Moist and flavorful, these sourdough pinwheel sugar cookies are a delight. Use your favorite colors and let the swirls amaze your friends and family. A treat to see and eat.
It is the holiday season and we are baking left and right. One of my favorite family traditions is making baked goods to share with family and friends.
This year we are choosing between these sourdough pinwheel sugar cookies and sourdough cinnamon rolls. We absolutely love seeing our friends and family’s faces light up when receiving homemade baked goods.
It is no surprise when we took these to our first holiday party of the season, half the plate was passed out in minutes. My daughter was especially proud of the sprinkles on the side of the cookies she spent picking apart.
If you need a toddler sensory activity, sorting sprinkles is one of them- ha! But in all seriousness, I include my little ones into the kitchen as much as possible to immerse them in the world of baking.
These pinwheel cookies came together as we wanted to put a twist on our classic sourdough sugar cookie recipe. Our sourdough pinwheel sugar cookies are a cross between a sugar cookie and sour cream cookie.
Funny enough, when our family tried a bite, they asked if there was sour cream in them. To their surprise, the sourdough gives the sour cream flavor and moisture found in a soft sourdough sour cream cookie recipe.
Adding food color (natural of course) seemed like the next best step. To color these cookies, we chose freeze dried blueberries and natural food dye.
While we love the look of food coloring, natural food dye can have a bit of an aftertaste in cookies and frosting to give the intense color we were looking for. Adding a tablespoon of freeze dried blueberries did the trick!
These are great sourdough Christmas cookies or sourdough Hanukkah cookies as the color/color combinations are endless. Think green and red; red, white and blue; blue and white; white and yellow. You name it, it can be done!
This recipe will be one of our annual sourdough holiday cookie traditions. Their flavor, texture and appearance truly knock it out of the park.
Why you will love these sourdough pinwheel cookies
Kitchen Equipment
There are a few pieces of kitchen equipment which make this must-have holiday cookie easy.
- Hand mixer
- Cookie Sheet
- Reusable silicone mat liner (or parchment paper)
- Wire rack (aka cooling rack)
Ingredients for Sourdough Pinwheel Sugar Cookies
These sourdough discard pinwheel sugar cookies are easy to make.
- All purpose flour
- Sourdough discard
- This recipe is not finicky. We use sourdough discard and active starter interchangeably with no impact on final texture. If your sourdough discard has been sitting in the fridge for sometime, the cookies will take on a more sour flavor (which can be ok if you enjoy a sour cream sourdough cookie recipe
- Unsalted butter
- Unsalted butter is great within this recipe to ensure the cookies are sweet, not salty. If you have salted butter, leave out the salt in the recipe
- Egg yolk
- Due to the extra moisture from the sourdough discard, no egg whites are needed. Only one egg yolk is used within this recipe.
- White Sugar
- Powdered sugar
- This is the key to moist sugar cookies- the cornstarch in the powdered sugar and fine texture to the trick! use this if you want a good sugar cookie recipe without cream of tartar.
- Salt
- Baking powder
- As this is a stir and go recipe, the cookies need a little extra boost to rise.
- Almond extract
- Almond extract is optional but our Dutch family adore the flavor. It adds an extra element to a classic sourdough sugar cookie
- Vanilla extract
- Food coloring or powder
- We love Watkin’s natural food dye colors. You can be creative and add to the color with other swaps or natural ingredients like we did for this recipe. Ideas include:
- For blue color: blue spirulina powder or freeze dried blueberries
- For yellow color: a hint of tumeric adds depth and color without impacting flavor. Freeze dried mango can also be used.
- For green color: spirulina powder
- For red color: beet powder, freeze dried raspberry powder or strawberry powder
- We love Watkin’s natural food dye colors. You can be creative and add to the color with other swaps or natural ingredients like we did for this recipe. Ideas include:
- Sprinkles
- Option to roll the dough in sprinkles. Trader Joes has great dye free sprinkles, though this brand of dye free sprinkles works well when heated.
- For extra color coordination, use the same color sprinkles as the color of the pinwheel.
- Option to roll the dough in sprinkles. Trader Joes has great dye free sprinkles, though this brand of dye free sprinkles works well when heated.
- Frosting, royal icing or glaze
- Option to frost or dip the cookies in a glaze
How to make Sourdough Pinwheel Cookies
In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer or stand mixer to cream butter, sugar and powdered sugar on a low speed. Once combined, add the remaining wet ingredients: the egg yolk, vanilla extract and almond extract (optional).
Whip until light and fluffy. Then add in the sourdough discard until mixed together.
In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together baking soda, salt and flour in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Stir until combined.
Separate the mixture in two. If adding additional colors, split the dough equally between allotted bowls (one for each color). Keep each color in a separate bowl to ensure colors do not meld together.
Add the food coloring (food dye or powder) to the sourdough discard sugar cookie dough you would like to dye (or more if needed). Mix until combined. We kept one color as white and the other color as blue.
If the dough is soft, you can put the bowls in the fridge for 5-10 minutes until it is pliable but not hard to work with. Put in the freezer to speed up.
Spread each color onto a separate piece of wax paper or parchment paper. Flatten with your hands or a rolling pin until 1/8 inch thin.
Add one layer to the top of the other, removing the top layer of wax paper. Ensure whatever layer you want the outside of the cookies to be is on the bottom of the layers. For these cookies, the white layer was on the bottom and blue on the top.
Start the dough roll with your fingers. Pull the edge of the wax paper towards you to roll the dough or use your hands to roll into a log shape.
More layers = more pinwheel swirl. Because of this, ensure the roll is tight.
Option to allow the dough to cool in the fridge or freezer before rolling in sourdough sugar cookie dough in sprinkles. We let the dough chill for 30 minutes before covering the exterior in sprinkles.
Carefully roll the dough in sprinkles ensuring the exterior is thoroughly covered. Use the wax paper to cover the exterior of the sourdough sugar.
If long fermenting, allow the dough to sit on the counter for up to 12 hours before placing in the fridge until you are ready to bake (up to 4 days). Ensure the dough is sealed tightly to prevent the dough from drying out.
When ready to bake, remove the dough from the fridge or freezer. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cut the sugar cookies into 1/4” thick rounds. Place on a prepared baking sheet (use silicone baking mat or parchment paper).
Allow the sourdough discard sugar cookies to bake for 8-10 minutes. They will be soft to the touch, though a finger will not leave an indent when touched.
They will not be golden brown in color, nor will they have crispy edges.
For best results, they will seem slightly underdone. It is better to undercook these sourdough sugar pinwheel cookies than to over bake them as they can get crunchy when cooled.
Finally, allow to cool on a wire rack before placing in an airtight container or ziplock baggie until ready to enjoy. Can sit on the counter for 1 week and up to 3 months in freezer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sourdough Pinwheel Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- 1 hand mixer
- 1 Large Mixing Bowl
- 1 Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 1-1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup sourdough discard
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 4-6 drops natural food dye
- 2 TBS freeze dried fruit powder or spirulina optional – to boost color – see notes
- 2 TBS natural sprinkles optional
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer or stand mixer to cream butter, sugar and powdered sugar on a low speed. Once combined, add the remaining wet ingredients: the egg yolk, vanilla extract and almond extract (optional).Whip until light and fluffy. Then add in the sourdough discard until mixed together.
- In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together baking soda, salt and flour in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Stir until combined.
- Separate the mixture in two. If adding additional colors, split the dough equally between allotted bowls (one for each color). Keep each color in a separate bowl to ensure colors do not meld together.Add the food coloring (food dye or powder) to the sourdough discard sugar cookie dough you would like to dye (or more if needed). Mix until combined. We kept one color as white and the other color as blue.
- If the dough is soft, you can put the bowls in the fridge for 5-10 minutes until it is pliable but not hard to work with. Put in the freezer to speed up.
- Spread each color onto a separate piece of wax paper or parchment paper. Flatten with your hands or a rolling pin until 1/8 inch thin.Add one layer to the top of the other, removing the top layer of wax paper. Ensure whatever layer you want the outside of the cookies to be is on the bottom of the layers. For these cookies, the white layer was on the bottom and blue on the top.Start the dough roll with your fingers. Pull the edge of the wax paper towards you to roll the dough or use your hands to roll into a log shape.More layers = more pinwheel swirl. Ensure the roll is tight.
- Option to allow the dough to cool in the fridge or freezer before rolling in sourdough sugar cookie dough in sprinkles. We let the dough chill for 30 minutes before covering the exterior in sprinkles.Carefully roll the dough in sprinkles ensuring the exterior is thoroughly covered. Use the wax paper to cover the exterior of the sourdough sugar.
- When ready to bake, remove the dough from the fridge or freezer. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cut the sugar cookies into 1/4” thick rounds. Place on a prepared baking sheet (use silicone baking mat or parchment paper).
- Allow the sourdough discard sugar cookies to bake for 8-10 minutes. They will be soft to the touch, though a finger will not leave an indent when touched.Cool on a wire rack until heat is no longer released from cookie before icing or frosting.
Video
Notes
We love Watkins natural food dye. To increase the depth in color, we utilized fried blueberries ground into a powder to increase the blue color. Additional options are below for other color variations.
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- For blue color: blue spirulina powder or powdered freeze dried blueberries
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- For yellow color: a hint of tumeric adds depth and color without impacting flavor
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- For green color: spirulina powder is a good choice
-
- For red color: beet powder, freeze dried raspberry powder and strawberry powder all work well
Nutrition
What is your favorite color of holiday pinwheel cookies? We love this blue and white combination, l as it reminds us of snow. Plus, it is an excuse to enjoy them further into the winter season past the holidays. Let us know in the comments below!
