Pinwheel cookies

I came across a recipe for pinwheel (otherwise known as swirl cookies) in a magazine which required using melted white and dark chocolate for the separate doughs.  Not wanting to go out just to buy a block of white chocolate, I had a look on the web for a recipe where I could use a basic shortbread dough for the 'white' of the pinwheel, and I did find one!

It was a bit of a fight between myself and the dough to get it to roll up without it cracking, and in the end I just rolled it up quickly, and went fixing the cracks by smooth dough over it.  Had that failed, I would've probably made checkerboard cookies though Mum said that I could've just used the dough made them into separate cookies but I was determined to make a two-toned cookie!  The biscuit is buttery and crumbly and nor too sweet and keeps well in an airtight container for days.

Pinwheel cookies 
Recipe from My Buttery Fingers
Makes about 30

Ingredients

Vanilla Dough

• 160 g plain flour
• 100 g salted butter, cold, cut into 1cm cubes
• 50 g sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 large egg yolk
  

Chocolate Dough

• 140 g plain flour
• 20 g dutch process cocoa powder
• 100 g salted butter, cold, cut into 1cm cubes
• 50 g sugar
• 1 large egg yolk

Method

1. Make the vanilla dough - place flour and butter into mixing bowl and rub together until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add vanilla, sugar and egg yolk, mix together gently until a ball of dough forms. Form dough into a disc and warp dough with cling wrap and chill whilst you prepare the chocolate dough.
2. Prepare the chocolate dough as per the vanilla dough, adding the cocoa in with the flour.
3. Unwrap the vanilla dough and roll until 5 mm thick between 2 pieces of baking paper, trying to maintain a square shape.  (Wendy places it in a large Ziploc bag to roll which I'll try next time).  Place in fridge while you do the same with the chocolate dough.  
4. Place the chocolate dough on top of the vanilla dough and roll up tightly but gently like a Swiss-roll gently (I found it pretty difficult to roll without it crumbling, and not too sure why ... in any case, I just patched up the cracks). Chill for 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.  
6. Remove dough from the fridge and slice into 5 mm slices and place them slightly apart on baking sheet (they spread only slightly). 
7. Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until the biscuits are just turning pale golden around the edges, let cool on the tray for 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before storing.