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If you’re looking for an easy cookie recipe for any holiday, these 4th of July Spiral Cookies are exactly what you need! Spiral Cookies are an easy slice and bake sugar cookie recipe that’s rolled with colored sugar inside. Easily change up the sugar colors for any occasion!
I originally posted these cookies back in 2011 when Jordan was a Kindergartener. Now I’m updating the recipe and she’s graduating from the 8th grade this week. EEK! (The recipe is the same, the photos and content just need an update!)
This cookie recipe is my favorite one, I think, out of all of them. Sugar cookies are hands down my favorite but these? They’re EPIC.
The recipe is originally from some magazine – I think one of those kids ones that shows cute food themed for the holiday. I don’t have the magazine anymore but it was pre-2011 because I’d been making these a few years before I originally posted them on the site. I make them every 4th of July with red and blue sugar (and at Christmas with red and green).
Spiral Cookies are an easy sugar cookie recipe that are slice-and-bake, making them the perfect cookie for any occasion. The sugar inside dresses them up for any holiday!
There are so many spiral cookie recipes out there. I’ve seen them in different colors and different flavors, but this simple recipe with colored sugar is the best.
Spiral cookies taste like a sugar cookie but the recipe is just a bit different than a traditional sugar cookie recipe. They’re kind of a cross between basic sugar cookies and sugar cookie cutouts: they have the same butter and sugar ratios, but a few changes happen when you get to the flour and leavening.
Slice-and-bake Spiral Cookie ingredients are similar to a regular sugar cookie recipe.
With equal parts sugar and butter and 1 egg, this recipe is similar to my other sugar cookies. You’ll notice there is no leavening in this recipe, that is, no baking soda, no baking powder, and no cream of tartar. That’s so the cookies don’t spread. These are pressed out and then rolled and chilled. You don’t want your cookies to spread or they’ll turn into a colorful mess. No leavening = less spread.
If you ever wonder why your sugar cookies spread, it could be because you have too much leavening! In normal sugar cookies you need the baking soda and cream of tartar, but not in these spiral cookies.
How do you make sugar cookies (like these spiral cookies) taste better?
I love the basic flavor of a cookie like this, but it’s important that you add flavoring. Most sugar cookies call for vanilla extract, and that’s the traditional cookie flavoring. This recipe uses almond extract because I love the flavor that it adds to the cookies.
You can add any flavor extract you want: vanilla, lemon, coconut, almond, mint…the options are endless.
Pinwheel swirl cookies like these are perfect to dress up for any occasion!
I make these for the 4th of July with red and blue sugar but you can make them any way you want with any colors!
- Christmas spiral cookies with red and green
- Rainbow swirl sugar cookies with rainbow sugars (like my Palmiers)
- Orange and black for Halloween
- Use favorite colors, birthday colors, college or school colors…the options are endless.
There are endless options!
Tip for rolling out the dough for these spiral cookies:
- I like to use my special tip for rolling out sugar cookie dough: roll it out between two sheets of wax paper. This makes it simple to roll and it won’t stick to your rolling pin!
Spiral Cookies are buttery and crumbly but soft and chewy and the perfect cookie recipe for any occasion – especially the 4th of July!
If you love sugar cookies be sure to try these:
- Soft and chewy sugar cookies
- Perfect Sugar Cookies
- Sugar Cookie Bars
- Cutout sugar cookies
- Coconut Sugar Cookie Bars
Looking for other 4th of July dessert ideas? Check out these:
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4th of July Spiral Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- About 1/4 cup red colored sugar
- About 1/4 cup blue colored sugar
Instructions
- Cream sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (You can also use a hand mixer.) Add almond extract, salt, and egg and mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Slowly stir in your flour and mix until just combined.
- Divide dough into two pieces. Place one half on wax or plastic wrap spread out on your counter. Cover the top with another sheet of wax paper or plastic wrap. Use your hands or a rolling pin to press the dough into a 8-inch rectangle (oblong is fine). Alternating colors, sprinkle sugars in lines across the dough. Use the bottom sheet of wax paper or plastic wrap to help you roll the dough. Repeat with the second half of dough. Wrap rolls in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour (overnight is fine).
- Heat oven to 350°. Slice rolls of cookie dough into 1/4-inch slices. Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or a silpat baking mat.
- Bake 6-9 minutes until the edges begin to brown. You may want to rotate the cookie sheets halfway through baking. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet and then remove to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to one month.
Recipe Video
Recipe Nutrition
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Last Updated on August 28, 2019
I LOVE these spiral cookies with coffee !
thanks for recipe
I love this idea for the Fourth! Nothing beats a delicious “slice and bake” sugar cookie (:
These would be so cute served on some personalized plates or cocktail napkins like these: https://www.twofunnygirls.com/blog/2019/06/07/throw-a-festive-fourth-of-july-bbq/ !
Hi, I wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS TAYLOR! Enjoy high school!
I will be making Spiral cookies for July 4th.
How cute are those! Everything my kids ever learned they learned from Disney channel as well. But when people comment on their smarts of course I smile and pretend it’s because I’m such an amazing parent.
LOL, I use it as an excuse to make myself feel better that she watches too much TV. 🙂
Whoa! These look too easy to be true! I love that you can color-code them to fit any theme! I will have to try them! Thanks so much for linking up to my Red, White, Blue & You Link Party!
Great post! Keep it up the good work and also keep posting.
I LOVE these cookies! I think I’ll make them for Halloween! Thanks!
P.S. I just subscribed to your blog via email~love it!
@Alice
I always use regular, salted butter for these cookies. I’ve never tried margarine. If you try them with margarine, let me know how they turn out! Thanks for reading!
The recipe for the cookies says to use 1 cup of butter. This this mean real unsalted butter or can I substitute margarine? Alice
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