These slice and bake cinnamon roll cookies look and taste just like cinnamon rolls! They make a great addition to holiday cookie platters.
Who here loves cinnamon rolls? ? Aren’t they amazing? Soft, sweet and oozing with a buttery cinnamon filling. Ahh… there’s nothing better. Or is there?
The cookie monster in me is always trying new kinds of cookies. I mean, it’s kind of my job. These cinnamon roll cookies are based off of a slice and bake cookie I made for St. Patrick’s Day a few years ago, only they’re surprisingly less time-consuming.
The most important thing when making these cookies is to let them chill, literally. The dough needs to chill twice. Once in the refrigerator prior to being rolled, and once in the freezer after being being rolled. Cold dough is crucial to getting a crisp slice and definition as they’re baking.
Making the dough is simple. You can do it in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. I also like making it at night and leaving it in overnight. This is just easier for my “busy-mom schedule.”
To roll the dough out, I find it’s easiest to grab a half sheet pan size silicone baking mat, lightly flour it and roll out the dough to fit it (a 12×16 rectangle). The silicone mat makes rolling the dough a lot easier too. You don’t have to worry about it sticking to the counter (this happened the first time I made these and I had to scrap it all ?).
Brush the dough with browned butter, then sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar/cornstarch mixture over top. P.S. the browned butter makes these cookies, so don’t skip that step!
Make sure the roll is tight and even. You can see pictured above I had a slight gap. I tried my best to get it tight and it still happened, which is ok, because little gaps can be fixed towards the end.
Wrap the roll in plastic wrap and freeze for 1 hour. You want the dough to be extremely firm and COLD.
Use a sharp kitchen knife to cut 1/4-inch thick slices. Place 12 on a lined baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. They will look and feel soft, however, as the cool they will firm up.
While the cookies are cooling whisk together the icing and drizzle over top. Wait until the icing is fully set to serve or store the cookies.
My kids LOVED these cookies, and I did too! They were perfect with that icing drizzle over top. If you want to make things even easier, try dipping a portion of them in white chocolate. Mmmm!
LOOKING FOR MORE AMAZING CINNAMON ROLL RECIPES? TRY THESE:
- Mini Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
- Lemon Poppy Seed Sweet Rolls
- No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls
- 1 Hour Cinnamon Rolls
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Cinnamon Roll Slice and Bake Cookies Recipe
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Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 3/4 c. unsalted butter - softened
- 1/3 c. brown sugar - packed
- 1/3 c. granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp. almond extract
- 2 c. + 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. coarse kosher sea salt
For the filling:
- 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1/4 c. granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
For the icing:
- 1 c. powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp. milk or water
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl (with a hand mixer), beat butter and sugars for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla and almond, mix until combined. Add the flour, baking soda and salt, mix until a soft dough forms.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
- 20 minutes before removing the dough from the refrigerator, prepare the filling. In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the butter. Brown the butter by letting it pop, foam and then form tiny brown speckles on the bottom of the saucepan. Remove from the heat and allow to cool in a separate bowl.
- In a small mixing bowl combine the sugar, cinnamon, and cornstarch.
- Roll the dough into a 12-inch by 16-inch rectangle. I like to roll it out on a lightly floured silcone baking mat (the half sheet pan size is the correct size). Brush the butter over top, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture over top, patting gently so it sticks.
- Using the baking mat to help, roll the dough into a tight log. Press the dough to seal the end of the roll. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Slice the log into ¼” thick slices. Place 12 on a baking sheet at a time. Bake for 10-12 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to cool on the sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cookies are cooling, in a small mixing bowl whisk together the powdered sugar, water or milk, and vanilla. Drizzle over the cookies and allow to set before serving or storing.
Awesome. One thing I missed: roll from the 12” side… I rolled from the longer side, so I had smaller circles of dough and just cut them thicker, and they really look like mini cinnamon rolls. Not sure of they’re done enough. Fingers crossed.
You’re right, they were easy to follow your recipe for cinnamon rolls. I am 80 years old and have created thousands of dozen cookies for my 6 children. I have never made rolls, so I appreciate the simplified recipe.
These taste delicious. I had trouble rolling the dough. I had the dough in fridge overnight, but still crumbly. I made them last year, same problem. My son liked them so much I made them again. They didn’t look pretty, but are so good.
I made these for my husband and we liked them. The dough was a little tricky to work with, however just keeping them in the fridge longer made it easier to work with. We put them in the fridge instead of the freezer overnight for the last step and they sliced up easily. If I made them again I would probably just keep the dough in the fridge overnight on the first step too. Worth the wait they taste yummy!
So glad you liked them! Thank you for sharing what you did! 🙂
I made these yesterday. Really did not care for the rich dough. Made it so hard to work with. Even after a couple hours in fridge it pretty much just squished it between parchment paper and then used it to roll it up
I froze it as required, but it still crumbled when cut.
That being said they baked up lovely. I just squished the pieces back together before baking.
Not sure if I’ll bake again but thank you for the recipe.
Thank you for giving it a try 🙂