Cinnamon Roll Cookies with Cream Cheese Glaze

Thanks for sharing!

If you love cinnamon rolls and sugar cookies, you are going to love this delicious marriage of the two. Cinnamon roll cookies are perfect for the holidays, as a cute dessert for brunch and so much more!

The swirls of cinnamon filling draw you in to these cinnamon roll cookies, but the soft texture and cream cheese glaze will keep you coming back for more. They are the perfect combination of cookie and cinnamon roll and are cute as can be.

Luckily they are pretty easy to put together too. There is a fair amount of chill time, but that just spreads out the work and believe me, they are worth the wait.

We threw a “Bun in the Oven” shower for my cousin, so cinnamon bun cookies seemed like a perfect treat.  They got such rave reviews there that I knew I had to make a batch for my sister’s bridal shower brunch as well.  

There were no complaints that they were served again by those who attended both. 😉

For my cousin’s shower these cookies acted as our little party favor.  Each place setting had a little cellophane bag with a few cookies in it.  

Nothing like a few cute little cinnamon bun cookies for the road!  My aunts especially loved them. 

They couldn’t wait to get home to try them.  They kept telling me “if these aren’t on the blog, they need to be!”     

So now they are!  Since very few cookies actually made it out the door at my cousin’s shower, I skipped the step of bagging them for my sister’s shower and just left them on plates on the tables for people to grab and eat.  Our guests didn’t have to worry about busting into the bags to get to the good stuff.

Though these are now our official shower cookies, they are really perfect for just about any occasion and would be great on your holiday cookie trays as well.  They are something a little bit fun and different and they are easy to put together! 

Making the Cookies

Luckily making these cinnamon roll cookies is a lot easier than making actual cinnamon rolls. There is no yeast to mess with.

The hardest part is waiting for the dough to chill. You need to do it two separate times, but both times are for a good reason.

First whip up a batch of sugar cookie dough. This recipe is based on our favorite sugar cookies.

The dough is the perfect mix of soft but workable and the cookies are soft but sturdy enough to decorate and stack.

After the dough is put together, we reach our first chill time. Making sure the dough is good and cold will help you be able to roll it out without having to add more flour.

This will help to keep your finished cookies tender and not too tough. The edges will be a bit crispy and the centers will be soft.

Once the dough is chilled, roll it out until it is between 1/4 to 1/2 -inch thick. You can cut the dough into halves if you prefer, it does make the process of rolling the dough out evenly easier.

Now spread a mixture of melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon on top of the dough and roll it into a tight log the way you would roll cinnamon roll dough.

Wrap the log in plastic wrap and put it back in the refrigerator. This second chill time will help the cookies keep their shape as they bake, you don’t want them to overspread.

Just slice the log into little cookie rounds and place them on a cookie sheet. I use nonstick cookie sheets and no parchment paper or silicone mats were needed.

A quick trip to the oven and the cookies are pretty much ready. Just move them to a wire rack and whip up the glaze.

Icing Your Cinnamon Roll Cookies

One of the best parts about cinnamon rolls is the icing. So of course these cute little cookies needed some.

The cream cheese glaze really makes these cookies taste like the real deal. Just cream together softened butter and cream cheese.

Add a little powdered sugar, vanilla and milk and mix until you have a nice glaze. If needed, adjust the consistency until it is thin enough to drizzle.

Try not to thin it out any more than you need to. You want it to drizzle nicely, but you also want it to set up without having to wait forever.

You can easily switch of the flavors by using different extracts. Using maple or coffee would be tasty, but usually stick to classic vanilla.

Thanks for sharing!