Eggless Pinwheel Cookies

My darling dotzy turned five last weekend and we had an amazing party at the park. Among the fun and frolic was great food including snacks made at home. I made Blueberry Vanilla Cupcakes, Chocolate cupcakes, pinwheel cookies, Nipattu and Pakoda all of which were well recieved and the boxes were nearly empty by the time we came back home. Its always very gratifying to have super success with your food!
Pinwheel cookies was part of  the Home Bakers Challenge for June, a group which I have joined on FB. I had already made the Peanut Butter Cookies and now found the perfect opportunity to bake cookies in a house where the folks dont eat anything sweet!

One thing I must say about these cookies - they taste best till the next day once done. They get a cardboard-y taste after 2 days. So eating them fresh is the way to go according to me.
This recipe has been adapted from The Heritage Cook and adapted to make it eggless. It requires making two varieties of dough, one chocolate and one vanilla, and rolling it together.

Tips for making the process easier

1) The easiest way to handle this dough is to keep it cold. I refridgerated the dough quite a few times to be able to make it easily. After I kneaded it wrapped in cling wrap and also after I rolled it out and wedged between parchment paper, for 30 mins each time.
2) Flatten the dough  in between layers of parchment paper to make it easier to roll out. Else it sticks to the rolling pin. Also cleaning up becomes a breeze!
3) It might be easier to press down on the dough with a heavy wooden spoon or rolling pin and push it outwards to flatten it rather than rolling on it using a pin.
4) While rolling the dough into a log, roll using the parchment halfway and then pull back the paper. Do this for every roll
5) Refridgerate dough log for atleast an hour before cutting it into cookies. This ensures the dough log is stiff and cutting it into cookie rounds makes it easier without the dough losing shape.
6) Last but not the least, dont get intimated by the length of the instructions. Its easier done than explained.

Eggless Pinwheel Cookies

Servings: 32 cookies
Prep Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

All purpose flour – 1 ½ Cup
Baking powder – ½ Tsp
Salt – ¼ Tsp
Unsalted softened butter – ½ Cup
Granulated sugar – ¾ Cup
3/4 tbsp EnerG Egg Replacer
1 1/2 tbsp Warm water
Vanilla extract – 1 Tsp
Unsweetened cocoa powder – 2 Tbsp
Semi sweet chocolate chips – ¼ Cup
2 tsp Milk

Instructions

Vanilla Dough

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Whip the egg-replacer with warm water until it is gooey and set aside
3. In a mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg replacer and vanilla extract and beat again until blended.
4. Add the flour mixture slowly, beating just until combined.
5. Divide the dough into two parts
6. Refrigerate one part wrapped in cling wrap for 30 mins. That will be the vanilla dough.

Chocolate Dough

1. Melt the chocolate chips along with the milk in a microwave by heating it for 10 secs. Set aside to cool.
2. Add the cocoa and the cooled melted chocolate to the second half of the dough and mix till well incorporated.
3. Refrigerate this chocolate dough wrapped in cling wrap for 30 mins.

Making pinwheel Shape

1. Place the vanilla dough in between parchment sheets measuring 12 inches * 12 inches. 
2. Flatten the dough in between the sheets to the dimension of the paper. 
3. Repeat for the chocolate dough (use another set of parchment paper of size 12 inches * 12 inches)
4. Optionally refrigerate the two dough discs along with the parchment paper for 30 mins. This step is necessary if the weather is really hot and humid.
5. Set the vanilla disc on a counter and peel away the top paper. Do the same for the chocolate disc.
6. Now flip the chocolate disc and stack on top of the vanilla disc ensuring that the discs are again sandwiched between the remaining parchment paper. (Bottom parchment of Chocolate disc now becomes top parchment of the sandwich)
7. Roll lightly over the layers so that the dough adhere.
8. Remove the parchment paper on top.
9. Starting from one side, roll up the dough into one big log 12 inches long. Since the first couple of rolls will form the center of the cookie late ensure its firmly packed in. (I did falter here a bit and rolled it loose and you can see from the pics that the pinwheel shape at the center is not perfect)
10. Wrap the log in parchment and refrigerate it for upto an hour. 

Making the cookies

1. In the meantime preheat the oven to 350 F
2. Carefully slice the log into ¼ inch thick cookies and place on a baking sheet 1 inch apart. 
3. Bake it for 10-12 minutes. The cookies are done when you see the edges turning golden brown. They also harden on the cooling rack. 
4. Cool it on wire rack.