Chocolate cookies? Vanilla tea biscuits cookies? Why not have both :)
Pinwheel cookies are a beautiful thing, and this pinwheel recipe has a fun added bonus: the chocolate layer is almost brownie-ish, leaving you with a soft, slightly fudgey-tasting cookie that's a perfect pairing with some almond (or hazelnut) milk or a nice cuppa...
If you're feeling at all intimidated by getting the swirly pattern in your cookie...don't be! Pinwheels are really easy to prepare (once you wrap your head around all the rolling directions -- I tried to explain as clearly as I could -- but promise it's all super simple once you get started). Plus with that tiny bit of extra rolling effort you end up with these sweet little chocolate-vanilla gems: soft, delicious and the perfect packable treat. Just watch out because they're totally one of those cookies you'll have a hard time just having one of...
P.S. If you need assistance with figuring out how the rolling works, check out this video from the 1:59min mark and you'll see that it's not hard at all.
Chocolate Vanilla Pinwheel Cookies
Chocolate cookies? Vanilla tea biscuits? Why not have both! Gluten-free, simple recipe for delicious vegan pinwheel cookies. Refined sugar-free.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: approx 15 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
Vanilla Layer:
- 6 tbsp white rice flour (I used a finely ground one)
- 2 tbsp cashew butter
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/16 tsp salt
Chocolate Layer:
- 7 tbsp white rice flour (I used a finely ground one)
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp cashew butter
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/16 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment and set aside.
- Process all vanilla layer ingredients in a food processor until the mixture begins to form a ball (note if the mixture is too sticky, add a bit more flour, if too dry, add a bit more maple syrup). Form the mixture into a ball with your hands and knead briefly, then flatten into a disk. Place the disk between two sheets of parchment paper on a flat surface and use a rolling pin to roll out into an ⅛" thickness, and roughly the shape of a rectangle. Remove the top layer of parchment and set aside (leaving the base resting on the bottom parchment sheet for now).
- Process all chocolate layer ingredients in a food processor until the mixture begins to form a ball (note if the mixture is too sticky, add a bit more flour, if too dry, add a bit more maple syrup). Form the mixture into a ball with your hands and knead briefly, then flatten into a disk. Place the disk between two sheets of parchment paper on a flat surface and use a rolling pin to roll out into an ⅛" thickness, roughly into the same shape and size rectangle as the vanilla layer. Peel off the parchment layer from the top.
- Carefully flip the chocolate layer over the vanilla layer, leave the parchment paper on top and go over the now combined layers with a rolling pin to flatten them a little. Remove the sheet of parchment from the top. Starting at on long edge of the rectangle, carefully roll up the two layers into a log (I use the bottom sheet of parchment paper to help by lifting one of the sides of the rolled out dough and rolling it up from there). *Note if you want your cookies really round, freeze the log for 20 mins, then roll back and forth on the counter to get it into a round shape. If you don't mind them being a bit more flat (as pictured) skip the freezing stage.
- Remove the parchment from the roll (ok to leave it resting on top), and slice the roll into rings that are approx. a ¼" thick. Transfer each cookie onto prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven for 10 mins (or bake longer for crispier cookies to your liking). Remove from oven and allow the cookies to cool a few minutes (they will firm up a bit as they cool off). Enjoy!
Taegan says
These cookies are so good! They're pretty easy to make too! I didn't have rice flour so I used gf al-purpose baking flour and it worked great! I also used only 2 tbsps of maple syrup in the chocolate layer bc the vanilla layer was really sweet and it balanced out great!
The Real Person!
Hi Taegan, thank you so much for sharing! I'm so glad you enjoyed these :)
Nur says
Hi there!
How do you make the cashew butter? I mad it toasting the cashews in the oven and then processing them all until creamy, but the cream resulted darker than yours so, in the resulting cookies the difference between both layers was not very clear...
Delicious anyway
Thanks for the blog and cheers from Spain!
The Real Person!
Hi Nur. When I make homemade cashew butter, I make it as you describe. Toast the nuts first (though making sure not to darken them too much), then blend until completely smooth. I think the butter can sometimes get darker if the nuts are toasted longer. But I'm glad you enjoyed the cookies nonetheless :)
Stephanie says
I think maybe I rolled my log too tightly, or my rectangle was too long, but to get the dough thin enough I had to roll it out long. My cookies are soooo small, lol
The Real Person!
Aw, sounds like it, yeah. I'm picturing cute baby pinwheels now :) I hope they tasted good nonetheless.
Mika says
Another beautiful and delicious cookie recipe! All gone I'm less than an hour :) That's what happens when you live in a family of six, I suppose. The only problems I had were that the chocolate dough was so sticky and liquids that I had to freeze it for an entire hour :( and I didn't get the swirls in the cookies. Any tips? A definite make again ?
The Real Person!
Hi Mika,
I'm really glad to hear you enjoyed the cookies.
If the chocolate layer was too sticky, it would be because somehow too much liquid got added or not enough flour. If that happens again, just add a bit more flour to balance it out.
What do you mean by "not getting swirls"? What did they look like? :)
Mika says
The whole cookie was just sort of mushed together to create a light brown, and there was no definition like in your cookies
The Real Person!
Hmm, ok, a few thoughts on that. One is that maybe the flattening in step 4 was a bit too strong, resulting in the two layers blending together. The other thought is that I'm not sure if I understood it correctly from your previous comment, but you only froze the chocolate layer and not the vanilla layer, right? If so, it might be that because it was more solid and the other layer more soft that one pushed into the other, causing the layers to meld.
Aaspen says
Hi,
I was wondering with the recipe do you have to use cashew butter or can you substitute it out with another nut butter like peanut or almond?
Emma Shulman says
Hi Audrey
These look delicious. We are avoiding using rice flour in our diets due to the arsenic content. Is there another flour I could substitute it with?
Many thanks
Emma
Nathan Zorndorf says
I would also like to know if there is a substitute for rice flour
The Real Person!
Hi Emma and Nathan, you can use sorghum, millet, or oat flour instead (or a combination). It'll alter the consistency and flavor a touch, but should still work well. Or you can use a an all purpose gluten-free baking mix (or regular all purpose flour if not gf). Let me know if you try one of these and how you like it -- I'm sure others will be wondering the same down the road, so always helpful to have feedback on substitutions.
Emma Shulman says
Thanks Audrey. We just made them today, half sorghum and half millet flour. They are delicious!
The Real Person!
That's awesome -- so happy you liked them, Emma :)
And thank you for confirming that the millet and sorghum worked well for you -- much appreciated.
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
These are the perfect cookie solution to my never-can-decide-between-chocolate-and-vanilla problem! I can't say I've ever made white rice flour cookies, but the inside texture looks lovely. And of course I love cashew butter + maple syrup combo--I'm pretty sure every recipe should include those two ingredients :) I've done the pinwheel thing once before and they turned out well...not nearly this pretty. The rolling part is easier than it looks, but picking nicely contrasting colors of dough is very important (I learned the hard way lol). So cute, I would happily join you in that coffee + cookies situation :)
The Real Person!
oh, that would be such a bummer to go through the rolling only to find out the colors look the almost the same ?
Izzy Bruning says
These look so delicious!!!
Izzy | Pinch of delight
The Real Person!
Thanks Izzy! :)