.
- Roll the combined layered dough into a tight log, wrap it in plastic, and seal the ends.
- Freeze the log for about one hour to firm it up for slicing.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C).
- Remove the log from the freezer, unwrap it, and slice into 2-inch rounds, keeping the circular shape intact.
- Place the slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 325°F for 13 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on a wire rack before serving.
Kitchen Tools
- Hand mixer
- Cookie sheets
- Parchment paper
Nutrition
Calories from Fat 135
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Recipe originally shared on October 2, 2015. Updated October 2020.