Peanut Butter Pinwheels Recipe
These Peanut Butter Pinwheels Candies are good enough to settle any sweet tooth cravings. They are perfect for gift giving or for any Holiday parties. Make a batch and make someone smile!
Peanut Butter Pinwheels Recipe
We got some great feedback from this recipe and had to update it for those of you who wanted to make it! Whether you're making these as a nostalgic treat for the family or something to take to a potluck, these Peanut Butter Pinwheels are going to be a hit!
These Peanut Butter Pinwheels are more of a confection than a cookie, for those who are wondering. So, you really do need to watch your liquids vs. dry ingredients as they go in. Too much liquid and you will end up with a mess! Too little and you won't even be able to mix it. So, go slowly as you add in the milk, and take note of the edits about the confectioners sugar. These should turn out soft and pliable, but still hold their shape. 🙂
Updates:
We noted there was some confusion where we had previously listed the ingredient powdered sugar as 16 oz.
- Please note a 16oz box of confectioners sugar AKA powdered sugar is a dry weight measurement. If you buy your powdered sugar in bulk you will use somewhere between 3 1/2 Cups and 4 Cups depending on the fineness of your sifter.
- If you have a kitchen scale, now is the time to pull it out, and you can easily weigh a precise 16 oz.
- If you don't have a kitchen scale start with 3 1/2 cups and add up to 1/2 cup more a little at a time until you get a dough-like consistency. Not to exceed 4 cups total.
Be sure to let us know if you love it as much as we do! Check out some of our other dessert recipes.
Peanut Butter Pinwheels Recipe
Peanut Butter Pinwheels
Recipe Updated! These festive confections are perfect for the holidays
Ingredients
- 16 oz. powdered sugar, (1 16-oz Box) This is equivalent to roughly 3 1/2 - 4 Cups. Use a kitchen scale to measure weight for best results
- 1 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar, use for dusting- to keep dough from sticking to paper
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 2-3 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 8 oz. peanut butter, creamy, do not use natural peanut butter
Instructions
- In mixing bowl, combine 16 oz of powdered sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla. The mixture will become stiff and dough-like
- Pop in the fridge and let chill for a few minutes to help prevent sticking.
- Divide dough into 2 balls, and roll each ball out to pie crust thickness. Roll onto parchment paper dusted with powdered sugar to help aid in the rolling.
- Heat peanut butter until runny and easily spreadable- not too hot- and spread evenly over rolled dough.
- Roll dough into a log (you may have to sprinkle a little more powdered sugar on it as you go to help with stickiness).
- Chill 1 hour and slice into 1/4" pinwheels- keep refrigerated.
Notes
Yield is approximate.
Due to the amount of comments and the difficulty of achieving the desired texture to the dough, we have recently updated the recipe to be more user friendly! Enjoy!
If you love these, check out our other holiday desserts here:
Low Carb Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cookies
More Holiday Favorites
- Eggnog Cake Recipe Bundt Cake
- Savory Oyster Cracker Recipe
- Candy Cane Kisses Puppy Chow
- Instant Pot Hot Chocolate Recipe- Tuxedo
- Easy Peppermint Pretzel Bites
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies – Cake Mix Cookies
- Candy Cane Cookies Recipe
- Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies: With Cake Mix!
- Festive Cranberry Orange Chex Mix Recipe
- Peanut Butter Blossoms Cookie Recipe
- Buckeye Candies
We have a candy very similar to this every year at Christmas time. It was my great grandmas recipe, and it’s called potato candy. Made with a single potato, a whole bunch of powdered sugar, and peanut butter. Yummmm
Your dad made it every Christmas since I’ve known him.
Until he got me to start making it! lol
Whoever came up with this recipe is on crack…mixing the ingredients as posted does not result in doe..its more like consistency of pudding
Well, it definitely wasn’t intended to make doe, bucks or any other animal…. not sure what went wrong when you tried it as several people have used it with no problems. 🙂
I agree Dennis. Had me re-reading recipe an second guessing my self. So I continued to add powdered sugar a little at a tume until it was dough consistency.
Mine too, like soup
Mine was perfect with 4 cups of sugar.
Geez start a fight over a candy recipe.
I followed recipe exactly…. It was nowhere near “dough” consistency. It has now been in the fridge for 2 hours and still is the consistency of frosting. There is no possible way to roll it out. I mean no disrespect, but maybe check the recipe again, somethings not right.
Hi Amanda, thanks for your feedback, we’ll have to look at the recipe again 🙂
I just made these and they turned out perfectly. Make sure you use 16 oz by weight which is 4 cups of powdered sugar. I’ve been searching for this recipe for a while. As a kid we just called it peanut butter candy. The recipe wasn’t written down and I only remembered some of the ingredients. This tastes just like I remember. My kids now love it too!
Awesome! Glad we were able to bring back some happy memories for you 🙂
I read this today and just busted out laughing. I was sitting around today and the thought of this hit me and I haven’t had it since I was a small child. Dating myself here but I’m guessing it’s been 40 years. I’m making it now and so looking forward to it again.
lol!!!!
We used to call it searoll candy
I’ve also followed the recipe exactly and ended up with more soup than dough. 🙁 I had to pour almost triple the sugar in to make it even a little bit thick, and its been sitting in the fridge for awhile now. I don’t have high hopes. I’m not sure why this recipe keeps going so wrong. The batter tastes delicious, but it won’t thicken.
Thanks for your feedback Sarah, I’ll have our recipe person check to make sure the ingredients are listed correctly 🙂
Recipe is great… just use a 32 oz bag of confectioners sugar while saving just enough to place on the waxed paper. 🙂
Is it possible that the fails are using margarin instead of real butter ?
Yes David, that’s a good possibility!
Dear, Consumer Queen, It is time for the holidays, memories, & family, so of course my mother in law and I started talking about candy that her mother made that she missed so much, in the middle of her sharing her memory with me my wife pop’s in and says “OMG you mean the peanut butter candy that Gram made, that Micheal & I would steal bits from mom? (I giggled) while her mom answered yes. Mom’s memory is not as sharp these days and she only remembers two ingredients of her mothers recipe & that was the Peanut Butter, & the Powdered Sugar (Confectioners Sugar). So I went looking and found your Peanut Butter Pinwheel Candy recipe and well I made it Monday(10/9/2017) night for my wife & my mother in law, and I must say that it brought a few inside tears but a whole lot of outside smiles for my wife and her mother. Mom and my wife at the same time said OH this is Mamma’s,Grams recipe these are it they are perfect!! So thank you for helping me make a little bit of memory for my loved ones.
TY so much for your kind words and sharing your story! I am so glad we could help!
I had concerns about trying this recipe with the comments about the pudding like consistency, but the comment from Karen dated May 15th was very helpful (measure powdered sugar by weight – 16oz is really 4 cups dry) even though my measuring cup says 160z at 2 cups; definitely go by the weight on the powdered sugar bag.
I cut the recipe in half to try and it came out great. Initially I thought I would have to add more butter, as it seemed a little dry, but I kept working it and it blended to a nice consistency that was easy to roll out. It was also helpful to heat the peanut butter – just a little – to make it easy to spread.
The rolls are chilling in the refrigerator, but I tried a piece and it tastes just like I remember.
Yummy and sweet!
I have been making this for over 20 years now. The only difference I see in receipt compared to what I do, id this receipt calls for 3 tsps of milk and I only us 2 tsps of milk. Always turns out great
My advice would be when you are making this recipe, do not add the milk until you see whether you need it or not. When adding the milk, don’t add it all at one time… just a little as you need it.
I read all the comments and still tried this version. Just like the others I had “cake batter” when I got done and did not have anything that resembled dough. I used 4 cups (16oz) of confectionery sugar and everything else just like posted. I read a couple other recipes that used these same ingredients and they said to watch the milk and to add very slowly. Maybe that would have made the difference but I just had to trash all of mine. 🙁
Perhaps the milk should be spelled out. Is it teaspoons or tablespoons? Tsps and tbsps can easily be misinterpreted. I checked a different recipe and it specifically says to add the milk a teaspoon at a time. Also, use measuring spoons, not tableware spoons. That shouldn’t have to be spelled out but, everyone isn’t bakeware savvy.
my wife was in the intensive care unit at our local hospital and I was able to stay with her all the time (1985) the nurses were wonderful people and they allowed me to sleep on their couch . I asked my Mother to make 3 batches of this peanut butter roll candy. 1 for each shift. She did that for me. I put them in the fridge.. Day shift ate it all, then told the 2nd shift how good it was. Mom did it again for the others. I haven’t made it since way back then. Going to now. Thanks for sharing
Thanks so much Nathan, for sharing your story. Let us know how your batch turns out 🙂
We called it potatoe candy make it every year at Christmas
Has anyone made potato candy with just egg whites, confectioner sugar, and vanilla? That is how my Mother made this or maybe my mind is a bit confused.
Never made that but sounds interesting.
Yes my grandmother made the candy using one box of confectioner sugar and one egg white. Mix together rolled out dough and spread the peanut butter. Placed in refrigerator to make slicing easier
Bet they were yummy to!
I thought 16 ozs would be 2 cups ♀️ It’s been a long time since I’ve made this candy. Trying to find the best recipe to to make and I think I’ve found one
Yes Jeana, 16 oz is normally 2 cups BUT in this instance since it’s a dry weight and not liquid and it’s packed very tight you’ll need to weight it to get the precise amount after sifting. Hope this helps 🙂
You def should use evaporated milk and don’t melt the peanut butter..I have a simple recipe if anyone needs it,,
Can I get your receipe for this candy.
The recipe is in the post above 🙂
My mom use to make a similar recipe but called it potato candy. It had instant potato flakes along with the powdered sugar and nd milk. After rolled out you spread it with peanut butter. Roll up into pinwheel shape and slice.
That sounds pretty good – we’ll have to try it! 🙂
Made these last. I have made them for years but decided to try your recipe. The recipe worked perfectly. Thank you!
You’re quite welcome Paula – glad you enjoyed them!