Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies
I kinda love this murky time between seasons. Winter feels like a thing of the past, and Spring is almost but not quite here, which makes it perfectly Ok to either wear a spring jacket, or UGG boots, or both. It also lends to all sorts of kitchen adventures being right in season. Soups and stews are still allowed, Spring pastels and berries are welcomed, and cookies, well baking cookies is acceptable all year round am I right? I sure hope so, because even though it was 50 and sunny today, I loved cranking up my oven and pulling out batch after batch of these beauties.
I have been tinkering with this recipe for what seems like forever, and I am so proud to say that I finally figured it out! I wanted soft sugar cookies with a cinnamon swirl and cream cheese glaze. It seemed like no matter what I tried the cookies totally fell apart when I baked them. It’s as if the butter/cinnamon sugar swirl made the cookie pull apart which was so frustrating. What I realized is, the key is smaller, thinner cookies. These babies were only about 2-3 inches wide and I cut them a little thinner so they would stay in tact. You have no idea how happy I was to pull these out of the oven knowing I finally had a win.
I’d describe these cookies as a mix between a snickerdoodle and a cinnamon roll- a buttery cookie, a cinnamon sugar swirl in every bite, and a cream cheese glaze that just sends them over the top. If you like things to be as cute as they are delicious- these will be your new favorite. These would be so perfect for an afternoon tea or any dessert spread. I have a feeling these are going to be crowd pleasers!
Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 sticks butter, cold & cut into chunks
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
For the Filling
- 3 tablespoons butter- softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
For the Glaze:
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
- 1-2 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons milk or cream
Instructions
- Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until mixed. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. (Dough will be crumbly.)
- Transfer the dough to a well-floured surface and knead a few times until it is smooth. Divide the dough in half. Set one half aside.
- Roll the other into a 10 x 14 rectangle (give or take- it doesn't have to be exact.)
- Spread half of the softened butter over the dough- getting all the way to the edges.
- Stir together the brown sugar and cinnamon together, and sprinkle half of it over the dough, using your hand to create a thin, even layer to the edges.
- Slice the dough in half , creating two 10x7 rectangles, which will make it much easier to roll. Starting with the short side, roll the dough and place the first log seam down in the freezer.
- Repeat with the other half of the dough, and place that log in the freezer as well. Roll out the other half of the dough and repeat steps 4-7.
- Let all 4 logs of dough chill in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes, or until firm. Preheat oven to 375F.
- Slice the dough into rounds about a centimeter thick. Place the dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the edge is just golden brown. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
For the Glaze:
- Whisk together the softened cream cheese and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Add a tablespoon of milk/cream and stir together. Add more powdered sugar or milk as needed to create a thick glaze that will drizzle off the spoon.
- Drizzle the glaze on the cookies as they cool.
Notes
Base cookie recipe adapted from Bake at 350
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
These look so good!! And dangerously delicious. Yum!
These look amazing! I love the idea of a cinnamon roll in cookie form.
A good helper is to make a slice vertically to an empty papertowel roll .. slip rolled cookie log into roll to keep the log from losing its round shape ! Works perfectly
Is it possible to use the glaze for plain old cinnamon rolls? As opposed to the cream cheese one?
Sure I don’t see why not!
What a genius idea! I had never thought to make cinnamon rolls in cookie form! These look soooo cute and I’m sure they taste delicious, too. Can’t wait to make these for my next tea party next week. I’ll let you know how they turn out, I hope they’ll come out at least half as cute as yours :)
xo, Elisa
Yum! I know what I am making today!
These are THE CUTEST! I really thought they were mini cinnamon rolls…which would have also been great, but I think I like the concept even better in cookie form!
These cookies look amazing!! They are so cute and sound absolutely delicious. Pinned.
I made these cookies over the weekend and they taste amazing! However, I had a lot of trouble rolling the dough as it keeps falling apart.
I do realise after making that it’s best that my hands and work surface be as cold but do you have any tips?
They are soo good! Had trouble rolling out, too crumby next time I’m going to use less flour!
I read the comments before making these today and they were Perfect ! Directions say to kneed the dough, instead I just worked the dough together a little bit with my hands to incorporate all of the flour before I removed the dough from my mixing bowl. I divided the dough in half & made sure all of the flour was incorporated and wrapped each half in wax paper and put in fridge before rolling out. Once dough chilled in fridge 15 minutes, I took one of the halves from fridge and rolled out on slightly floured wax paper. From there I followed the recipe exactly. Repeating with the other half of dough from fridge. These have a lovely pastry flavor and are good with or without a drizzle of icing. When iced they totally taste like a cinnamon roll.