Ginger-Lime Pinwheel Cookies

These cookies are amazing! They have a ton of flavor, are surprisingly easy to make as along as you have some patience, and even won me a blue ribbon at the county fair! I made a few changes from a recipe with a similar name in the Cooking Light Magazine from December 2009.

Ingredients

Ginger dough
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg yolk (save the egg white)
6 oz (measure it out) all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
dash of ground allspice

Lime dough
5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg white
2 tsp fresh lime zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 oz (measure it out) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Directions

-To prepare Ginger dough, place 1/4 cup butter and brown sugar in a med bowl and beat until combine (about 3 min). Add molasses and egg yolk. Beat until well blended.
-In a separate bowl combine flour, ginger and next four ingredients. Whisk together. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating at a low speed until combine.
-Roll dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30-40 minutes.

-To prepare Lime dough, place butter and granulated sugar in a medium bowl and beat until blended, about 3 minutes. Add egg white and beat until blended. Beat in zest and vanilla, too.
-In a small bowl, combine flour and salt. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at a low speed until combined.
-Roll dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30-40 minutes.

-Unwrap ginger dough. Roll it between two sheets of plastic wrap into a rectangle about 13x18 inches. Place back in fridge and chill for 10 minutes or so. Do the same for the lime dough.

-Carefully unwrap each dough. Place plastic wrap on counter, top with ginger dough, and top that with lime dough. Darting with the long side without a clear border, slowly roll doughs, jelly roll style. This will create the pinwheel. Seal edges. Cover log with plastic wrap and freeze 30 minutes.

-Preheat oven 350 degrees.

-Unwrap dough. Cut with a sharp knife about 40 slices, about 1/4 inch thick. Place about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet (either air-bake or lined with parchment). Make 1 batch at a time for 8-9 minutes each. Cookies will look set. Cool on racks and enjoy.

Nutritional Information is for a 40 cookie batch. Each cookie will have about 81 calories, 2.8 g fat, .3 g fiber, and 1.1 g protein.