Summer flavored Christmas cookies cure seasonal sadness
More stories from Anjali Kota
Like many others, I took up baking to fill my time during the pandemic.
To fill my time during the COVID-19 pandemic, I took up baking like many others. I started out with simple banana breads and moved my way all the way up to Yule log cakes and macarons. One of my favorite creations; however, came during the winter months, where I experimented with designing my own recipes.
Wanting a throwback to the summer months that I spent outside instead of cooped up inside of the house, I created these pinwheel cookies that look just like Christmas on the outside, but taste like summer on the inside. This was done with summer flavors like fresh lemon and raspberries: fruits that taste like ice-cold lemonade drinks on the front porch or refreshing raspberries at backyard parties.
The key to this recipe is patience. A big part of making these cookies is waiting around for the cookies to chill so that they don’t spread when handling them.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Liquid red food coloring
Liquid green food coloring
¼ teaspoon lemon extract
2 lemons
8 raspberries
¼ teaspoon raspberry extract
For the lemon dough:
1. For the lemon dough:
2. Take ¾ cup sugar, zest 1 ½ lemons into the sugar and squeeze half of a lemon of its juice.
3. Place a chopped-up stick of softened butter in a medium-sized bowl and beat using a stand mixer or hand held whisk on low to medium speed until creamy.
4. Add the lemon sugar into the butter and beat until fluffy.
5. Add in ¼ teaspoon baking soda and a pinch of salt and mix until incorporated.
6. In a separate bowl, crack the egg and mix the egg with a fork, breaking the yolk. Measure out roughly half and pour into the lemon mixture. Save the rest for the raspberry dough.
7. Changing whisk attachment to dough attachment, pour about 1 ¾ cups flour into a bowl and mix until it comes together somewhat and no streaks of flour are visible.
8. Add ½ teaspoon lemon extract and eight drops of green food coloring.
9. Shape into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
For the raspberry dough:
10. Strain eight raspberries in a fine strainer and collect the juice. Pour into ¾ cup sugar.
11. Place a chopped-up stick of softened butter in a medium-sized bowl and beat using a stand mixer or hand held whisk on low to medium speed until creamy.
12. Add the raspberry sugar into the butter and beat until fluffy.
13. Add in ¼ teaspoon baking soda and a pinch of salt and mix until incorporated.
14. Pour the remaining egg into dough.
15. Changing whisk attachment to dough attachment, pour about 1 ¾ cups flour into a bowl and mix until it comes together somewhat and no streaks of flour are visible.
16. Drop in eight drops of red food coloring and ¼ teaspoon raspberry extract.
17. Shape into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
18. After both the lemon dough and the raspberry dough have been refrigerated for 45 minutes, take it out of the fridge and sandwich lemon dough between two pieces of parchment paper. Roll the dough into a rectangle shape until about ¼ inch thick. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes. Repeat with the raspberry dough.
19. After that time is up, remove the parchment paper, take the two rectangles and place them on top of each other, and trim the sides until they are roughly equal.
20. Then, slowly begin to roll the dough from one of the four sides of the rectangle, removing the parchment paper as you do so, until the roll is at the end of the parchment paper.
21. Roll the parchment paper around the log of dough, and place in the fridge overnight.
22. After the dough has chilled in the fridge overnight, take it out of the fridge and slice the messy ends off of the dough. Slice the dough into ¼ inch slices; you should be able to see a pinwheel shape.
23. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, placing the pinwheels onto a parchment lined baking sheet and into the fridge until the oven has finished preheating.
24. Bake for 8-10 minutes, checking frequently to make sure the bottoms don’t get burnt.
25. After the time has finished, remove the cookies from the oven and onto a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container.
Enjoy!