Ginger-Lemon Pinwheel Cookies – Cooking Light Recipe
As you already know, I love trying new recipes. Most of the time I try a recipe based on a sample I enjoyed, made by someone else. Other times, I just try a recipe based on the ingredients, and a picture of the finished product.
This time I was looking for some “light and healthy” cookie recipes, to cater to some of my guests who are dieting, yet wish to satisfy their sweet tooth.
The Ginger-Lemon Pinwheel Cookies in this post, were one of the ones I decided to try.
The picture looked very appealing to me, and the ingredients did not call for anything out of the ordinary, so it sounded like a great choice.
Normally I only share successful recipes, but even though I was slightly disappointed with the final result of this recipe, I will share it any way, because it might appeal to someone who is looking for low calorie cookies. Actually, I will probably make these again, and play with the recipe a little.
This recipe yields about 40 cookies @ only 81 calories each.
Ingredients
- Ginger Dough:
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses (I used dark molasses)
- 1 large egg yolk (save the white for the Lemon Dough)
- 1- 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp. ground ginger
- 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. salt - (I used 1/8 tsp)
- 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
- Dash of ground allspice
- 8 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg white (saved from Ginger dough)
- 2 tsp. ground lemon rind
- 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1- 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp. salt (I used 1/8 tsp)
Instructions
- Ginger Dough:
- In a medium mixer bowl, combine butter and brown sugar.
- Mix about 3 minutes, at medium speed.
- Add molasses, and egg yolk, and beat until blended.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour and all the spices.
- Gradually add to the butter mixture, and beat at low speed until combined.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, mix butter and sugar at medium speed for 3 minutes.
- Add egg white and beat until blended.
- Beat in lemon rind and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, mix flour with all the dry ingredients.
- Gradually add to butter mixture, and beat at low speed until blended.
- Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.
- Unwrap ginger dough, roll between two sheets of plastic wrap, into a 13x8 rectangle. Dough will be quite thin (3/16 inch).
- Chill for 10 minutes.
- Roll the lemon dough in the same way, and chill as well.
- Once chilled, remove the top sheet of plastic wrap from the Ginger and Lemon Dough.
- Stack Lemon Dough on top of Ginger Dough, leaving 1/2 inch border along the long side of the Ginger Dough.
- Remove the remaining plastic wrap.
- Starting with the long side without the border, roll up dough tightly, jelly-roll fashion. If you do not roll tightly, you will end up with a hole in the middle of your pinwheel.
- Seal edges (do not seal ends of roll).
- Cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Unwrap dough roll.
- Cut with a sharp knife, into 40 slices, about 1/4 inch thick.
- Reshape rounds.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper (wax paper will scorch - do not use).
- Arrange cookie slices 1 inch apart.
- Bake one batch at a time, for 8 minutes, or until set and slightly browned.
- Cool on wire racks.
Notes
Some of my guests actually enjoyed them, even though these cookies are on a denser side, more like biscotti, or as I call them "dunking" tea cookies.
If you are watching your diet, you definitely would have no guilt having a couple of these, instead of any of my other ones, which are scrumptious, but not so low in calories.
This would be a good cookie for Phase III in The Fat Smash Diet.
2 thoughts on “Ginger-Lemon Pinwheel Cookies – Cooking Light Recipe”