These swirl cookies are some of our favorite holiday cookies. Buttery dough swirled with flavorful orange jam; these Christmas treats are sure to please anyone!
These orange swirl cookies are so delicious! I baked them last Friday in the afternoon, and they were all gone by Saturday. My son must have eaten at least half of them; I couldn't stop him anymore.
Swirl cookies are something that many people avoid making; the swirling factor makes them seem more difficult to make than they actually are.
But making these swirl biscuits is almost easier than making cut-out cookies. There are no dough scraps that you must roll and repeatedly cut until the dough is gone. Just roll a rectangle (in this case, two), spread some jam on it, roll it and cut it into slices. That's it!
For more flavorful jam cookies, try Apricot Cookies, Spitzbuben, German Thumbprint Cookies, or Empire Biscuits.
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📋Recipe ingredients
- Unsalted butter: Use real butter, preferably European-style, with 82% fat content. Lower-fat butter never works well for any cookies or biscuits.
- The butter has to be soft; ensure you remove it from the fridge a few hours before making the dough.
- Oranges: Preferably organic, unwaxed oranges, as you will use the zest as well. If you like oranges, make the Orange Polenta Cake, Orange Drizzle Cake, or Orange Bundt Cake, too; they are so moist and delicious!
- Jam: I used orange jam, not marmalade, which is slightly bitterer. Orange jam also has a slightly bitter note, but not quite as much as the marmalade.
- However, you can definitely fill the swirls cookies with marmalade if you like it.
- I often use Blood Orange Jam or Rhubarb Orange Jam.
- Other ingredients: Granulated sugar, one large egg, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
👩🏻🍳How to make swirl cookies filled with jam?
Cookie dough:
- Wash, dry, and zest the oranges. Juice only one of them.
- Beat the soft butter and the sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy (1).
- Add the egg, orange zest, and juice of 1 orange (2). Mix well.
- Mix flour, salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl. Fold the flour mixture into the butter-egg mixture.
- Combine quickly to form a dough; don’t overmix it. Form a ball (3), wrap it in plastic and refrigerate it for about 2 hours or until firm enough to roll.
Fill and cut the swirls:
- Flour the working surface and the rolling pin.
- Roll half of the dough into a rectangle (4).
- Spread about three tablespoons of the jam evenly on the dough (5) and roll it into a sausage. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
- Freeze partially: Wrap the rolls in plastic and place them in the freezer until about half frozen; my rolls needed about an hour and a half to reach a good cutting consistency.
Bake:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Take the rolls out of the freezer and press them back into a nice shape in case they have flattened a bit at the bottom side.
- Unwrap (6) and cut them into slices using a sharp knife (7). You will have about 30 cookies.
- Bake: Place on the prepared baking sheets and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden.
- Rest: Remove from the oven, but leave on the tray for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Let cool completely.
❗Expert Tips
Always use a digital kitchen scale (the Amazon affiliate link opens in a new tab) when measuring the ingredients; a kitchen scale is cheap, and it makes life easier and baking more accurate and cleaner.
Chilling: Let the swirl cookie dough rest long enough in the refrigerator, about 2 hours or until firm enough to roll. Roll it on a well-floured working surface.
After filling the dough and rolling it into sausages, place the rolls in the freezer for about an hour and a half or until firm enough for you to be able to slice them properly. Just check; the dough should feel firm, but it should not be completely frozen.
If wholly frozen (you could make all this in advance and freeze the rolls), let stand at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before cutting. It depends on how warm the kitchen is; feel the dough to decide when it is the right time to cut it.
Shaping and slicing: Shape the rolls again before unwrapping them, in case they flatten on the bottom side while in the freezer. Slice the dough rolls into slices; you can cut more or less 15 swirl cookies from each roll, so a total of 30 cookies.
Resting: Don't try to move the swirl biscuits immediately after baking; leave them on the baking sheets for another 10 minutes or so; they are still tender and might break. They will firm up as they cool.
❓Recipe FAQ
I prefer to use unsalted for baking; it helps control the amount of salt you have in the baked goods. However, you can use salted if that’s all you have. In this case, leave out the pinch of salt required by the recipe.
Sure, the orange flavor will be less pronounced, though. I often make these jam swirl cookies with clementine jam or Strawberry Rhubarb Jam. Simple Apricot Jam or Elderflower Jelly are both great.
Store the jam swirl cookies in an airtight container at room temperature; they will keep for about 5 days.
Freeze them in a freezer container. Place waxed paper between the layers to prevent the biscuits from freezing in a block. Defrost on the counter.
Sure, at least partially. You can make the dough 2-3 days in advance and keep it refrigerated (wrapped in plastic).
You can also fill the dough, roll it into sausages, wrap them in plastic, and freeze them. Once you are ready to slice and bake the cookies, remove the rolls from the freezer and let them stand on the counter until they have the right consistency for cutting (about 15-20 minutes, depending on the temperature in your kitchen).
🍪More cookie recipes
📖Recipe
Orange Jam Swirl Cookies
Equipment
- 2 cookie sheets
Ingredients
- 200 g unsalted butter softened, 7 oz/ ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon
- 100 g granulated sugar 3.5 oz/ ½ cup
- 1 egg
- 2 oranges zest of both, and juice of one (55 ml/ 1.8 fl.oz/ ¼ cup), Note 2
- 250 g all-purpose flour 9 oz/ 2 cups
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 6 tablespoons orange jam Note 3
Instructions
Cookie dough:
- Oranges: Wash, dry, and zest the oranges, but juice only one of them.
- Beat the soft butter and the sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the egg, orange zest, and juice of 1 orange. Mix well.
- Mix flour, salt, and baking powder in another bowl. Fold them into the butter mixture.
- Combine quickly to form a dough, don’t overmix it.
- Refrigerate dough: Form a ball, flatten it a bit, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate it for about 2 hours or until firm enough to roll.
Fill and cut:
- Flour the working surface and the rolling pin.
- Roll half of the dough into a rectangle. Spread ½ of the jam evenly on the dough and roll it into a sausage. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
- Freeze cookie rolls: Wrap the rolls in plastic and place them in the freezer until about half frozen, my rolls needed about 1 ½ hour to reach a good cutting consistency.
Bake:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove the rolls from the freezer. Press them back into a nice shape if they have flattened at the bottom side.
- Cut cookies: Unwrap and cut them into slices using a sharp knife. You will have about 30 cookies.
- Bake: Place the swirl cookies on the prepared baking sheets and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden.
- Rest: Remove the trays from the oven but leave the cookies on the tray for about 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Always use a digital kitchen scale in baking; it guarantees the best results (Amazon affiliate link).
- Preferably organic, unwaxed oranges, as you will need their zest.
- You can also use marmalade, which is slightly bitterer than orange jam. Or you can substitute the orange jam with another jam. However, in this case, the orange flavor will be less pronounced.
- Store: The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about 5 days. Freeze them in an airtight container between layers of wax paper for up to 3 months. Defrost on the counter.
Helen at Casa Costello says
Hiya, so pleased you enjoyed the cookies - thank you so much for your kind words about my blog. I feel quite envious that you have all the rest of the Great British Bake Offs still to enjoy! Looking forward to getting to know you better through the SRC x
Adina says
Thank you, Helen, I was glad to have been assigned your blog, I found so many recipes I want to make.
sarah k @ the pajama chef says
these cookies are so gorgeous! love the orange flavor too 🙂
Adina says
Thank you, Sarah. 🙂
Lauren @ Sew You Think You Can Cook says
These cookies are beautiful.
Adina says
Thank you, Lauren.
Anu - My Ginger Garlic Kitchen says
Perfect looking swirl cookies, Adina! I've been wanting to bake something sweet using oranges for a long time, I have to give these a try. They sound and look super duper yummy.
Adina says
Thank you, Anu. I hope you try them! 🙂
Balvinder says
Great super useful tip of leaving the dough in fridge to harden and thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe. Looks so soft and flavorful!
Adina says
Thank you and I am glad you found something of you.
Thao @ In Good Flavor says
It's hard to decide which one I would like more...rhubarb strawberry or blood orange! They booth look wonderful, Adina!
Adina says
Thanks, Thao. 🙂
Monica says
These look wonderful...I love the beautiful bright swirl. These would be perfect for afternoon tea. : )
I've also watched a couple seasons of The Great British Bake Off; the contestants and their bakes are so impressive and inspiring. I hear a US version is coming...I hope it'll be good.
Adina says
I am watching the second season now, I love it. The German version is not as good though, I hope you have more luck with the US version.
lynn @ the actor's diet says
I need a new jar of jam! These look most excellent!
Adina says
Thank you, Lynn.
Anne says
These look yummy! This is my second month in the secret recipe club too.
Adina says
Great Anne, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. 🙂
Evi @ greenevi says
These look so cute and delicious!
I would love to have some of these with a cup of warm tea right now 🙂
Adina says
Thank you, Evi. I love them with black tea as well.
Summer says
These cookies are making me hungry ♥
summerdaisy.net
Adina says
Me too. Again! 🙂
Heather @ Join Us, Pull up a Chair says
They are such pretty cookies and I bet they taste amazing! I know my kiddos would gobble them up quickly as well. Great SRC choice!
Adina says
Thank you, Heather. When they really like something, it really gets difficult to stop them.
Cheyanne @ No Spoon Necessary says
How great is it that you found a recipe in the SRC that actually worked for your current theme!? AND it happened to be a cookie! Yay! Love these swirl cookies! Since they have jam in them they are perfectly acceptable for breakfast.. right?! 😉 Cheers, my dear!
Adina says
I was happy to have a choice! Cookies are always good, aren't they? For breakfast or lunch or snack or whatever! 🙂
Our Eating Habits says
Your orange cookies look amazing. How neat you chose to stay with your theme, I am glad to here you were able to do it! My family loved the roast beef I made from your site this month, in fact they loved it so much hubby is still talking about it 🙂
Adina says
Thank you and I am so glad to hear you liked my recipe.
Amy (Savory Moments) says
These cookies look delicious (and quite pretty).
Adina says
Thank you, Amy.