Use a little swirl of pink in these easy pink pinwheel sugar cookies recipe to help you celebrate baby showers and gender reveals. These cookies are an easy dessert recipe that will curb that sweet tooth!
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium speed until fluffy and pale, about 5 minutes. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat until combined. Then, add half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until blended.
Add the rest of the flour mixture and mix just until blended. Scrape down the bowl.
Dump the dough onto a clean work surface and divide it in half. Add one half back to the bowl and sprinkle the food coloring and almond extract, if using, over the dough in the bowl, then gently knead until well combined and evenly colored. If the color is not as dark as you’d like, add more food coloring, and gently knead it in.
Cut 4 sheets of wax paper, each one about 18 inches long. Set each dough half on the center of a wax paper sheet and use your hands to shape the dough into a rectangle. Cover each piece of dough with a second wax paper sheet and, one at a time, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough halves into 16-by-10-inch rectangles.
Remove the wax paper from one side of each dough rectangle and place the colored rectangle over the plain one. Starting from a long side and using the wax paper on the bottom piece of the dough to help, tightly roll the dough into a log.
If you like, scatter the coarse sugar on a rimmed cookie sheet and roll the log in sugar to coat the outside. Wrap the log tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap the dough log and set it on a cutting board. Then cut the log crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices. Place the slices on the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
When both cookie sheets are full, bake only 1 cookie sheet at a time until the cookies are firm to the touch, about 12 minutes. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and set it on a wire rack. Let cool for 5 minutes, then use a metal spatula to move the cookies directly to the rack.
While the cookies are cooling, put the second cookie sheet in the oven and bake in the same way.
After you have removed the cookies from the first cookie sheet, line the empty cookie sheet with new parchment paper and bake the rest of the cookies in the same way. Let the cookies cool completely, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
Make these cookies even more swirly by coloring both halves of the dough with your favorite colors! You can make these cookies into cookie pops by inserting ice-pop sticks before baking.