cinnamon roll cookies

I have about a million cookies at my house already.  Between my love of baking, cookies the kids made, cookies exchanges, you name it...

So of course I decided to make some more cookies yesterday.  By the way, if you remember that I'm (trying to) keep track of how much I've baked just this December the numbers are as follows:

• about 25 dozen cookies
• 10 pounds of caramels
• 4 batches of marshmallows

and I'm seriously just getting warmed up!  I'm curious what the final count will be now.  

Anyway, I felt like experimenting yesterday and I think I found a winner.  In fact, I can't stop eating these, and I'm usually pretty good at only eating one or two.  I really like this recipe.  It makes soft chewy cookies that taste EXACTLY like a cinnamon roll.  

Start out by making a standard sugar cookie dough.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Take 2/3 of the dough out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured counter.  Leave it and return to the bowl.  Add the cinnamon, brown sugar, and dash of vanilla to the remaining 1/3 dough in the bowl.  Mix well and upturn onto the lightly floured counter next to the other dough.  

Roll both sets of dough out into rectangles of the same size.  I'm TERRIBLE at this.  You can see that from the photos.  I'm just telling you this so you know that it really doesn't matter if your rectangles are perfect.  The cookies will still look good once they're rolled out even if you rectangles are ugly.  I promise.

Gently pick up the cinnamon dough and lay it on top of the original dough.  The dough should both be pretty pliable if you need to shape them a little into matching sizes.

Roll the dough into a log.  If you didn't use enough flour on the counter and the dough sticks a little, you can use a scraper to help un-stick the dough and move it along.

Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.  If you make this dough up to a few days ahead of time (I love options!) just set the dough on the counter for 5-10 minutes to soften.  If you try to cut the dough straight from the fridge it will be too stiff and the two dough sections might separate.

Slice the cookies and place them on parchment covered cookies sheets.  Bake for 7-8 minutes.

Once the cookies come out of the oven you can start making the icing.  When the cookies have cooled drizzle the icing over top, then allow about an hour to dry fully.

The icing takes a while to dry, but once it has you can stack the cookies without smudging the icing.  Yay!

I don't usually frost or ice cookies, they generally don't need it, but please don't forgo the icing here.  First of all, cinnamon roll cookies just aren't the same without it, and I tried a cookie before I iced them (always a must with new recipes) and the crazy amount of cinnamon without the added sweetness of the icing made for a very spicy cookie!  The icing just helps balance the flavors so much.  A necessity.

I like the random icing drizzle, but if you want to get fancy you could drizzle the icing in a spiral or go crazy and cover the entire cookie lightly.

I'm going to have to give these away, because otherwise I'm going to eat them all.  I LOVE cinnamon rolls, and having smaller (and less guilty) versions available anytime I want is very dangerous.

AND, some gratuitous cookie shots...

Cinnamon Roll Cookies
make about 18

Ingredients:

Cookies

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract plus 1/2 tsp
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups AP flour
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tbsp cinnamon

Icing

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 5 tbsp milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Cream the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Beat in 1 tsp vanilla and the egg.
2. Slowly mix in the baking powder and flour.
3. Remove 2/3 of the dough and place on a lightly floured counter.
4. Add the 1/2 tsp vanilla, brown sugar, and cinnamon to the remaining dough in the bowl.  Mix well.  Remove the remaining dough onto a lightly floured counter near the first dough.
5. Roll both doughs out into rectangles of matching sizes.  Gently pick up the cinnamon dough and set it on top of the other dough.  Roll up dough and wrap in cellophane.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
6. Slice dough into medallions and place on parchment lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 7-8 minutes.  
7. Make the icing and drizzle over the cookies once they've cooled.