Enjoy these festive looking and delicious cranberry-orange pinwheel cookies, filled with swirled cranberry, orange and pecans.
Every time Christmas rolls around, I prepare lots of our family’s “traditional” must-have cookies and goodies. I also try a new recipe or two each year. This year I tried a new recipe I found (on Pinterest!) for Cranberry-Orange Pinwheel Cookies. I think they’re so festive looking! And here’s the good news… they are delicious! A big shout out goes to Rachel at bakedbyrachel.com for the recipe for this yummy batch of Christmas cookies!
The cookies not only look good… they smell good, too. They have a light citrus aroma from the orange zest; and the filling in the middle is made from chopped cranberries, brown sugar and pecans, for extra flavor.
These are wonderful little holiday cookies! I gave away lots of them on plates of Christmas goodies given to our neighbors and friends this year. Sure hope you will give them a try!
Scroll Down For A Printable Recipe Card At The bottom Of The Page
How To Make Cranberry-Orange Pinwheel Cookies
Begin by chopping up the cranberries, pecans and brown sugar. This is very easy to do in a food processor or blender.
The next thing to do is mix up the dough. The dough for these cranberry-orange pinwheel cookies sure smells good, because of the fresh orange zest!
Roll Out the Dough And Add The Filling
Roll the dough out on a large piece of wax paper, and then add the cranberry/pecan mixture to the top. Spread the cranberry brown sugar and pecan filling over the entire surface of the dough, leaving just a little space around the edges.
Roll the dough for the cranberry orange pinwheel cookies carefully into a log shape (starting with the long side). You can use the wax paper to help roll it. Cover the cookie dough log tightly, and refrigerate it overnight.
Prepare The Cranberry Orange Pinwheel Cookies For Baking
After refrigerating it overnight, slice the dough for the cranberry-orange pinwheel cookies into 1/4″ slices, using a sharp knife. See how pretty they look in the photo below? The festive looking pinwheel cookies are then baked on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Bake the cookies at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. They will NOT be browned, but will be fairly soft once done. Voila! Here are the cranberry-orange pinwheel cookies, right after they were taken out of the oven.
Cranberry orange pinwheel cookies need to cool on the baking sheet for 1-2 minutes before removing (this helps them firm up a bit). Transfer the cookies to a a wire rack to finish cooling, and then they are ready to eat!
I hope you will consider making these cranberry-orange pinwheel cookies. The cranberry and orange filling tastes amazingly fresh and wonderful! They are always a big hit! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day. Come back soon.
Looking For More COOKIE Recipes?
You can find all of my recipes in the Recipe Index, located at the top of the page. A few favorite cookie recipes you might enjoy include:
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Flourless, 3 Ingredient, Peanut Butter Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Snickerdoodles
- Butter Pecan Crisps
Interested In More Recipes?
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Original Recipe Source: http://www.bakedbyrachel.com/a-tradition-cranberry-orange-pinwheels/
↓↓ PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW ↓↓
- 1 cup cranberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1 cup pecans
- 1/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
- 1 cup butter (2 cubes), softened
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
Place cranberries, pecans and brown sugar in a food processor (or high-powered blender/chopper). Process until ingredients become small pieces. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl (or stand mixer), cream the butter and granulated sugar together until well combined. Add baking powder, salt, eggs, and orange zest. Beat on low/medium for one minute. Add flour (by spoonfuls) to the mixture, while mixing on medium speed, until all ingredients have been thoroughly combined. Once combined, cover bowl and refrigerate dough for 1 hour.
Divide chilled dough in half. Place one half in between sheets of wax or parchment paper. Roll dough out into a rectangle, approximately 1/4 inch thick. Remove the top layer of paper. Spread half of the cranberry-pecan mixture evenly over the top of the dough to within 1/2 inch of all edges. Roll up dough (begin with the SHORT side of dough). Guide the dough with your hands and use the wax or parchment paper to pull the dough up as you form a "log-shaped" roll. Pinch dough to seal ends. Repeat with other half of dough. Transfer each "dough log" onto a clean sheet of wax or parchment paper. Seal dough in paper. Tape shut. Refrigerate overnight. (Dough must be thoroughly chilled to cut clean, nice even slices).
When ready to bake cookies, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using a very sharp knife, cut cookie dough into 1/4 inch slices. Place slices 1-2 inches apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, or just until bottoms of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. Remove from oven. Let cookies "rest" a few minutes before removing from baking sheet. Let cookies cool completely on wire racks. Enjoy!
Don't be scared away from making these due to the long refrigeration time. I made the dough up the day before I wanted to bake them. Then I baked them up the next day... no trouble!
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards!