Recipe: Nutella Pinwheel Cookies

Time for another recipe! I was introduced to this amazing recipe around 2 years ago and it is still my all time favourite. My friend found the recipe on The Gallery Gourmet.

Ingredients: 

8 oz unsalted butter at room temperature 

1 cup sugar

2 extra large egg yolks

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 and 1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1/2 cup Nutella 

Prepares around 3-4 dozen depending on thickness of each cookie
Preparation Time: 3 steps, 10-15 minutes each, excluding refrigerate time

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, stir flour and salt and set aside. 
2. In a big mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar with stand mixer or hand mixer. Add egg yolks and vanilla extract and mix until well blended. 
3. Switch the mixer to low and add the flour mixture. Mix until combined and forms a soft dough. 
4. Transfer the dough onto a floured surface. Shape dough into a flat square and divide in half.
5. Wrap each half individually with saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (They can be left longer or even overnight while you doing something else. It will just take longer for the dough to soften after removing from refrigerator) 


6. Unwrap one half of the dough and place it on a flour surface (or parchment paper if you have any). Cover dough with a sheet of saran wrap and roll the dough till about 1/4 thickness. 
7. Using a spatula, spread 1/4 cup of Nutella on the dough but leaving a 1/4 in edge on all sides. 
8. Roll the dough into a tight log starting from the longest side 
9. Refrigerate log for another 30 minutes and repeat with the remaining half of the dough.  (The logs can also be frozen and will last for 2 weeks)


10. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper
11. Unwrap the log and slice 1/3 in slices. Place the slices on baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden around the edges. Viola! 

The log rolling was a bit challenging for me when I first learned the recipe, so my cookies did not turn out as round and swirly. However, practice did make it better! The key is the timing - roll when dough is softer at room temperature to avoid cracks in your logs. However, the dough cannot be too soft when applying Nutella or the sticky and thick Nutella may also break your cookie dough as you're spreading it!

This recipe may require more work than other cookies, but it is worth it! They are a great crowd and definitely a stomach pleaser :)