These elegant pinwheel cookies combine tart cranberries, bold red wine, and bright orange zest into a stunning holiday treat. The buttery sugar cookie dough is rolled around a homemade cranberry-wine jam, then coated in sparkling sanding sugar for a festive finish that catches the light on any Christmas cookie tray.
What sets these cookies apart is the quick jam—fresh cranberries simmered with red wine and orange juice until thick and glossy. It’s the kind of sophisticated flavour combination that would have been right at home in an Edwardian Christmas, when wine-enriched preserves and fruit-filled pastries graced afternoon tea tables and holiday entertaining.
These slice-and-bake cookies are ideal for making ahead: the jam keeps for three days, and the dough log can be frozen for up to a week. When you’re ready to bake, slice, roll in sanding sugar, and pop them in the oven.
Tips for Perfect Pinwheels
These slice-and-bake cookies are ideal for making ahead: the jam keeps for three days refrigerated, and the dough log can be frozen for up to a week — just thaw overnight in the fridge before slicing.
The jam is key to success here. Cook it until it’s thick enough to hold a line when you drag a spatula through — if it’s too runny, it will leak out during baking and make a sticky mess.
Don’t worry if your cookies come out a bit wonky rather than perfectly round. While they’re still hot and pliable, press an inverted glass (close to the cookie’s size) around the edges in a circular motion to reshape them into tidy rounds.
Cranberry-Wine Pinwheel Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour, 219 g
- ½ tsp. kosher salt plus more
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar plus ¼ cup (183 g)
- 1 medium orange
- 10 Tbsp. unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 large egg separated
- 1½ tsp. vanilla extract
For Jam
- 1 cup red wine
- 1¼ cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 6 tbsp. Sanding sugar for coating
Instructions
- Whisk ½ tsp. baking powder, 1¾ cups (219 g) all-purpose flour, and ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt in a small bowl; set aside.
- Place ⅔ cup (133 g) granulated sugar in a large bowl. Finely grate zest from 1 medium orange into bowl and massage into sugar with your fingers until mixture starts to clump and is fragrant; set orange aside. Add 10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature, and, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add 1 large egg yolk and 1½ tsp. vanilla extract and beat to combine, about 30 seconds. Add reserved dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until a crumbly dough forms.
- Place a large sheet of plastic wrap on a surface. Turn out dough onto plastic and pat into a rectangle, pressing down to make as thin as possible and making sides even (this will make dough easier to roll out later). Wrap dough up to enclose and chill 30 minutes.
Make the Jam
- Meanwhile, halve and juice reserved orange (you should have about ¼ cup); pour into a medium saucepan. Add 1¼ cups fresh or frozen cranberries, 1 cup red wine, remaining ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar, and a big pinch of kosher salt. Set over medium-high heat; cook, stirring and scraping down sides often and smashing cranberries with a heatproof rubber spatula, until mixture thickens enough to hold a line when spatula is dragged through it and no whole berries remain, at least 11–13 minutes; let jam cool (it will continue to thicken as it cools).
Assemble
- Unwrap dough; reserve plastic wrap. Place dough on a sheet of parchment paper on a flat surface and Let sit for at least 5 minutes or until the dough is pliable. Place another sheet of parchment paper on top, and then, with a short side facing you, roll out to a 14x10" rectangle. Trim sides to straighten. Save the scraps for little cookie cutouts.
- Spread a thin layer of jam over dough, going all the way to the edges on 3 sides and leaving a 1" border on top short side. Starting on the short side nearest you and using parchment paper to help it keep its shape as you go, roll up dough to form a log. Wrap in parchment, then reserved plastic and twist ends to tighten and seal (this will preserve the log’s shape). Freeze 1 hour.
- Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 375°. Whisk 1 large egg white in a small bowl. Spread out some sanding sugar on a large sheet of parchment paper. Unwrap dough and lightly brush egg white all over outside of log; roll in sanding sugar to coat. Slice into rounds about ⅜" thick. Place on 2 baking sheets lined with silicone baking mats or parchment paper, spacing 2" apart.
- Bake cookies, rotating baking sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through, until golden brown, 18–20 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack with a spatula (if using parchment, jam may stick in spots); let cool completely.
Notes
- Jam can be made 3 days ahead; transfer to an airtight container and chill.
- Dough can be made 1 week ahead; keep frozen. Thaw overnight in refrigerator before using.
- my first attempt made a runny jam, which leaked through the filling
- Your cookies may come out wonky and not a perfect circle, but you can fix that while the cookies are still hot. Invert a glass which is close to the size of the cookie and move circularly around the cooke edges to help form that round shape.