Peppermint Christmas Pinwheel “Sugar” Cookies
Add to favorites
~ raw, vegan, gluten-free ~
At the age of 16, I started really getting into baking cookies. Prior to that age, I ate my fair share of store-bought cookies but when I made them at home, I usually ran out of patience and just ate the dough. Shew, glad to have that off my chest. I have been carrying that cookie sin on my shoulders far too long. :)
But as I was saying, at around 16 I really dove deep into the world of Christmas baking. A good friend of mine at the time would come over on a Saturday morning about 6:00 am and we would bake till at least midnight.
I remember one year, I made 1,600 Russian Tea Cakes… in one day! It was insane but fun. We would then make up trays, wrap them in cellophane, close it with a pretty bow and made our deliveries. I swear we fed the state of Alaska. And to this day making cookies remains one of my favorite Christmas traditions.
The wonderful cookies in this recipe are semi-firm on the outside, soft on the inside, chewy, sweet but not too sweet and leave your mouth with a cooling freshness of peppermint. Present them to your loved ones on a silver tray with tall glasses of nut milk. Or you could wrap them individually in small plastic bags and tie it off with a bow. Another fun idea is to make a cookie sucker. Simply slide a sucker stick into the bottom of them! Package in decorative boxes, tins, jars, shoot you could use about any wonderful container that could become part of the gift. Just be sure to slide a piece of wax paper or plastic wrap in between each cookie so they don’t stick together.
Another fun idea is to make a cookie sucker. Simply slide a sucker stick into the bottom of them! Package in decorative boxes, tins, jars, shoot you could use about any wonderful container that could become part of the gift. Just be sure to slide a piece of wax paper or plastic wrap in between each cookie so they don’t stick together.
For the almond flour, I used a fine almond flour, not ground almonds. You can achieve a raw fine almond flour by soaking the almond, remove the skins, dehydrate, and grind to a finer flour texture. If you just use ground almonds the batter can turn out grainy. Another way to achieve a fine almond flour is too dry the almond pulp after making almond milk. Grind this to a fine powder once dried. If you are not able to do this and 100% raw isn’t your top priority, you can purchase almond flour.
Word of caution: this recipe has two parts to it; the plain cookie dough and the peppermint cookie dough. One might think to just double the ingredients, split in 1/2 and then add the different extracts BUT I encourage you to refrain from that because the batter doubled could be too much for your food processor to handle. The dough goes together fairly quickly so don’t worry about that. Happy Holidays!
Ingredients:
Yields 36 cookies
Sugar dough:
- 2 cup fine almond flour
- 1 cup raw cashew flour
- 1/3 cup shredded coconut flakes, powdered
- 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp water
- 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds only
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
Peppermint sugar doughs:
- 2 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1 cup raw cashew flour
- 1/3 cup shredded coconut flakes, powdered
- 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp peppermint extract
- 1/4 cup beet juice
Preparation:
- If you make your own almond meal, be sure to remove the skins from the almonds if you want your cookie to be creamy white.
- In a food processor, fitted with the “S” blade, combine the almond flour, cashew flour, coconut, and salt. Process together.
- Add the sweetener, vanilla bean seeds, and extracts. Process until it starts sticking together and forms a ball. Do this for each dough batter.
- For the peppermint batter, add the beet juice the same time you add in the sweetener and other ingredients.
- Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 1 hour. This will help with the rolling out process.
- Place the ball in between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and roll the dough out to about 1/4″ thickness. My dough measured 14″ long by 8″ wide, roughly. Repeat the process with the peppermint dough.
- Remove the top plastic wrap off of the top of the plain cookie dough and lay the peppermint dough on top of it (remove the plastic wrap from the peppermint dough when doing this).
- Using bottom sheet of plastic wrap as a guide, starting at long side, tightly roll up dough jelly-roll fashion, removing plastic wrap as you roll. See photos below to better understand.
- Leave the outer plastic wrap on and place in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour to chill and firm up a bit.
- Once chilled, remove from the fridge and place the roll on the cutting board, sliding the plastic wrap off. Slice into 1/4-1/2″ thick slices and lay them flat on the mesh sheet that comes with your dehydrator. I recommend using a serrated knife (bread knife) and gently rock the knife back and forth slightly as you make the cut. This will ensure a nice smooth slice.
- Dry at 145 degrees (F) for 1 hour, then reduce to 115 degrees (F) for roughly 16-24 hours or until desired dryness is reached.
Culinary Explanations:
- Why do I start the dehydrator at 145 degrees (F)? Click (here) to learn the reason behind this.
- When working with fresh ingredients it is important to taste test as you build a recipe. Learn why (here).
Substitutions:
One of the greatest joys when creating raw food recipes is experimenting with different ingredients… a practice that I highly encourage. Daily I get questions regarding substitutions. Of course, we all might have different dietary needs and tastes which could necessitate altering a recipe. I love to share with you what I create for myself, my husband, friends, and family. I spend a lot of time selecting the right ingredients with a particular goal in mind, looking to build a certain flavor and texture.
So as you experiment with substitutions, remember they are what they sound like, they are substitutes for the preferred item. Generally, they are not going to behave, taste, or have the same texture as the suggested ingredient. Some may work, and others may not and I can’t promise what the results will be unless I’ve tried them myself. So have fun, don’t be afraid, and remember, substituting is how I discovered many of my unique dishes.
The colors in these photos haven’t been altered. It’s amazing
how much the colors shifted once dehydrated. :)
This cookie was created with the end piece of the roll that I have
cut off. It had a little bit of both colors, so I rolled it into a ball,
rolled it out and used a cookie cutter to create this beautiful cookie.
© AmieSue.com
Tags: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, Soy Free, sugar free, Vegan
Imagine my surprise to see these! I had my first raw Christmas cookie making extravaganza a couple weeks ago and I made something nearly identical to these trying to recreate cookies I had seen in a cook book years ago. I used a few different ingredients but they’re so close, yours look prettier of course, as I couldn’t locate a rolling pin. :)
I thought I would share that I used beet juice to color the red dough, which made an excellent red food coloring because I hardly had to use any and it was tasteless. Just another option, especially if you have a juicer to get fresh beet juice.
Love your website!
Xeque
Aah yea, good ole beet juice. I had thought of that when I was making them but didn’t have any beets on hand and didn’t want to go to the store. :) Good choice though. :) Thank you for sharing Xeque. Happy holidays! amie sue
You are SO talented! Just beautiful and just amazing!
Thank you sweet Christine. :)
Your blog was one of the first I came across when I began looking into raw food, and it really inspired me to eat raw, and to eat a really varied raw diet. I can’t express how much I am impressed by your ingenuity and recipes- they are absolutely amazing, so much like non-raw food but so much better for you, and tastier. Unfortunately, I am spending my gap year volunteering for 8 months in Malawi right now, so I have no access to any of the delicious ingredients needed for the recipes (or the tools) but I am adding every recipe I see to my growing list of ‘to cook when I get home from Africa!’ But keep up the amazing work!
Oh Emma, thank you! I am toughed that I inspire you. :) Your time in Africa was much how I started out raw in Alaska… raw food was so foreign up there when I started. when I told people about it, you would have thought I had a contagious disease by the look on their faces. lol Blessings to you while you are there and keep in touch. amie sue
Hi Amie-Sue
It’s always such a “treat” to get your emails! I truly think your brilliant! You really should consider a beautiful raw book.. Your pictures are just as grande as the recipes!
I also need to ask you about your ebook, I bought it online last week, and can’t figure out how to download it? Can you please let me know if there is a link somewhere I am missing?
Thanks
Joanne
Thank you Joanne… I would LOVE to do a book… sort of overwhelmed with the process, but anything is possible. I will send you a new link for the eBook, check you email box. amie sue :)
For some goofy reason, this made me think about the cartoon of 2 polar bears standing over an igloo. One says to the other: “You know, I really like these things. Cold and crunchy on the outside, warm and gooey in the middle.”.
I know, completely off the wall. But then, that’s just me…
LOL Elaine…. I love you!
Thank you for your wonderful & creative recipes. Your presentation ideas are lovely.
I’m thinking of trying a cinnamon variation…
I have tons of frozen almond pulp and am always looking for new recipes.
OOOOOH man oh man! I would love to have tons of frozen almond pulp to play with. hehe Thank you Martie for sharing. Have a blessed holiday! amie sue
Absolutely gorgeous cookies, Amie Sue. I’m so jealous that you have your act together so well that even your nails are pretty. If it wasn’t for food and cooking, I would be in therapy – so it works both ways!
lol Janice… not sure if my act is together but like you said, at least my nails are pretty. lol You cracked me up. :) Merry Christmas! amie sue
These look fantastic…I need therapy also but because I can’t stop making kale chips with different flavours;)
Just a little (hopefully) helpful tip I discovered to roll things out…I use one of the zip lock bags…the size is dependent on what I am rolling out…put your “dough” in the ziplock bag and deal it and roll on top of the bag…this way you end up with a perfect rectangle shape…you can hold it up to see that it is even and just manipulate the dough till it all is evenly rolled…then just cut the ziplock bag open and vola…very quick and easy:)
You are an inspiration:)
Hi Julia… Oh I have to watch myself with kale chips… way to addicting. I go through spells with those as well. Thanks for the tip on rolling dough out. Great idea too! I appreciate you sharing. Have a wonderful holiday. amie sue
Hello again ;)
I posted before with a soaked/dehydrated question about your peppermint-coconut brownies–wanted to follow up that they were just _superb_. I’ve been doing raw so long now that I can tell when a recipe is actually going to be good. I love the looks of this one too.
But but but but…my goodness, you’re in Alaska??? Me too!!! Where are you, neighbor friend sister kindred spirit? I used to live in CA and then HI, where raw was just about mainstream, and it’s very odd indeed up here! These days I’m not 100% raw, and especially in the winter it just seems smart.
Can’t wait to connect with you more.
Ela
Hello ELa…. So happy to hear that you enjoyed the brownies. :) I have a new one that just created yesterday. I tend to post pictures on my Facebook account of my new creations that I am going to release.
I am not in Alaska anymore. We moved out less than two years ago but I still have about 20 family members there. I lived there for 28 years and that was more than enough for me! haha It’s beautiful there, no doubt…. but it no longer offers what my husband and I wanted to surround ourselves with. What part are you living in? Many blessings… amie sue
Amie Sue,
I’m in Homer. No doubt it is beautiful indeed! I adore the remoteness and small population. But there is so much I miss about the places I used to live also. If you feel like sharing, I’d love to hear where/how you decided to leave for (it seems like a fairly regular conversation, people tiring of living here and deciding where to go Outside).
cheers,
Ela
Good morning Ela… You bet. You can contact me through [email protected]. Homer is a very quaint little town/community. :) Last time I was there (1.5 yrs ago) I noticed it is growing towards being an artsy community. Very cool. I remember seeing an amazing motorcycle sculpture made from silverware… I wanted to take that thing home! hehe Have a wonderful day, amie sue