These old-fashioned peanut butter pinwheels taste similar to peanut butter fudge and will melt in your mouth. So delicious and quick and easy to prepare for a perfect holiday treat!
Peanut Butter Pinwheels
Hi, it’s Jennifer from The Life of Jennifer Dawn. Today I’m going to be sharing a recipe with you that was passed down from my great grandmother. It was her version of old fashioned potato candy -minus the potatoes. The peanut butter swirls that are a trademark of this treat are still present, but she simplified hers down to five tasty ingredients. Up until recently, we didn’t have a written version of this recipe. My great grandmother used to make it for my mother who later made it for my sister and me. I watched my mother mix up a batch for my own daughter a few years back and carefully wrote down every step.
Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Pinwheel Recipe
If you’re looking for a sugary sweet treat that is quick and easy to prepare, this might be the perfect choice. It tastes similar to peanut butter fudge and melts in your mouth. This is perfect to prepare with the kids. Generation after generation have already tested it out in my family. Little hands will love mixing and rolling the dough. I’ll warn you though. Once they start tasting the finished result, these peanut butter pinwheels won’t last long.
Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Pinwheels
These melt-in-your-mouth old fashioned peanut butter pinwheels are so delicious! They're quick and easy to make for the perfect holiday treat!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup cream (evaporated milk)
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- peanut butter
Instructions
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Heat the butter and cream in a pot on medium heat until the butter has melted.
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Remove from heat and add in the vanilla.
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Pour the powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl. Add the cream mixture to the powdered sugar a little at a time. Continue to stir and a little cream until you get a dough-like consistency. Tip: You may not need to use all of the cream mixture, so it is important to add it gradually.
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Chill the dough in the refrigerator for one hour.
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Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it our as thing as possible on wax paper. Sprinkle powdered sugar on your prep surface and the dough to keep it from sticking.
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Spread peanut butter over the top of the dough. Roll it into a log. Slice and enjoy.
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Keep refrigerated.
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Variation: You could also make Peanut butter and jelly pinwheels by spreading a thin layer of jelly over the peanut butter before rolling the dough into a log. If you're kids love peanut butter and jelly, they're sure to love that fun twist on a classic recipe.
Still don’t have your fill of candy? I bet you’d love these homemade soft caramel candies! Grab this quick and easy recipe here! I hope you enjoy!
More Christmas Treat Recipes
If you love sweet treats as much as I do, check out these Christmas cookie and dessert recipes. I’m sure you’ll love them too!
What a great idea! Looks yummy -I can’t wait to try!
Thank you for giving me a start at recreating my Granny’s peanut butter candy! Hers was very similar but left out the vanilla extract. Highly suggest leaving out the extract!! Thanks again!
I’ll have to give that a try!
Oh! I love this recipe! It is beautiful and full of memories. I need to try it!
I loved these as a child! Cant believe i found the recipe and it seems so easy……going to try to make them tomorrow
OMG! I happened upon this recipe while searching for peanut butter cookies and immediately recognized it as a treat my mother used to make when I was a child 50+ years ago. What a wonderful memory I have of these delicious candies, I can’t wait to make them for my sisters. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
That’s wonderful! I hope you enjoy them ad they bring back some lovely memories! xo
I remember Mom making these when we were growing up.. I have some sitting up now in the fridge.. Hope it is as good as her’s. She called her’s peanut butter roll candy. I havent had this in over 50 years.
Hope you enjoyed them! It’s amazing how certain tastes and smells can bring back so many memories!
I have never made it this way. I’m curious to try. We love this candy it’s usually a Birthday surprise.
I hope you enjoy it!
I’ve grown up making something that looks exactly like this, but we only use 3 ingredients and we keep it a secret. I am curious to try this recipe to compare the two.
I’d be interested to hear what you think (although I’m sure it’s hard to beat an old family favorite!)
Just a quick question, is it cream or evaporated milk? Or can either one be used?
You can use either. The evaporated milk will have less calories but some prefer to use cream.
Do u mean heavy cream?
Either heavy cream or whipping cream should work.
Can someone help me understand what I did wrong? I followed the instructions yet the mix, after sitting in the fridge for several hours, is so sticky that I cannot work with it. The only way to remove some of the stickiness is to keep adding powdered sugar, which I’m assuming will make this WAY too sweet. Really disappointed. :/
Sorry it didn’t work for you. I’m guessing it might be the amount of cream? Did you add it in gradually? As per the instructions, the full amount is often not needed so it’s really important to just add a little at a time. If you add more powdered sugar, just add a little more butter and vanilla too. I hope that helps!
I did not add it gradually and used almost all of the cream so I’m now sure that was the issue.
I’m so glad I found this recipe. Me and my husband are making them right now. Can’t wait till there done. 😋 😋
Hope you enjoyed them!
We always mde and still do today the potato candy version. Same ingredients just swap the cream for a small potato.
I’ve heard about the potato ones but I’ve never tried them!
Thank You for posting this recipie. My Mom used to make this for my family when I was growing up as well.
She also made a version adding cocoa, to make it chocolate and peanut butter. I was just wishing my Mom could tell me how, but she can’t , She has Dementia and doesn’t remember it. Thank You!!
Sorry to hear about your Mom – that’s a terrible disease. The cocoa version sounds like it would be delicious!
Janet my grandmother taught me with cocoa, the recipe is the same as above, just per the recipe above add 1-2 spoons Hersheys cocoa to the confectioners sugar and mix like the above recipe shows and do not use vanilla. Also do not use the dark chocolate cocoa.
Also on the peanut butter, melt it then add some melted butter like 1/4 cup to 2 cups peanut butter stir and add confectioners sugar til you get a dough and put on top of the chocolate mixture and roll it out and cut into little bars, taste much better. Hope this helps
How do you make the dough…no recipe for it,only the peanut butter filling.
The whole recipe and directions are listed – including the dough. 🙂
After i make these how long will they stay good for before going bad or getting to hard
I’m not sure. If you store them in an airtight container, they should last quite a while. Ours always go much faster than they go bad!
Mom made this for us growing up. I’m trying it tomorrow..Thanks for sharing
I hope it brings back some wonderful memories for you!
Ever heard of making it with cake. Icing or cream cheese
I haven’t tried that before – it would definitely be a different taste but might be good!
Looks wonderful. I only remember buttering the plate so pinwheels did not stick. I’d guess there was a little milk involved and cream sounds really good. The recipe passed down did not have a potatoe either. It may be years until I can unpack boxes stored but I know I saw it in my elementary cookbook. Mom named it Beth’s Driveway Candy. When little I asked for candy by describing our neighbor’s oval driveway tickled Mom pink. It wasn’t until out on my own that I saw the dish being made on a HSN holiday show that I ever heard of it being called potato candy. Mom was PA Dutch influenced as Irish name with Dutch and German names from 1700s on her side. As for recipe if not thick and plenty of sugar other people handed recipe couldn’t form it, Mom said. Been years since Mom last made it before passed and it won top prize at work. Even if didn’t come out right it would taste the same.
Beautiful story!
about how much peanutbutter is used, & should we soften it a bit to ease spreading, trying first time for my husband, who had it as a child & shared it with me to try
It’s just like spreading peanut butter on a sandwich – you can adjust how thick you want the peanut butter layer to whatever your preference is. I would guess around 1/4-1/2 cup? If you store your peanut butter at room temperature you don’t really need to soften it further – again, it’s just like spreading it on a sandwich. Hope your husband enjoys it!
My mother always made this and her mother made it as well for years and years. Thank you for the non-potato version. This does not have time to go “bad”; it rarely lasts a day! My mom used to just use whole milk instead of cream; I’m going to try both and compare. Every now and again she would work some cocoa into the dough and we’d have one log of “regular” and one log of peanut butter chocolate pinwheels! Just amazingly good easy-to-do and simple, old-timey and “childhood.” This will be our first Christmas time without mom with us to make these; my sons–even into adulthood–always loved when Grandma would make these for them, especially around Christmas. I’ve got to get a move on and practice so that they come out similar to hers!
I have a peanut butter addiction.