Old Fashioned Candy Cane Christmas Cookies and Pinwheel Cookies

You only need one batch of vanilla sugar cookie dough to make these festive and old fashioned Christmas cookie recipes for candy cane cookies and red and white pinwheel cookies. These pretty holiday cookies are soft and buttery, and you can flavor them with vanilla, almond or peppermint extract. The whole family will love helping to make these!

You might also love these high altitude Christmas cookie recipes for classic almond shortbread, old fashioned iced oatmeal cookies, and soft ginger molasses cookies.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Just One Batch of Cookie Dough. I started with my trusted vanilla sugar cookie recipe for today’s cookies. This dough is easy to make in a food processor, and bakes up soft and buttery with a delicious vanilla flavor. Color half the dough with red gel food coloring to make both the candy cane cookies and the red and white pinwheel cookies.

Fun for the Whole Family. My kids absolutely love these cookies – both making them and eating them!

High Altitude Tested. While today’s recipe will work at any altitude, I test all my recipes at Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

• All-Purpose Flour. Provides structure and strength to the cookie dough.
• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens the cookies, while the fine texture of the powdered sugar makes a softer cookie than granulated sugar.
• Salt. Coarse Kosher salt balances the sweetness.
• Unsalted Butter. Adds flavor, moisture, richness and fat. As the water in the butter evaporates, the steam creates tiny flaky layers for a very tender cookie.
• Milk. Without any eggs in the dough, I add a splash of milk, which moistens the dough and binds it together without adding any leavening, like an egg would do.
• Vanilla Extract. You can use either vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste to add delicious flavor to your cookies. Use a good quality extract or paste for the best flavor.
• Almond Extract or Peppermint Extract. Traditionally, candy cane cookies are flavored with peppermint extract. Personally, I don’t love the flavor of peppermint extract in sugar cookies, and I think they’re much better with just the vanilla extract and a little almond extract.
• Red Gel Food Coloring. You’ll need “super red” gel food coloring to color half the dough red.

TIP: Rather than trying to knead red food coloring into half the cookie dough, it’s much easier to make half the dough at a time in your food processor. Start by making the white cookie dough, then the red, letting the food processor work the color in.

Instructions

Make the white cookie dough.

• In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar and salt until combined. With the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at at time, pulsing a few times until the butter is evenly distributed, and the dough is moistened and crumbly. Add the vanilla (plus the almond or peppermint extract, if using) and the milk, then process until the dough starts to stick together.
• Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and use your hands to finish bringing the dough together, kneading in any stray bits of flour. The dough should be soft, smooth and supple.

Make the red cookie dough.

• In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar and salt until combined. Add the red food coloring, then with the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at at time, pulsing a few times until the butter is evenly distributed, and the dough is moistened and crumbly. Add the vanilla (plus the almond or peppermint extract, if using) and the milk, then process until the dough starts to stick together.
• Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and use your hands to finish bringing the dough together, kneading in any stray bits of flour. The dough should be soft, smooth and supple.

Chill the dough.

• Shape the dough into flat disks, wrap each in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
• Prepare two or three baking sheets by lining them with sheets of parchment paper.

Make the pinwheel cookies.

• Use a bench scraper to cut off about 8 1/2 ounces of white dough and 8 1/2 ounces of red dough to use for the pinwheel cookies. Wrap and refrigerate the remainder of the dough.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the white dough to about 1/8 inch thick, then roll out the red dough to 1/8 inch thick.
• Use a ruler to cut out an 8×8 inch square of white dough and red dough. Gather up the scraps, squeeze them tightly together and add them to the leftover dough in the refrigerator.
• Brush any excess flour off the sheets of dough. Lay one sheet of dough down, then lay the other sheet of dough right on top. Pinch them together on one side, then tightly roll the dough up into a log, keeping the ends as straight and even as possible. When you get to the end, you’ll need to dip a pastry brush in water and very lightly dampen the last few inches of dough so that it sticks together to form a tight log.

• Wrap the log of dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. Place the chilled log of dough on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to slice the dough into cookies, about 1/4 inch thick. Place the cut cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving 1-2 inches between each cookie, and refrigerate while you preheat the oven.

TIP: If you like, lightly brush the log of dough with egg white, then roll it in sparkling sugar, before cutting the cookies. This will give the edges of the cookies a crunchy, sparkly finish.

• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, until baked through and lightly browned on the bottom.
• Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Make the candy cane cookies.

• While the dough is chilling for the pinwheel cookies, you can go ahead and shape the candy cane cookies with the rest of the dough.
• Using a small cookie scoop (about 1 tablespoon) with a release lever, portion the white dough into 15 balls, and the red dough into 15 balls. Roll the dough balls smooth between your hands, place on a tray and keep covered with plastic wrap so they don’t dry out while you’re shaping the cookies.

TIP: Use separate spots on your counter for rolling the red and white dough, or they will pick up color from each other. If the ropes are sticking to the counter, you can very lightly dust it with flour. Don’t use too much flour for this step, though. You want the ropes of dough to be a little “tacky” so that they stick to each other when you shape the candy cane cookies.

• On your counter, use your hands to roll a white dough ball into a “rope” measuring 5-6 inches long. Then, roll a red dough ball into a rope.
• Pinch the two ropes together at one end, twist them around each other, and pinch the other end together. Shape into a candy cane and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between each cookie. Repeat with the remainder of the dough.

• Chill the shaped cookies in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before baking.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes, until baked through and lightly browned on the bottom.
• Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then gently transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe Variation: Add Sparkling Sugar

For sparkle and a sweet, sugary crunch, you can roll the cookies in sugar before baking them. I recommend using a mixture of 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup coarse white sparkling sugar.

• Pinwheel Cookies. Lightly brush the log of dough with egg white, then roll in the sugar. Proceed with cutting the log of dough into cookies and baking.
• Candy Cane Cookies. Lightly brush the ropes of dough with egg white, then roll in the sugar. Proceed with twisting the ropes together to form candy cane shapes and baking the cookies.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

How many cookies does this recipe make?

This recipe yields about 15 candy cane cookies and 20 small pinwheel cookies.

How should I store the cookies?

Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.

What food coloring do you use?

I use Americolor “Super Red” Gel Food Coloring.

Are these cookies very sweet?

These are based on my original vanilla sugar cookie recipe, which uses a standard ratio of 3 parts flour to 1 part powdered sugar. On their own, they are rich and buttery, like shortbread, but are not a super sweet cookie, which is why they’re so perfect for decorating with frosting or royal icing. Since candy cane cookies are not frosted, you may think they’re not sweet enough (if you like really sweet things). If you prefer a sweeter cookie, you can try increasing the powdered sugar slightly, but this may cause the cookies to spread or brown more.

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