Welcoming the first Guest with her Pinwheel Cookies !

Today I am so happy to introduce a special friend of mine  to you all, Its none other than Priya Ranjit who blogs at Cook Like Priya, also the first guest ever in my blog !

 Blogging has gifted with quite a lot of virtual friends but I  was lucky to meet Priya and a group of blogger friends  in person during the bloggers meet last month. Priya is the  most  friendliest blogger ever, I m sure bloggers who know her will nod along in agreement with me ! People like her are quite rare to find these days. She has helped me and teached me about  few  things in blogging which has helped me to become a better blogger :) Thanks my dear friend for all your help and also for comforting me when I needed a friend !

Before having a little chat with her let me tell you all a little about Priya's beautiful blog, She has  a beautiful blog with lot of South Indian recipes, Cakes and Bakes , Appetizers and many more.Her chicken recipes had always made me drool and each picture make me want to try it too. Few  recipes which I would like to try from her space is Hydrebadi chicken curry, Lemon Pepper chicken, Chinese grilled chicken  and Tandoori chicken. So friends do check out her space and also while you are there , dont forget to check her Rose cake which she made for her Wedding Anniversery !

Lets chitchat with Priya for some time...

1.Tell us a little about yourself in few words

 

Out spoken~ never shy to express my views/ thoughts
Empathetic ~ go out my way to help others
Confused ~can be too lazy and too enthusiastic on any given day ;)
Friendly ~ easy to get along with
Positive ~ see the best in everyone / situation

 

2.Apart from blogging do u have any other hobbies ?

 

Vinee I do have hobbies like embroidery, sketching, glass painting, singing. But all this is so seasonal, I am not too excited about more than one thing at a time.

3.Suppose you are in a Masterchef audition round what would be the recipe u will be cooking from your blog to get through

 

This is one toughie ;) I think I will do my Red velvet Roses cake

 

4.Did u had any cooking disasters till now ? If yes would u mind telling us about it.:)

 

I have had many but the only recipe that failed big time was a Christmas Plum cake which I did in 2011 that turned out to be like rock :P I wasted all the dry fruit and nuts, rum, candy peel. I was new to baking and had challenged my husband that I will make a fruit cake and ruined it.

 

Thank u Priya for taking some time to chat with us. U can read more about   Priya from her guest post at Priya's Versatile Recipes :)

So over to Priya's recipe now ...

PINWHEEL COOKIE RECIPE
 

 

(refer notes below before doing the cookies)

 

Makes ~ 25 cookies

Prep time ~ 30 mins

Freeze time ~ 6 hrs or overnight

 

Ingredients

 

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp table salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 large egg, separated 

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I used green & black cocoa powder)

 

Method

 

• Several hours ahead or the day before baking, in a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat again until blended. Add the flour mixture slowly, beating just until combined. The dough would be crumbly
• Remove half the dough and set aside. Whisk the cocoa and only 1 egg yolk beat briefly to blend.
• Wrap both dough separately with cling wrap and refrigerate until firm,ths took me around 20 mins.Once firm take the dough on top of a parchment paper and using a rolling pin ,roll  it into a reactangle,do this for both dough separately.Refrigerate again both rolled dough fr 10 more mins to become firm. 

 

• Take the chocolate dough first and spread it with the egg white (remaining) and top it with the vanilla dough, flatten it gently with a rolling pin to avoid air pockets. Start rolling the dough starting from the logger/ horizontal side
 

 

• Roll the dough carefully with the help of the parchment/butter paper and making sure you roll it firmly so that there are no gaps (this is very important). Roll the log carefully such that both dough stick properly. Roll the log  with the parchment/ butter paper and freeze for several hours (minimum 8 hrs or overnight)

 

• When ready to bake pre-heat oven to 350 F/ 170 C and start slicing the dough using a sharp knife to inch inch thick slices, line on prepared tray leaving 1 cms gap since the dough      does expand a little. Bake for 9-11 mins until slightly golden on the side
• Once done cool them on a tray for 10 mins and then transfer to a wire wrack to come to room temparature.

Enjoy the cookies with some milk :-)

 

 

Cooks Wisdom

 

- I have rolled the chocolate dough on top, you can also alternate the dough depending on what color you want on the outer ring.
- You can add almond meal/ powdered cashew for additional flavor
- Don't worry if your cut dough is not perfect, there will be some gaps here and there but when baked it will close
- Do not roll the cookie dough too thin else while rolling they will not hold properly and tend to break/ fall apart
- You can also color the dough with food color for more colorful cookies
- The cookies store well in an airtight container for more than 10 days
- You can also freeze the cookie dough for upto 2 months and bake as and when you want

I used green & black cocoa powder for the gorgeous chocolate color

 

 

Thank u Priya for doing a wonderful guest post for me  and for sharing this beautiful Cookies with us :)