Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

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Even though it seemed the common theme was "bland" and "not worth the effort" I had to see for myself. Although I didn't find the process too difficult, it was putzy and time consuming. And the end result was indeed dry and tasteless for the most part. Both the chocolate and peppermint taste were lost in the translation. My cookies were quite large even though I rolled the dough thin. Cutting them 1/2 thick made for a big cookie--which isn't great when the cookie isn't great. You just have more of what you don't really want. I think there's a reason sugar cookies have sugar sprinkled on them--these taste like sugar cookies missing the sugar.
I'd maybe try others tips to bump up the chocolate flavor or add sugar. And make sure when you roll them do the first turn small and tight so you don't end up with a hole in the middle.

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After reading the comments I was leary but I did watch the show so I could not resist. The ingredients are simple and with the enlisted help of my daughters the steps were quite easy! The chocolate layer wanted to split on me when I rolled it but I did chill the dough so next time I won't chill that layer. The taste is wonderful just make sure the candy canes are crushed very well. Also I froze the log overnight and made cutting a cinch! I am overnighting these to my mother tomorrow and making another batch for Santa! The kids LOVE these!

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I saw AB make these and they looked so wonderful that I wanted to make them for my cookie swap at work this year.

However I read through all the comments and started to get very nervous. I'd bought the candy canes and the peppermint extract, and sealed myself to this cookie and A LOT of people on here had A LOT of trouble with them. I thought I was doomed.

Alton made them look so easy, and you know what...

They actually were. I don't know why anyone else had troubles. But to be safe instead of 1 cup sugar, I split it. 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup light brown sugar. The most difficult problem I had was tearing the darn parchment paper! I made 6 dozen. 3 the way AB made them and then 3 reversed so that the chocolate was on the inside. The reversed was actually easier to roll then the original, but I think the originals look nicer. The cookies tasted great and were a big hit at the cookie swap!

Thanks again AB!

Oh and for anyone afraid to try the recipe, DO IT! You won't be disappointed if you follow AB's instructions to the letter. It helps to watch the show as well!

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I thought it was a little bland and difficult to execute, but loved the idea of these cookies so, i made a couple of modifications and now they are great
1/2 unsweetened and 1/2 bittersweet and 1 tsp of cocoa
1 & 1/2 tsp of vanilla
pulverize the candy canes in a food processor and get them really crushed
1 & 1/2 tsp of peppermint extract
divide dough into 2 batches of peppermint and chocolate about 10 oz each (4 total
chill for at least an hour before rolling out
need the dough 2-3 times and it'll be a smoother and not as dry when rolling out
roll between plastic wrap. 8 1/2 by 11 inches, roll dough so its 11 inches long
wrap the roll in plastic wrap and kind of roll it to push the 2 doughs together
chill at least 2 hours
cut w/ serated knife, bake on parchment lined pan 12 minutes
cool for 2 minutes and loosen with spatula

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I really wanted to like these cookies. I admit there may have been some user-error (I accidentally froze them for 2 hours prior to rolling them and had to let them sit before rolling them out and re-chilling them, and i used cream instead of milk but they turned out so dry that they crumbled apart when I took them out of the oven. The chocolate side was so dry that I ended up having to roll the peppermint part first and putting the chocolate on top. I tried leaving them on the baking tray for a few minutes as instructed, and they stuck to it even with spray. Even for the 1/3 of them that came out intact, the taste was underwhelming. As my boyfriend put it, he tasted the mint and it seemed like something else, but the chocolate was really subtle. They were okay, but I won't make these again. They took a lot of effort and time for a finished product that didn't impress us. I give it an average rating.

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This recipe makes some impressive-looking, albeit labor-intensive, cookies. The taste, on the other hand, is only average. They are quite dry, as noted by several other reviewers. I guess that's just the nature of a sugar cookie. These are okay, but not fabulous. If you put one in front of me, I'd eat it, but given the choice, I'd probably make chocolate chip instead. Less work and more delicious.

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My family is really into orange and chocolate together, so I got the idea to change out the peppermint for orange extract. I also add a bunch of orange zest to the dough. They come out FANTASTIC and are always a hit at work, parties, etc...
I have also done batches with raspberry extract and crushed raspberry in the dough and those are good too. This is a fairly time consuming recipe, but if you plan ahead and make the dough a day or so before baking, I think it's not too bad. I've never had problems with mine being dry.

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I made these last year and had problems with the chocolate layer getting too hard to roll into a log. This year I tried once again, but it is even worse! The chocolate layer gets hard and I can't roll it, so the 'log' ends up looking like a blob! Then I have trouble cutting them into slices. The taste is good when they're done, but they are nothing I would put out on a plate for guests. Has anyone else had trouble with this? Or is it just me? I guess I won't be making them again.

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I omit the peppermint altogether and use almond extract with some well chopped almonds.

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The mixing, preparation, and assembly went together well. We had them in the fridge for a little more than a day due to scheduling errors on our part. Baked them as instructed, had no problem cutting them. They smelled real good, and when we took them out to cool, they looked great and smelled better. But they were very dry. The only thing we did differently was we left out the peppermint extract and used a buch of peppermint candy. It was well pulverized. The cookies came out good, just dry. We'll do them again, but will try to moinsten the mix a bit.