Cinnamon Roll Cookies

CINNAMON ROLL COOKIES….I love cinnamon rolls, I also love cookies, so why not put them both together. 

So these cookies are inspired by Crumbl Cookies. They once had a maple cinnamon roll cookie that looked very good.

I wanted to make something similar, but just without the maple. So here it is!

6 cinnamon roll cookies on a baking paper lined tray

Video Tutorial

Breakdown of the process

Here’s a quick breakdown of what you’re going to be doing to make these cookies!

  • Make the cinnamon paste: we’re making this first.
  • Make the cookie dough: once this is made, we’re going to gently mix the cinnamon paste into it.
  • Leave the cookie dough to chill: before baking, the cookie dough needs to chill for at least 30 minutes.
  • Bake the cookies
  • Make the cream cheese icing: this is optional, the cookies taste great without it but it’s a nice addition.
  • Decorate: make sure the cookies are fully cooled before doing this.
Close up of 1 cinnamon roll cookie on a baking paper lined tray

The cinnamon paste

You might be thinking….what is a cinnamon paste?

Or maybe you’re not thinking this, it might be obvious. But let me explain anyway.

The cinnamon paste is what you would fill an actual cinnamon roll with. 

To make it, it’s just butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and some corn flour mixed together.

I wanted to add this to the cookie, instead of only just adding t ground cinnamon to it. This way the cookie is more similar to an actual cinnamon roll.

I have seen a lot of people do this. But when they do it, they roll the cookie dough out, spread the paste on top, and then roll the cookie dough up. This gives the cookies a swirl, which looks like a cinnamon roll.

I didn’t do this, it seems like too much work. So I just put it into the cookie dough and gently mixed it in!

1 cinnamon roll cookie on a tray before the cream cheese icing was added to it

Ingredients for the cookies

Here the ingredients you’re going to be using to make the cookie dough!

  • Unsalted butter: I like to use unsalted so that I can control the amount of salt in the cookies, but salted works too. Just make sure not to add the 1/2 teaspoon of salt that is in the recipe.
  • Sugar: We’re using a mixture of granulated and brown sugar. The brown sugar gives the cookies great flavour. 
  • Ground cinnamon: I added some cinnamon into the cookie dough, as well as the cinnamon paste. Just to give them a more cinnamony flavour.
  • Vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • Plain flour: also known as all purpose flour.
  • Salt
  • Baking powder: to help the cookies rise a little.
6 cinnamon roll cookies on a tray before the cream cheese icing was added to them

Common questions

Do I have to leave these cookies to chill?

YES, you do.

Just for 30 minutes though. 

These cookies will just spread way too much if you try baking them straight away. They need some time in the fridge to chill so that the butter can set up.

How do you get them so round?

I don’t. My cookies never bake perfectly round. Every picture or video you see of cookies that are perfectly round, they also probably don’t bake round. 

Me and a lot of other people reshape them once they’re baked, to make them round. 

To do this, you need something circular, I used a cookie cutter, a small bowl works too. Just make sure that whatever you use, it’s a little bigger than your cookie.

Straight away after the cookies come out of the oven, I swirl my cookie cutter around the cookies to reshape them. That’s all.

I’m not sure if I’ve explained this well, but in my video for these cookies, you can see me do this!

Can I made the cookie dough ahead?

Yes, you can. I do this a lot. 

Once you get to the point where you have made the cookie dough balls. Instead of leaving it in the fridge for 30 minutes, you can leave them in there for up to 4 days.

Or you can also leave them in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Then once you’re ready to make them, just bake them straight out of the fridge/freezer. They might just need a few extra minutes.

Side note, if you do this, the cookies might come out a little thicker. But I don’t mind this!

1 cinnamon roll cookie dough ball on a tray before being baked
1 cinnamon roll cookie on a tray before the cream cheese icing was added to it

Don’t want to make cinnamon roll cookies? Here are some other cookie recipes I think you should try

Cinnamon
Roll Cookies

Ingredients
Makes: 6

  • For the cinnamon paste:
  • 40g unsalted butter, melted

  • 80g brown sugar

  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • 2 teaspoons corn flour

  • For the cookies:
  • 100g unsalted butter, melted

  • 60g brown sugar

  • 60g granulated sugar

  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 1 egg

  • 250g plain flour

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

  • For the cream cheese icing:
  • 80g unsalted butter, softened

  • 80g icing sugar, sieved

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 160g cream cheese

Directions

  • Making the cinnamon paste:
  • In a bowl, add in all the ingredients for the cinnamon paste.
  • Stir until everything is combined. Leave this aside.
  • Making the cookie dough:
  • In a large bowl, add in the melted butter, both sugars, the ground cinnamon and vanilla. Whisk all this together. Then add in the egg and whisk until combined.
  • In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add this into the other bowl and mix until all the flour is incorporated.
  • Add dollops of the cinnamon paste into this and mix gently. Don't mix this until the paste is fully incorporated, you want to see streaks of the cinnamon paste.
  • Create cookie dough balls out of this dough, you could also use your hands. Each on of my cookie dough balls was around 95g.
  • Place these onto a tray or place and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
  • Baking the cookies:
  • About 10 minutes before baking the cookies, pre-heat your oven to 180c/350f.
  • Place your chilled cookie dough balls on a large baking paper lined tray. Make sure to leave a gap between them so that they have room to spread.
  • Bake for around 20-22 minutes. Once baked, leave them to cool on the tray for 10 minutes before picking them up. They will be too soft to pick up at first, they need time to set.
  • Making the cream cheese icing:
  • In a bowl, add in the butter and whip this for about 2 minutes. It's best to use an electric mixer for this, but you can do it by hand.
  • Add in the icing sugar and vanilla. Mix this in, then whip for 2 minutes again.
  • Now add in the cream cheese and whip until combined.
  • Decorating:
  • Once the cookies have completely cooled, you can add the cream cheese icing onto them.
  • I used a piping bag and piped the icing on but you could also just use a spoon.
  • Sieve some ground cinnamon on top and then you're done, enjoy!
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2 Comments

  1. M
    February 16, 2023 / 1:52 pm

    Hi, love this recipe! Could I add some chocolate chips to the dough, if so how much would you recommend?

    • Ash Baber
      Author
      February 17, 2023 / 8:20 am

      Yesss you can, I would probably add around 100g but you can add as much as you want!