These soft Cinnamon Roll Cookies are a cinnamon-lover’s dream come true! Take some cinnamon roll filling, swirl it into some Snickerdoodle dough, dunk it in more cinnamon-sugar, then die and go to heaven. This Cinnamon Cookie recipe is easy and so delicious!
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Cinnamon Roll Cookies = HEAVEN!
This recipe all started when I went to create the perfect Snickerdoodle. I tried all kind of things to incorporate even MORE cinnamon flavor into the cookies (I’m a glutton for punishment, what can I say. Look at all this tongue numbing I’ve endured for you!)
Cinnamon Rolls are everyone’s favorite, so I whipped up some of the filling and swirled it into a Snickerdoodle to cookie-ify it. The result is FANTASTIC.
The truth is that the cinnamon roll filling changes the whole flavor profile of the cookie. They don’t taste like Snickerdoodles anymore, they taste like glorious cinnamon rolls.
They are super easy to make, you just need a few minutes to freeze the cinnamon roll filling.
Let’s jump in!
Cinnamon Roll Cookie Recipe Ingredients
Basic pantry ingredients! Full recipe instructions are in the card below, as always.
Salted butter, softened
Brown sugar, packed
Cinnamon
Granulated sugar
Large eggs
Vanilla extract
All-purpose flour
Baking soda
Kosher salt
Cream of tartar
How to make Cinnamon Cookies!
1.First we’re going to start by mixing up the cinnamon roll filling. Take some softened butter, and with a stand mixer or hand mixer beat it with cinnamon and brown sugar.
Then use a spoon to make little balls of filling, about the size of a marble. Line a baking sheet or large platter with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Clear out space in your freezer, if possible.. It’s kind of like we’re making our own chocolate chips! Except they are cinnamon roll chips. YUM.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a couple more baking sheets with parchment paper, or line with a silicone mat. (You can use the pan in the freezer to bake later, too)
Make the dough. In the same large bowl or stand mixer (no need to wash it), beat 1 cup butter for a couple minutes until smooth, scraping the sides and bottom a few times in between.
Add 1 and 2/3 cup white sugar. Beat for 2 minutes, taking the time to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl in between. Your butter and sugar should be light and fluffy with no chunks at all.
Add 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat well, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl. Make sure you beat it long enough that it becomes smooth and homogenous.
Add 3 and 1/2 cups flour but don't mix it in yet (make sure you spoon and level your flour).
Use a small spoon (I use my teaspoon) to stir in 1 teaspoon baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar into the flour. Gently beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Don't overdo it. There should still be flour streaks when you stop your mixer. Use a spatula to scrape down the edges of the bowl.
Continue beating just a few more seconds until all the flour streaks are gone. Do not over mix! You want to make sure all the ingredients are combined, but once that is done, stop mixing. Over mixing dough = tough cookies.
Once your dough is mixed together, fold in the frozen cinnamon roll filling. Don’t use the mixer, it will beat them up too much. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to gently fold them in, trying to keep the cinnamon roll filling intact in little balls. We want those big swirly spots of cinnamon in our cookies.
After that, shape them using a cookie scoop or ice cream scoop. I like to make them about 2 inches across. When you scoop the dough, your cinnamon will swirl into the dough a bit, that’s okay.
12. Roll the balls of dough in cinnamon sugar, just like a Snickerdoodle.
If you don’t stop to eat some now, are you even human? Real talk. By the way, you can take these balls of dough and toss them right in the freezer to bake later.
Use a large cookie scoop or a spoon to shape the dough. You want dough balls that are about 2 inches across. I used this cookie scoop. and overfilled it slightly for each scoop. See photos.
Roll the cookies. In a small or medium bowl, add 1/3 cup sugar and 1 and 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon. Stir together. Roll the shaped cookies in the cinnamon-sugar to coat.
Place cookie dough balls on the prepared baking sheet with about 2 inches in between them. I can fit 12 cookies on an 11×17 baking sheet. But as you can see from the photos, they kind of run into each other. You can fix this with the spooning technique, but if you want to play it safe add 8 cookies to a pan.
Bake the cookies at 350 for about 11-12 minutes. These cookies are not going to look done when you take them out of the oven because the cinnamon filling will stay shiny. The edges of the cookies that DON'T have cinnamon filling pooling out the side should be firm but not golden. The top (white) part of the cookies should be matte (not shiny), at least on the outer edges. The cinnamon filling will be shiny and may or may not be spreading quite a bit. You might think these cookies are going to flatten out and crisp up and fail, but never fear, we have a plan:
The spoon trick for Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Now it’s time to bake. Here they are just out of the oven.
Oh no! Failure cookies! They have spread out too much and are running into each other and will collapse into pancake cookies with too-crispy-edges and no textured height in the middle! You should be shedding actual tears at this point.
But wait! A couple of spoons or a 4-5 inch circle cookie cutter to save the day. Just use your spoon when the cookie is still HOT, like within 30-60 seconds of removing it from the oven, and smoosh the cookies together a little bit or use the cookie cutter and circle around it a few times. Let the cookies set up on the pan for at least 5 minutes. Remove the cookies to a wire cooling rack. Then eat one as fast as you can with a glass of milk! Cinnamon roll blissss!!
Basically, we are smooshing to get more height and chewiness in our cookies (read: SOFT cookies), and to solve the problem of the spreading cinnamon filling. It only takes a minute to do and the results are pretty amazing! Almost every cookie that comes out of my kitchen these days gets spooned.
I use a little cinnamon roll icing/ frosting to drizzle over the top like a cinnamon roll!! Here are a few pictures of different ones I have done. Some I have used light brown sugar and some dark. depending on what is in my pantry!
That’s it! Only about 35 minutes from zero to hot, gorgeous Cinnamon Roll Cookies in your mouth! I know I say this every time, but I really do think these are my new favorite cookie. Cinnamon is just the best, okay? One last thing, for all you cookie newbies:
Do I glaze this Cinnamon Roll Cookies Recipe?
What’s a cinnamon roll without a little glaze, right? Well when I shot this recipe, I was making it as a variation of Snickerdoodles and originally was just going to throw this idea into that post, like here’s what they look like with a little cinnamon filling. But they tasted SO good, and SO much like cinnamon rolls, that I decided to create an entire other post and call them Cinnamon Roll Cookies. I completely forgot about the glaze and to be honest, don’t feel that they need it. I love letting that dark cinnamon swirl shine. BUT! If you want a glaze, go for it! For that recipe you roll out sugar cookie dough and roll it up with cinnamon filling, just like cinnamon rolls. No regrets!!
How to store Cinnamon Cookies
I keep my cookies on the counter in a container with a lid. They never last long this way, not because they are going stale but because we are eating them all. If you aren’t a cookie monster like me and won’t devour them in 2-3 days, freeze them! Just pop them in a ziplock. They’ll last a month or so. Warning, they are still great straight from the freezer (though I like to microwave them for a few seconds to simulate oven-warm goodness).
Can you freeze this Cinnamon Roll Cookie recipe?
Yes definitely! Just toss them in a ziplock bag and seal completely. Let them thaw at room temperature. They will keep for 3-4 weeks!
You can also freeze this dough and bake later! I like to shape the dough into balls, roll them in cinnamon sugar, and store them in a ziplock bag. They will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. I never thaw cookie dough before baking. Just bake straight from frozen and add a couple minutes to the bake time. Voila!
Cinnamon Cookie Recipe FAQs
What makes your cookie soft and chewy?
The secret to a soft and chewy cinnamon roll cookies is actually the cream of tartar. It acts as a leavening agent which makes the texture of the cookies so soft! Don’t skip it!
Why do my cookies get hard after they cool?
The cookies are naturally going to set up more as they cool off. That is precisely why we take them out while they are still slightly underdone! If you bake them too long, you’ll end up with crunchy cookies once they cool. I also recommend pulling the cookies off of the baking sheet pretty quickly after they’re done. Otherwise, they’ll continue to cook on the hot pan. I let them sit for 5 minutes so they don’t completely fall apart, then I transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
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