Pistachio & Cherry Pinwheel Cookies Recipe
These Pistachio & Cherry Pinwheel Cookies combine vibrant dried cherries and roasted pistachios swirled in a tender buttery dough, creating a visually stunning and delicious treat perfect for holiday gatherings or anytime you want to impress with a beautiful, flavorful cookie.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 30 servings
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. table salt
Cream & Dough
- 16 Tbsp. unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
- 1 ⅓ cups granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. pure almond extract
- ½ cup finely chopped dried cherries
- ½ cup ground roasted and salted pistachios
- Gel food color (red and green)
- Pearl sugar for coating
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients: Whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl to ensure even distribution.
- Cream butter and sugar: Using a mixer on medium speed, cream together the softened butter and granulated sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes.
- Add eggs and extracts: Beat in the egg and egg yolk one at a time, mixing just until combined after each addition. Then, incorporate the vanilla and almond extracts for flavor.
- Combine flour mixture: Add the dry ingredient mixture to the creamed butter and sugar, beating just until incorporated to avoid overmixing.
- Divide and color dough: Split the dough in half. Return one half to the mixer bowl, add the chopped dried cherries and the desired amount of red gel food color, mixing to distribute evenly. Shape into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Repeat with the other half by mixing in ground pistachios and green gel food color, then shape and wrap.
- Chill dough: Refrigerate both dough disks until they are firm enough to roll, about 30 minutes.
- Roll out dough: Between two sheets of parchment paper, roll each dough disk into an 8×10 inch rectangle.
- Assemble layers: Carefully invert the pistachio dough rectangle over the cherry dough layer, pressing lightly so they adhere evenly.
- Roll into a log: Starting from the long edge, tightly roll the layered dough jelly roll-style into a log shape.
- Coat and chill: Roll the dough log in pearl sugar, pressing gently to coat all sides, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours until firm.
- Preheat oven and prepare: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Slice and bake: Slice the chilled dough log into ½-inch-thick cookies and arrange them on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them evenly.
- Bake and cool: Bake the cookies for 12–14 minutes until the edges are set. Let them cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Chilling the dough is important to keep the pinwheel shape intact during baking.
- You can adjust the amount of gel food coloring to achieve your preferred intensity of color.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
- For a nuttier flavor, toast the pistachios lightly before grinding.
- If pearl sugar is unavailable, coarse sanding sugar can be used as a substitute.
