Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies (Egg less)

An impromptu trip to Corbett happened last weekend.  After the initial babble of the kids born out of excitement of an unanticipated trip, there was silence in the car. Nature has such calming effect on us. We were drinking the beauty of late spring, savouring every bit of it. The air was fresh, fragrant and intoxicating with the scent of wild flowers that bordered the road on either side. Not a single sound was audible for miles, only the murmur of the car as it glided on the smooth road that undulated every now and then and sometimes went slightly uphill and downhill as we neared our destination.

Next day we went to a village on the banks of river Kosi. Some curious kids collected around us followed by more and more till we had a huge number of children of all ages participating in races and games that we played with them. Frog race had them all splitting in laughter as they fell one by one. A mild drizzle tried to play spoil sport but could not douse the spirits and the games went on until ferocious winds made it impossible to carry on the activities. Back in the room, the kids munched on the chocolate pinwheel cookies that I had made a day before and packed for the journey.

I always wanted to make pinwheel cookies. The chocolate swirls always fascinated me more than the anticipated taste.

 Chocolate and Vanilla complement each other and the cookies were delicious.

 Most of the recipes that I came across had eggs. I omitted eggs and adjusted the quantity of ingredients likewise. The cookies came out really well. Care has to be taken while handling two sheets of dough. During summers the butter makes the dough very soft and sticky. I am sure during winters it will be a lot easier to handle it.

This is how I made Chocolate Pinwheel cookies

Chocolate Pinwheel cookies (Egg less)

Ingredients

1 ¾ cup all purpose flour

¾ cup sugar

½ cup (1 stick) butter

½ tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1 tablespoon milk

Chocolate swirl

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon milk

Method

Beat together the ingredients for chocolate swirl till smooth. Keep aside.

Whisk together flour and baking powder.

Beat butter and sugar till light and creamy. Add milk and vanilla essence. Add all purpose flour and stir till dough forms. Use hands to mix well.

Take ¾ of this dough and keep aside. This is vanilla dough.

Add chocolate mix to the remaining dough and mix till well incorporated. This is chocolate dough.

On a parchment sheet, roll vanilla dough into a rectangle about 6 inches in width and 7 inches in length. Repeat with chocolate dough.

Flip rolled chocolate dough onto vanilla dough and peel off the parchment sheet carefully. Press lightly with a rolling pin.

Roll the dough lightly from the short end. Roll the dough tightly into a log. Wrap with a plastic film and chill in refrigerator. Remove after 25 minutes and roll the log on the counter to retain the circular shape (the log tends to flatten from one side).

Wrap again and keep in the freezer for one hour.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Slice the log with a sharp knife to get ¼ inch thick cookies.

Arrange the cookies on a baking tray. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or till the edges begin to turn golden.

Cool in the rack and store in an air tight container.