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Close up of an Apricot Pinwheel cookie, sitting on a black plate.
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5 from 1 vote

Apricot Pinwheel Cookies with Orange Glaze

Apricot taste two ways with jam and dried. Throw in some diced walnuts for a little crunch. The orange tops the whole cookie off with summer flavors.
Prep Time20 minutes
Total Bake Time44 minutes
Chill1 day
Total Time1 day 1 hour 4 minutes
Course: Cookies
Cuisine: American
Difficulty: Medium
Servings: 45
Calories: 154kcal

Ingredients

Apricot and Walnut Filling

  • 13 ounces (368.54 g) Apricot jam or preserves
  • 11 ounces (311.85 g) Apricot dried
  • ½ cup (58.5 g) Walnuts diced

Pinwheel Cookie Dough

  • 1 cup (227 g) Butter unsalted room temperature
  • 1 cup (200 g) Sugar white
  • 2 teaspoon (2 teaspoon) Vanilla Extract
  • 2 Tablespoon (2 Tablespoon) Milk
  • 2 (2) Eggs room temperature
  • 3 ½ cups (437.5 g) All-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) Baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Kosher Salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoon (1.5 teaspoon) Baking powder

Orange Glaze

  • 1 ½ cup (180 g) Powdered sugar
  • 3 Tablespoon (3 Tablespoon) Orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Orange zest
  • 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Honey

Instructions

Apricot Filling

  • Add the dried Apricots to a food processor and dice them into small pieces. They will stick together, but you can separate them when adding to the rolled-out cookie dough.

Cookie Dough

  • Weigh your sugar into a bowl and set it aside. Next, weigh the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into another bowl, running a whisk through to blend.
  • In a stand or handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugar until the batter is light and fluffy with small peaks on the side of the bowl. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla extract and the milk. Blend for a minute. Next, add one egg at a time until mixed into the batter. Scrape down the sides again, turn the mixer onto a low speed and gradually add the flour mixture. Don't over-mix, blend in any loose flour using a strong spatula or by hand.

Roll and Bake the Pinwheels

  • This recipe makes enough for 2 pinwheel logs. With that in mind I have a 3-part setup on my workstation. A pastry mat and 2 parchment paper sheets (16 ¼" X 12 ¼") that fits a half sheet pan. Flour all three.
  • Take the cookie dough from the mixer bowl and place it on the pastry mat. Form a rectangle that is about 8" X 12" and then cut it at the 6" (middle) to form 2 rectangle shapes. They should be about 6" X 8" in size. I have a picture above in the post if needed. Place a rectangle on each parchment paper, and you can remove the pastry mat. Now we roll the dough.
  • Each cookie dough rectangle will fill a parchment paper sheet when rolled out. I use parchment paper because you can lift the end to help roll the dough into a log shape. Once you have the dough rolled out, I trim the sides a little to help keep the rectangle shape, making it easier to line the filling with the sides.
  • Using about half a jar of the jam or preserves, spread a thin layer onto the cookie dough, leaving about 1 to 1 ½ inches around the outer edge of the whole rectangle without any jam. This way, you will not have the filling squeezing out the sides when rolling into a log. Next, take the diced apricots and sprinkle them around on top of the jam reserve enough for the second log. Separate, any big chunks sticking together. Finally, sprinkle about ¼ cup of the diced walnuts on top of the dried apricots — time to roll into a log.
  • Start by rolling the short edge of the rectangle closest to you; as you roll, lift up the edge of the parchment paper under the roll. If you keep lifting the paper along with rolling the cookie dough, it makes it easier to make a tight roll. Before you get to the end, grab plastic wrap and tear off a sheet. Put the plastic wrap's edge under the end of the parchment paper and roll the log onto the plastic wrap.
  • Wrap the log with plastic wrap and smooth out the log with your hands. Take a cardboard paper towel center and slip it in half lengthwise. use both sections under the log to cradle it and help keep its shape. Now do the second log the same way. Chill for at least 2 hours, but overnight is better.
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C). Place an unwrapped log onto a cutting board and slice ¼" to ⅜" thick slices of the log for each cookie. I use a sharp knife. You can use the end pieces, but they will have little or no filling. Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet pan and bake for 10-12 minutes. When they have come out of the oven, I put parchment paper sheets on my cooling rack. Since there is filling on both sides of the cookie, as they cool, they can stick to the rack and pull the filling out when you move them.

Orange Glaze

  • Add the powdered sugar, orange juice, orange zest, and honey to a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Add some to a spoon and go back and forth 2 or 3 times over the top of each cookie. You only need a little. Try the glaze on 1 cookie to see if you need more or less for your taste before you glaze the rest.

Nutrition

Calories: 154kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 86mg | Potassium: 111mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 407IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 1mg