Red, White, & Blue Pinwheel Cookies

These red, white, and blue pinwheel cookies are a tasty treat to make all summer long. With just five ingredients, they are fun to make and the colors can be adapted for any season or holiday. 

These slice-and-bake cookies are not just cute and colorful, they are also very tasty and will disappear from your serving platter in a flash. 

While they may look like they may be crispy, these cookies actually have the texture of a softer sugar cookie with a little bit of crunch from the sprinkles. It is pretty hard to stop reaching into the cookie jar to have "just one more."

Ingredients to Make these Slice-and-Bake Pinwheel Cookies:

16 1/2 ounce log of sugar cookie dough: It's typically found in the refrigerator section near the pre-made "canned" biscuit, pizza, and crescent roll dough, as well as the boxed pre-make pie crust dough. I used the Pillsbury brand. 

1/2 cup of all purpose flour: This adds a little more body to the dough. 

Red and blue gel food colorings: I used the Americolor brand. I have the set with 12 colors, but you can buy the colors individually or in smaller sets. The colors are very concentrated and it's easy to dispense by the drop. The colors I used were "super red" and "royal blue."

Red, White, and Blue Sprinkles: I used a combination of nonpareils and stars from a red, white, and blue set of sprinkles. I think that nonpareils alone would be pefect but I didn't have enough (you need 1/2 cup), so I added the stars. 

To Make these Pinwheel Cookies:

While the steps to make these cookies are pretty easy to execute, they do require some patience because you will need to chill the dough a few times between steps. 

First, you will need to work the extra flour into the pre-made dough. Be sure to bring the dough to room temperature so that it's easier to knead. Once you've fully incorporated the extra flour, divide the dough into three equal pieces. I used a kitchen scale to make sure the pieces were all the same size. 

Next, work the food coloring into two of the three pieces of dough. To keep from coloring my hands (and ending up with purple dough), I inserted my hands into sandwich bags to knead in the colors. I used a clean set for each color. It does take a while to fully work in the colors. 

At this point, form the dough into disks and chill it for about 20 minutes. 

After the dough has chilled, roll the dough pieces out into 11 inch by 7 inch by 1/8 inch rectangles between two pieces of parchment paper. Again, chill the dough in the parchment paper for another 20 minutes. 

At this point, stack the rectangles beginning with red, white, and then blue. Trim the edges of the dough and then, using the parchment to assist, roll the dough into an 11 inch long log. Roll the log in the sprinkles to fully and generously coat the outside. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and place it in the freezer for two hours. 

When you are ready to bake the cookies, heat your oven to 350 degrees and line two half sheet pans with parchment paper. I reused the parchment left from rolling out the rectangles. Slice the log into 1/4 inch disks and place them on the baking sheet 1 1/2 inches apart. 

Finally, bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes and then let them cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to fully cool. 

Note: You can bake both sheets at the same time, rotating the baking sheets halfway through. I prefer to bake the cookies one sheet at a time so I don't have to open the oven while they're baking. I divided the dough in half and kept the other half in the freezer while the first set of cookies baked. 

Recipe Variations: 

You can vary the colors for any holiday or event. For a wedding or baby shower, you could change the colors to match the theme of the event. 

You could also add a different flavor by adding some extract, such as almond, lemon, orange, or mint. 

While I haven't tried it, you could try using your favorite homemade sugar cookie recipes and add a little more flour to it to make it easy to roll. The recipe for these ornament cookies seems like it might work. If I try it, I'll let you know! 

Tips for Success:

Use the parchment paper on which you've rolled out the thin rectangle as the means to transfer and stack the layers of dough. Place each layer on top of the one before it and then gently peel off the parchment. 

When you are rolling up the dough into a log, use the parchment paper under the bottom layer to coax the dough to roll up neatly and tightly. You might notice the outer layer of dough break or crack in places. The parchment is helpful to prevent too many gaps. Still, if it happens, don't worry too much. A little gap won't be that noticeable. 

Be sure to generously coat the outside of the dough log with the sprinkles. When you slice the cookies before baking later, some of the sprinkles will fall off, so lots of sprinkles will provide extra insurance. 

To slice the frozen dough, use a very sharp eight-inch chef's knife or a bench knife, which makes it easy to keep your cuts straight. 

Keep the cookies in an airtight container for at least five days. You can also freeze the cookies for up to three months. 

Red White and Blue Foods for the Fourth of July:

• 4th of July Berry S’mores from Creative Cynchronicity
• Coconut Chia Berry Pudding from Magical Ingredients
• Red White and Blue Cheese Potato Salad from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Red White and Blue Crepes from That Recipe
• Red, White, and Blue Pinwheel Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Red, White, and Blue Scones from Hezzi-D's Recipe Box
• Summer Berry Salad from Art of Natural Living

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Red, White, & Blue Pinwheel Cookies

Yield: 36 cookies

Author: Karen Kerr

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 10 MinInactive time: 3 HourTotal time: 3 H & 30 M

These red, white, and blue pinwheel cookies are a tasty treat to make all summer long. With just five ingredients, they are fun to make and the colors can be adapted for any season or holiday. 

Ingredients

• 16 1/2 ounce log of pre-made sugar cookie dough, room temperature
• 4 1/4 ounces (1/2 cup) all purpose flour
• 15 drops red gel food coloring
• 15 drops blue gel food coloring
• 1/2 cup red, white, and blue sprinkles

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, thoroughly knead together the sugar cookie dough and the all purpose flour. This should take about five minutes.
2. Divide the dough into three equal parts. Knead the red gel into one of the dough pieces. Knead the blue gel into another dough piece. Flatten each of the three dough pieces into a disk, place them on a plate and cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
3. Roll each piece of dough between two pieces of parchment paper to a 11 inch by 7 inch, by 1/8 inch rectangle. Stack the layers and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
4. Stack the layers of dough, beginning with the red layer, white layer, and blue layer. Trim the eleven inch edges of the dough to straighten them. Using the parchment paper on the bottom for support, roll the dough layers into an 11 inch log. Trim the ends to straighten and reveal the spiraled colors.
5. Pour the sprinkles into a quarter sheet pan, large tray, or rectangular cake pan and roll the log in the sprinkles to fully and generously coat the outside of the dough. Wrap the dough log in plastic wrap and freeze it for two hours.
6. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Slice the frozen dough into 1/4 inch slices and place them 1 1/2 inches apart on the parchment-lined baking sheet.
8. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time (keeping the second half of the cookies cold in the refrigerator) on the middle rack, for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool the cookies on the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to full cool. Repeat with the second half of the cookies.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

78

Fat (grams)

3 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

1 g

Carbs (grams)

13 g

Fiber (grams)

0 g

Net carbs

12 g

Sugar (grams)

7 g

Protein (grams)

1 g

Cholesterol (grams)

1 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2025/06/red-white-blue-pinwheel-cookies.html

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Recipe adapted from Food Network.