Chocolate Pinwheels

One of my favorite Christmas cookies is Chocolate Pinwheel refrigerator cookies. My mom has been baking ever since I can remember.  (Last year she made and froze over 44 dozen of them.)

We're not sure where the recipe came from originally but there are similar recipes floating around.  I've tried making them with butter, dairy-free margarine and vegetable shortening and in all honesty, my favorite is the shortening because it really lets the chocolate and vanilla shine through. 

Chocolate Pinwheels
After you roll the dough into logs you can wrap them in a couple layers of plastic wrap and freeze them until you're ready to bake them off.  The dough can be frozen for up to a month so why not knock these out before Thanksgiving when you may have a little more time on your hands. 

Vanilla dough:
1 1/2 cups (7.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (8 ounces) sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (or dairy-free margarine)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Chocolate dough:
1 1/2 cups (7.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (8 ounces) sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (or dairy-free margarine)
1 large egg
3 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To prepare vanilla dough, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together sugar and shortening 3 to 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract and mix until fully incorporated.  Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add flour mixture; mix just until all the flour is incorporated.  Transfer dough to a bowl, cover and refrigerate while you prepare the chocolate dough.

To prepare chocolate dough, follow instructions above adding melted chocolate immediately after the eggs.

Silpat Baking Sheet Most people will look at the price of a Silpat and think its a waste of money. I'm here to tell you it's one of the best investments you can make if you make a lot of cookies. Not only will nothing stick to it, but it insulates your cookies so the bottoms don't get over-browned. So even if a recipe calls for ungreased baking sheets, I always use my Silpats.

Place vanilla dough between two sheets of wax paper and roll out to an 18- x 12-inch square; set aside. Place chocolate dough between two sheets of wax paper and roll out to an 18- x 11-inch square. Remove top piece of paper from both doughs, invert the chocolate onto the vanilla, lining up one side and allowing one inch of vanilla dough to stick out the other side.  Fold the 1-inch section of vanilla over the chocolate and continue to roll dough into a cylinder. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate at least 8 hours. 

Preheat oven to 325°F. Unwrap dough and slice into 1/3-inch-thick slices.  Place slices flat on ungreased baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies.  Bake 9 to 10 minutes for softer cookies, 11 to 12 minutes for more crispy cookies.  Transfer to wire cooling racks. 

To store: place cookies in airtight cookie tins or containers and store at room temperature for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.