Cinnamon Pinwheels

This simple recipe leverages our never-fail pie crust to create a delicate, sweet pastry. If you ever find yourself with extra pie dough from another recipe, you can roll it out, brush with melted butter, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and bake on a small sheet along with your other dish to get a handful of these delicious cookies. Reuse, reduce, and enjoy!

Desserts

Prep: 15 min
Chill: 20 min
Cook: 40 min
Total: 1 hour 15 min
Yields about 4 dozen cookies

Dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
Measure flour into a large bowl.
1 teaspoon salt
⅔ cup vegetable shortening
Add the salt and shortening.
Using two dull butter knives or a pastry blender, blend the flour, salt and shortening until the shortening is the size of peas.
8 to 10 tablespoons ice cold water
Fill a wide-mouthed glass with ice. Add water to the top. Measure or pour the ice cold water into the flour mixture. Using a spatula or your hands, mix the water into the flour to form a large ball of dough. You may need to add an extra tablespoon of water if you have excess flour. If you added too much water, add additional flour until the dough is well formed but not too sticky. Handle and mix the dough as little as possible.
Separate dough into two equal pieces and wrap the pieces separately in wax paper and put them in the freezer for 10 minutes or the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
Assembly
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
4 tablespoons butter
Melt butter and reserve.
½ cup sugar
1 ½ tablespoons cinnamon
In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together sugar and cinnamon to combine. Set aside.
flour (as needed)
On a well floured surface, roll out one piece of chilled dough into a rectangular shape about 12' by 8'.
2 tablespoons reserved melted butter
Heaping ¼ cup of reserved cinnamon-sugar
Using a pastry brush, brush melted butter evenly over the pastry. Sprinkle half of the reserved cinnamon-sugar over the melted butter and spread out evenly with a spatula.
Roll up the dough along the short side so that you have a 12' long jellyroll.
Using a pastry knife, cut roll into 1/2' pieces. Place pieces onto a prepared baking sheet.
Repeat with second piece of dough, using remaining butter and cinnamon-sugar.
Baking
Bake at 350°F until rolls have turns golden brown, about 40 min. If using two oven racks, switch position of the baking sheets after 20 min.
Remove from oven and let cool for 15 min. Transfer to a serving plate and sever warm or let cool until room temperature.