Slightly crisp on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, these cookies taste just like cinnamon rolls in cookie form!
Cinnamon rolls in cookie form? Yes, please! These cookies are the best of both worlds! I don’t think there’s anything in the world that I love more than cinnamon rolls for breakfast. They have the taste of a cinnamon roll with a chewy cookie crumb. They’re absolutely perfect in every way. Plus, they are a billion times easier than cinnamon rolls since they don’t need to rise!
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Do these cookies really taste like a cinnamon roll? The answer is.. YES! They really do. The dough is sweet and buttery with a swirly cinnamon center. Once baked, the cookies are slightly crisp on the outside and soft and chewy in the inside. Drizzled with a vanilla glaze on top, these cookies have become one of my top favorites!
Since they are rather small, the cookies are OH so poppable! Once I have one, I can’t stop.
They are pretty simple to put together. Prepare the dough and once the whole process of chilling, rolling, filling and freezing is done, you just slice them up, bake and BAM you have the tastiest cookies ever. Oh, and smother drizzle them with the glaze once they’re cool of course for the ultimate experience!
These cookies are amazing for the holidays or even holiday gifting! I know I would love to receive a batch of these as a gift!
Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Ingredients
*Vanilla Cookie Dough*
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
*Filling*
- 1 egg white
- 1 tbs water
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
*Icing*
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbs heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Beat butter, sugar, salt and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the flour and mix until just combined. Take dough out, pat into a large ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes or until well chilled.
- Whisk the egg white and water together in a small bowl until foamy, set aside. In another small bowl, whisk sugar and cinnamon together and also set aside. On a thoroughly floured surface, roll the dough out into a 9x12" rectangle. Brush the egg white all over dough and sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on top evenly. Roll the dough into a long log very carefully and tight. Seal the edge with some if the egg white. For ease, cut log in half and wrap both halves separately in plastic wrap. Freeze until firm, about 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside. Remove one half if dough from freezer. Using a sharp knife, slice dough into 1/2" slices and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until very lightly golden in top. Allow them to cool on baking sheets for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Repeat this process with the second log if dough.
- While cookies are cooling, prepare icing by whisking powdered sugar, cream and vanilla until smooth. Once cookies are completely cool, drizzle the icing on with a spoon.
- Cookies will stay fresh for up to 2 days stored in an airtight container.
Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion.
This looks and sounds so yummy!
Those cookies look so light and tasty. I’ll give the recipe a try soon. 🙂
These look so good and I was definitely going to make them unti I read that they would only keep for 2 days in an airtight container. That means I cannot make them ahead of time or as gifts. Can they be frozen?
They are the best the first two days but are still okay on the third day. You can prepare the dough right up until the chilling and slicing part and freeze it in “log” form for a month or so. When ready to use, just slice and bake in their frozen state! Hope this helps, Betsy!
I’m so sorry for the late response! I’m not sure about freezing the finished product as I have never done that before, but you can definitely freeze the dough “logs” until ready to use! Once ready to use, just let them sit out for a few minutes, slice and bake. Hope this helps!
Sad… I froze logs and when I cut them, they kind of crumble… am I doing something wrong?
Did you follow the recipe and instructions EXACTLY? If so, the only thing I can think of is that you didn’t roll the log tight enough, resulting in crumbling since there is a filling in the middle. I have made these several times with the same results shown in the photos. I’m sorry if this isn’t much help, please let me know if you have any other questions, I’d be happy to help!
the same thing happened to me
My batch also came out very crumbly. I had hard time rolling out the dough with out it falling apart. Almost like it was too much flour or not enough butter. Measured correctly. 🙁
It’s not you it’s a trash recipe. Wish I would have read the comments first!
Absolute trash recipe. I am an avid baker – follow directions use timers: chilled the dough as instructed, came out rock hard. Let it get to room temp and it just crumbled! I wasted so much time on this today RUN from this recipe. I made 6 other types of cookies today no issues. I also make pumpkin rolls all the time – there is no simple way to get the dough to roll! I was rolling it so slow and pinching the holes shut. Then follow the directions again and cut the log in fall and pieces are just crumbling as I’m trying to get it in the fridge. From a serious baker – this is a bad recipe! Don’t use it
I made this yesterday following the reciepe exactly and the dough when taken out of the fridge was impossible to roll out. We discovered that whoever wrote this reciepe left out the eggs so we added 2 eggs (we doubled the reciepe so for a single batch only add one) and this made a HUGE improvement. Clearly it was just a forgotten ingredient.
The cookie base of these cookies is essentially a shortbread cookie and therefore does not call for eggs. Was the dough too stiff to roll out? If that was the case, the only thing I can think of is that the dough was chilled for too long and maybe it wasn’t allowed to sit at room temperature to soften back up just enough for it to roll. I’m glad the addition of eggs made it easier for you though, Mary!! Happy Holidays!
Do you think the log dough will last a couple days in the freezer? I need to make 10 dozen for a cookie exchange and was going to make the dough the prior weekend then bake them on thurs.
Thanks!
Yes, definitely! It will last for up to 3 months in the freezer! I would probably remove the log of dough from the freezer the night before and place it in the refrigerator over night so it’s not rock solid when you go to slice the cookies.
I bake many things for the holidays….just wondering if these cookies freeze well?
Yes! You can either freeze the log before slicing them into cookies and you’ll need to take them out the night before and place the logs in the refrigerator so they’re ready to bake in the morning and you can slice & bake them right from the refrigerator. You could also freeze the cookies after they’re sliced – just prepare the dough up until you slice them, flash freeze in a single layer (so they don’t stick in the freezer) and then freeze them in a freezer bag. When it comes time to bake them, you can bake them straight from the freezer just add an extra minute or two. Hope this helps, Joan!
These are delicious and so pretty. You definitely need to add an egg to the batter. I also added about another 1/2 cup flour. I will probably add just a pinch of salt next time. I refrigerated mine overnight and they sliced up perfectly in the morning. I also had to thin the drizzle a bit with water. Thank you for the great recipe!
Yes, you must add an egg to the cookie batter! I also added about another 1/2 cup of flour. Delicious cookies, and so so pretty! They sliced up beautifully after sitting in the fridge overnight. Thank you for the great recipe!
I love these cookies! I think the cookie dough is just fine and doesn’t need an egg – it’s definitely more of a shortbread cookie, so expect that texture. The only change I made is to replace 1/8 C. white sugar with brown sugar in the filling to add some more richness. Great recipe – thank you!
They were OK. I added some ground pecans to the filling and they were fairly decent.
I also added 2 eggs to the batter! Before then, the batter was a bit hard to work with. Stuck to everything like an over-buttered pastry dough. But it’s good now! Nice to have something different for the Christmas cookies, and with a nice varied size depending on your roll size. Thanks!
My dough was maybe too cold to roll out, I popped it in the microwave for 20 seconds then rolled it out between sheets of parchment paper on top of a tea towel. I think this helped keep dough together. Also I was able to use the parchment and towel
to help with rolling the log.
I very much like recipes where you can freeze then bake the cookie. I think this is the perfect cookie for coffee. Thanks for this recipe.
Love these cookies!