Peppermint Pinwheels

My head has not been in the game this week.

The other evening I decided I wanted to make these peppermint pinwheels. I set some butter near the wood stove to soften. Forgot about it. An hour later, it was completely melted. Oops. I got out more butter. This time I softened it in the microwave. Worked like a charm. Mixed up the dough, rolled out the layers, and rolled them up together. Forgot to read the directions and I rolled them up starting with a short side instead of a long one. Not a big deal, just a bid maddening. Stuck the stick of dough in the fridge. Pulled out my gingerbread house dough and began rolling it out. I started cutting out pieces, baking them, and soon realized I was cutting doors in the roof and I must not have been rolling the dough thin enough because I quickly saw I wasn’t going to have enough dough. The end of one of the houses had to be paper thin. Oops again. I also tried a different method of making trees…baked a slab of dough and then cut out the shapes with the cookie cutter. Big mistake. I got one tree to work successfully. Argh.

The next morning I began to peel the aluminum foil from the backs of the house pieces. Two of  the main pieces broke. WHY?!? Oh my goodness. And then I got my stick of peppermint pinwheel dough out of the fridge to bake them up. I cut into them and saw a large hole down the center of the log. I didn’t roll it tight enough. So now 3/4 of my pinwheels have holes in the middle of them. Then I baked them. Then I bit into one. Then I decided broken gingerbread houses and hole-y pinwheels were okay. And I did a little jig. Tage thought I was funny.

I saved the good ones for you guys

Peppermint Pinwheels

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sprouted whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 drops peppermint oil (1/4 t maybe?)
• 1/4 teaspoon red liquid food coloring

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Combine the flours, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide dough in half; add extract and red food coloring to one portion.
• Roll out each portion of dough between waxed paper into a 16-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Remove waxed paper. Place red rectangle over plain rectangle; roll up tightly jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight or until firm.
• Unwrap the dough and cut into 1/4-in. slices. Place 2 in. apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
  
• Yield: about 4 dozen (if you remember to roll it up on a LONG side)

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