Red Velvet Shortbread Pinwheels

madnad

The last couple of years I have taken gingerbread men cookies to work on the last week before we break up for the holidays. This year, I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to do pinwheels. And not just ordinary pinwheels, but the ones with sprinkles around the outside for a little extra festive flair. Originally, I had intended to just add red dye to half the mixture, but I bought some Lorann red velvet emulsion a while ago, and haven’t yet had an opportunity to use it. The emulsion is supposed to be a mixture of flavouring and colouring. 

The colour was vibrant, but the red velvet flavour was maybe too subtle, so don’t skip the vanilla. If I was doing a cake or cupcakes, I would have added more, but I didn’t want to affect the shortbread consistency too much. Next time, I may add extra cocoa. 

RED VELVET SHORTBREAD PINWHEELS

Tender shortbread pinwheel cookies with a festive red velvet swirl, encrusted in seasonal sprinkles

AUTHOR: www.mutherfudger.co.uk
INGREDIENTS
  • 125 g Caster Sugar
  • 250 g Unsalted Butter
  • 1 Egg Yolk
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • pinch Salt
  • 375 g Plain Flour
  • 2 teaspoons Red Velvet Emulsion
  • 100 g Nonpariels
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Add caster sugar and room temperature butter to your mixer and beat on a medium high speed until thoroughly combined
  2. Scrape down the sides, then add the egg yolk and vanilla then mix again until combined
  3. Dump in the flour and salt, and mix on a slow speed until no flour remains and mixture resembles course breadcrumbs
  4. Using your hands, press the mixture together until it forms a cohesive ball
  5. Take out half the dough, and add the red velvet emulsion to the remainder and mix slowly until the dough is a uniform colour. If you don't have any emulsion, add 40g of cocoa dissolved in two teaspoons of warm water, plus some red gel food colourant
  6. Roll out the vanilla dough on greaseproof paper into a rectangle, approximately 20cm x 30cm, and about 4mm thick. Repeat for the red velvet dough
  7. Brush the vanilla dough with a little warmed milk, just enough to make the surface tacky. Carefully place the red velvet rectangle over the top, and roll a couple of times to melt the two layers together
  8. Trim the edges with a pizza cutter to form a neat rectangle, keeping the cut-offs to form a marble cookie later
  9. Red side up, brush a little more of the warmed milk until the surface is tacky
  10. 10. With the longer edge towards you, roll the edge in all the way along, and continue to roll away from you until your dough forms a tight sausage
  11. 11. Wrap the sausage in cling film, and refrigerate for about 20-30 minutes until it has firmed up slightly
  12. 12. Place the nonpariels on a baking tray, then roll the chilled dough sausage in the sprinkles until the entire outside is coated. Re-wrap and place the dough back in the fridge for at least 4 hours until very firm
  13. 13. Pre-heat oven to 180ºC / 350ºF / Gas Mark 4
  14. 14. Slice the dough from one end, in approximately 4mm thick slices. Place on a lined baking sheet, at least 2cm apart, and bake for 8 minutes
  15. 15. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a rack to fully cool
RECIPE NOTES

You can customise this recipe to fit the holiday or colour scheme of your choice. You can also freeze this just before the slice-and-bake stage if you want to get ahead on some holiday baking.

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