Cinnamon Roll Cookies
What do you get if you marry cinnamon rolls and sugar cookies together? Only the cutest Cinnamon Roll Cookies, obviously. With perfect cinnamon/sugar swirls, a crisp cookie exterior that gives way to a melt-in-your-mouth, buttery-soft interior, and a sweet vanilla glaze… what more could you ask for, really? I was originally going to save this recipe for closer to Christmas cookie season (I’ve been trying to get a little ahead on my holiday baking with the baby coming!), but as with my pecan sandies I didn’t have the patience to wait several more months to share this one with you. Fortunately, cinnamon roll cookies are great any time of the year, but definitely bookmark this one for your Christmas cookie list, too!
How to Make Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Tips for Making Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Chilling
This dough can be chilled longer than 15 minutes, and may even need longer if your kitchen is particularly warm. Keep in mind that if you chill significantly longer than 15 minutes (overnight or even for an hour or longer) the dough will need to soften a bit at room temperature before rolling to prevent cracks. Once you’ve formed your cookie dough “log”, this can also be chilled longer than the 15 minutes indicated, but keep in mind that if you chill it overnight or longer it will become difficult to slice.
Rolling
Make sure that you roll out your cinnamon roll cookie dough on a lightly floured surface so that it doesn’t stick when you go to form it into a log. If it sticks, you’ll end up with cracks and tears in your cookie dough log, which will ruin the cinnamon-swirl effect and can cause the cookies to fall apart. As I’m rolling my dough, if I notice that it’s sticking to the counter even a little bit, I’ll use a spatula to gently help pry it up off of the counter. Make sure to roll your cookie dough log tightly! If you don’t roll it tightly enough the cinnamon/sugar filling will fall out once you go to slice your cookies. Once you’ve rolled your dough into a log, you can place this in a split paper towel roll to prevent it from getting a flat bottom as it sits on your freezer shelf. This is not necessary (I only do it for aesthetics — I like nice round cookies!) but it makes for prettier cookies and is a simple trick. I’ve shown this before in my Slice & Bake Cookies and demonstrate this in my video (below the recipe). When you are ready to slice your cookies, make sure to use a sharp knife to easily cut through them without smashing them (never use a butter knife!).
Glaze
This glaze is almost identical to the one I use on my favorite coffee cake and it’s very simple to make: just whisk together powdered sugar with a bit of milk and vanilla extract. You can use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the cookies, you can dip them face first in the glaze (you might want to double the recipe if you go this route), or you can decorate them by filling a small ziploc bag with glaze and then snipping off a small corner and drizzling neatly over the cookies. The glaze will harden enough to eat without making a mess in about 15-20 minutes, but if you intend to stack these cookies or pack them away, I recommend giving the glaze at least an hour to firm up completely.
Enjoy!
More Recipes You Might Like:
Snickerdoodles Thumbprint Cookies Mini Cinnamon Muffins
Let’s bake together! Be sure to check out my video at the bottom of the recipe where I’ll show you exactly how I make these Cinnamon Roll Cookies in my own kitchen! If you enjoy watching, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel where I’ve already uploaded over 150 recipe videos that you can watch for free!
