Best Chocolate Pinwheel Bread Recipes

BASIC CHOCOLATE PINWHEEL COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. , Divide dough in half; add cocoa to one portion. Divide each portion in half. On a baking sheet, roll out each portion between waxed paper into a 12x10-in. rectangle. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. , Remove waxed paper. Place one chocolate rectangle over a plain rectangle. Roll up tightly, jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; wrap in plastic. Repeat with remaining dough. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Unwrap and cut into 1/4-in. slices. , Place 2 in. apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool.

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT PULL-APART BREAD

Steps:

• For the whipped cream: Add the cream, liqueur and confectioners' sugar to a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Whip on high speed until soft peaks form. Hold in the refrigerator until ready to serve, up to 3 hours. (Makes 2 cups.)
• For the pull-apart bread: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until light golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely. Finely chop and set aside.
• In a small bowl, mix together the granulated sugar, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
• Lightly brush the loaf pan with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter. Line the pan with parchment paper, leaving at least 2 inches of overhang on the long sides to serve as handles later. Lightly brush the parchment with melted butter, then dust the entire pan with 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon sugar mixture; reserve the remaining cinnamon sugar. Tap out any excess sugar from the pan.
• Unroll one tube of bread dough on a very lightly floured work surface. The dough should form a 12-by-15-inch rectangle; stretch the dough a bit if small. With the long side parallel to you, spread the dough with 2/3 cup of the chocolate hazelnut spread, leaving a 1/4-inch boarder. Sprinkle with the chocolate chips and then with 1/4 cup of the chopped hazelnuts.
• Unroll the second tube of dough and lay it on top of the first. Brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with the reserved cinnamon sugar mixture.
• With a ruler and a chef's knife, mark the short side of the dough at 4-inch intervals. Cutting parallel to you, slice the dough straight across at each mark, into three 4-inch-wide strips. Next, mark the long side of the dough at 3-inch intervals and cut the dough, perpendicular to you, along those marks; you will now have fifteen 3-by-4-inch rectangles.
• Evenly stack three of the rectangles on top of each other so that the bottom piece of dough, without any sugar on it, lays against a piece of dough that does have sugar on it. Place the stack of dough into the loaf pan on its 4-inch side so that the dough fills the width of the pan. Continue stacking pieces of dough and placing the stacks in the loaf pan until all of the rectangles are inside the pan. As you go, you may have to use one hand to hold up the dough already in the pan and gently push it back to make room for all of the dough.
• Using a pairing knife, cut the dough in the loaf pan lengthwise down the middle, cutting three-quarters of the way through, essentially splitting the dough in half. Place the pan on a baking sheet, cover with foil and bake for 55 to 60 minutes. The bread is done when the entire loaf has turned a deep golden brown and the sugar is caramelized and bubbling up the sides of the pan. Remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes.
• While the bread cools, whisk together the remaining 1 tablespoon chocolate hazelnut spread and the heavy cream in a bowl until smooth. Hold at room temperature until ready to serve.
• Remove the bread from the loaf pan while still warm, so the caramel does not completely set. Use a bread knife to loosen the sides of the bread that does not have parchment and then lift the bread out of the pan using the parchment handles. Remove the parchment and place the pull-apart bread on a serving tray. Drizzle with the chocolate hazelnut drizzle and sprinkle with the remaining chopped hazelnuts. Serve with the hazelnut whipped cream.

CHOCOLATE PINWHEELS

Steps:

• In large bowl, beat powdered sugar, butter and egg with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour and salt. Divide dough in half. Stir cocoa into one half. Stir chocolate sprinkles into other half. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
• Roll half of plain dough into 9x8-inch rectangle on lightly floured surface. Repeat with half of chocolate dough; place on plain dough. Roll doughs up together tightly, beginning at long side. Repeat with remaining plain and chocolate doughs. Wrap and refrigerate at least 8 hours but no longer than 24 hours.
• Heat oven to 400°F. Cut rolls into 1/4-inch slices. Place slices about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

CHOCOLATE-PEANUT BUTTER PINWHEELS

Steps:

• In large bowl, mix Chocolate Dough ingredients with spoon until soft dough forms. In another large bowl, mix Peanut Butter Dough ingredients with spoon until soft dough forms. Divide each dough in half; set aside.
• Place one half of the chocolate dough between 2 (17x12-inch) sheets of waxed paper or cooking parchment paper; roll out to 12x7-inch rectangle. Repeat with one half of the peanut butter dough; remove top sheet of waxed paper from both doughs. Invert peanut butter dough onto chocolate dough. Replace waxed paper on dough, and gently roll out to 14x8-inch rectangle. Remove top sheet; trim edges. Starting with long side, roll up dough using bottom sheet of waxed paper to help roll up dough. Wrap dough log tightly with waxed paper; twist ends to enclose. Repeat with remaining cookie doughs. Refrigerate 2 hours 30 minutes or until very firm.
• Heat oven to 375°F. Unwrap 1 of the dough logs; cut into 1/4-inch slices. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining dough log.
• Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 20 minutes. Store covered in airtight container.