These cinnamon roll cookies are soft, filled with cinnamon flavor and topped with a cream cheese frosting. A fun twist on snickerdoodles.
This dessert combines two of my favorite sweet treats — cinnamon rolls and sugar cookies.
Frosted Cinnamon Roll Cookies
These cinnamon and sugar cookies are so good!
If you love my cookies with cream cheese or Lofthouse sugar cookies, these cinnamon roll cookies are a fun one too. They’re topped with a luscious cream cheese frosting and a little sprinkle of cinnamon.
Although these are one of our favorite Christmas cookies, this treat tastes festive year-round too.
Soft Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies Ingredients
It has all the pantry staples in one medium bowl! It is that delicious and easy to make!
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Butter: Unsalted, softened butter left on the countertop will make these cookies extra creamy!
- Sugar: Adds sweetness to every bite.
- Eggs: This binds and holds the cookie dough together as it mixes in the bowl.
- Vanilla extract: Added in for flavor and more moisture to the cookie dough.
- All-purpose flour: The base of the cookies is in the flour. The flour will add texture as well as the thickness of the cookies.
- Baking powder: This helps the cookies rise and keeps them contained rather than spreading while being baked.
- Ground cinnamon: Swirl in cinnamon to give it that cinnamon roll taste!
- Sea salt: Pinch of salt that gives it texture as well as a sweet and salty plus savory flavor!
How to Make Cinnamon Roll Cookies
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla, and mix well.
Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and mix until a firm dough forms. Chill in the refrigerator.
Roll the dough into one-inch balls and place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Flatten each ball slightly with your hand or with a drinking glass.
Preheat oven and bake cinnamon roll cookies until the bottom edges are just slightly golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool before frosting.
Ingredients for Homemade Frosting
These cookies have an easy-to-make cinnamon roll frosting on them that’s better than anything you can get from a mall
- Cream cheese: Soften the cream cheese by leaving it out at room temperature until it is easy to sink your finger through.
- Butter: This is best softened at room temperature similar to the cream cheese. Cut the butter into slices to help it mix better with the wet ingredients.
- Powdered sugar: Add a little at a time giving the frosting that rich thickness with a soft texture.
- Vanilla: Just a dash of flavor!
- Milk: Choose either milk or cream to make this frosting nice and creamy.
- Cinnamon: Since these are cinnamon sugar cookies we need to add sprinkle of cinnamon to the frosting for that extra boost of flavor!
5 star review
I’ve made this recipe and it was a huge hit with my friends and neighbors! They’re delicious both warm and chilled!”
-Kaylee
Baking Tips + Tricks
As you are making this cinnamon roll cookie recipe, keep these tips and tricks in mind to help you get the best results possible. This will help ensure you have soft and delicious cookies every time!
- Use softened cream cheese. There are two easy ways to do this: you can either leave out the cream cheese at room temperature for about 45 minutes or microwave it on high for about 15 seconds.
- The butter also needs to be softened. It’s important that the butter is soft, not melted. For this reason, I skip the microwave. Instead, you can cut your butter into small cubes so they soften in an hour or less. If you need to soften it quickly, you can put your butter in a double boiler and pour boiling water in the bowl underneath the bowl holding butter.
- Flatten the dough with a drinking glass. Once the dough is made, you’ll roll it into 1″ balls before placing them on the parchment paper. Then, grab a clean drinking glass and use the bottom to flatten each cookie to 1/2″ thickness.
- Cool before frosting. Make sure your cookies are completely cool before adding your frosting. It’s hard to wait, but otherwise, they might melt the icing rather than hold its fluffy form.
- Frosting. Instead of a thick frosting, you can drizzle on a cream cheese glaze if preferred. A cinnamon buttercream or sour cream frosting would also taste delicious on top. At the holidays, this eggnog frosting recipe is a must!
Recipe FAQs
Rolled cookies are cookies that are made by rolling the cookie dough flat. Using a lightly floured surface or parchment paper to roll the cookie dough to a certain thickness before placing it on a cookie sheet. You can even use cookie cutters to cut shapes, animals, or numbers and letters.
Rolled cookies are considered more crumbly and less chewy compared to drop cookies. Rolled cookies are thin and crisp whereas dropped cookies are chewy and softer. Drop cookies, like my Lotus Biscoff cookies, usually use a cookie scoop and drop them directly onto the cookie sheet or silicone baking mat.
Rolled cookie method can be rolled out by using a rolling pin or rolling into a cookie dough log and cutting the dough into slices. Molded cookies are made from a stiffer dough that is similar to clay. Roll the dough into balls or similar shapes. Peanut butter cookies are a great example of molded cookie method.
The secret to rolling out cookie dough is having the cookie dough slightly chilled from the refrigerator. Using parchment paper, put the cookie dough between the two pieces and shape a rectangle using your hands. Roll the dough using a rolling pin at the center and roll the dough away from your body.
Freezing Baked Cookies
Allow cookies to cool completely. Place on a baking sheet and then freeze for 30 minutes. Once the frosting has hardened you can stack in a covered container. Take out 1 hour before ready to serve.
Love warm spiced treats with icing? This eggnog cupcake will also be a new favorite!
More Delicious Desserts
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Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Video
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar , could also do half brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour , more if needed
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- cinnamon sugar , for rolling (optional)
Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 teaspoons milk or cream , as needed
- Ground cinnamon , for sprinkling
Instructions
Cookies
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla, and mix well.
- Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and mix until a firm dough forms. Add an extra Tablespoon or two of flour if the dough is too sticky, being careful not to over mix. Chill 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Roll the dough into one inch balls and place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. You can roll balls in cinnamon sugar for more cinnamon flavor if desired. Flatten each ball slightly with your hand or with a drinking glass to be about 1/3- to 1/2-inch thick.
- Bake 7 to 8 minutes, or until the bottom is barely golden. Be careful to not over bake. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool before frosting.
Frosting
- In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the powdered sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla and milk as needed to reach desired consistency. Beat until light and fluffy.
- Pipe onto cooled cookies (you can use a 1M tip or snip off the top of a zip-top bag) in a spiral shape. Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon or cinnamon sugar. Store in a covered container up to 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: American, Christmas, Cookies, Desserts, Frosted Cookies, Holiday Cookies, Kid-Friendly, Reader Favorites
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
I just made these for Christmas and they were a HUGE hit! Made a double batch because I knew they would be delicious! That was a good call. They just melt in your mouth. Thank you for this recipe!
So glad the cinnamon roll cookies were a hit! Thanks for your review :)
Made them with friends and had a lot of fun and they were delicious!! The icing was amazing and I’m not a big icing fan. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
Thanks Kady for your review! So glad you enjoyed the cinnamon roll cookies!
I’ve made this recipe and it was a huge hit with my friends and neighbors! They’re delicious both warm and chilled!
I’m glad to hear they were a hit with your family! Enjoy!!
I just made these as a trial run before a Christmas party next weekend. I accidentally put too much milk in the icing, so it’s a bit too liquidy, still very delicious. When I make then for the party I’ll put in less. But so far they’ve been a hit for my family!
So glad they were a hit! You can always add more powdered sugar to thicken it :)
Definitely recommend mixing the dry ingredients together then adding to the wet to ensure things are combined well!
This is not a mailable/shipable cookie. . .right?
Unfortunately I don’t think these would ship well. I love shipping these: https://www.iheartnaptime.net/christmas-crack/
Should these be refrigerated in a covered container after being frosted?
If leaving out more than a day, I like to place them in the refrigerator :)
Can these be made with gluten free flour???
I haven’t tested them, but a cup 4 cup flour should work. Let us know if you test them out :)
I was thinking of making these cookies with brown butter to heighten flavour. What do u think?
I would brown the butter and then bring it back to a softened texture before beating with sugar.
That should work, Jody. You may loose some quantity from evaporation when browning so consider making a little extra just in case. I would love to hear how it goes! Sounds delicious!
Will do!
This recipe is so good! If you like cinnamon rolls & cookies, you will love this recipe!
So happy to hear you loved it!
This is a fantastic recipe! I’ve made these cookies as directed, but I’ve also done a traditional icing on them and they’re a huge hit. But I’ve also used the base of this recipe and used lemon zest and juice instead of cinnamon to make lemon cookies and they are to die for! Both versions are always a crowd pleaser.
Mmm that sounds so delicious! Glad to hear you love the recipe so much, Elizabeth :)
I really like this recipe, I have made it 3 times so far. This third time I added chocolate chips and we will se how it turns out!
Mmm that sounds like a delicious addition! Happy to hear you love the recipe, Katelynn :)
These are absolutely delicious!! I could eat a whole pan by myself! They please kids and adults! LOVE LOVE LOVE! I will definitely make these again!!
Love these cookies- I made them vegan by using becel baking sticks, “just egg” (3tbsp per egg), and then just a very basic icing and they are UNREAL. Nobody would know that they’re vegan, and everybody is asking for my recipe :) highly recommend!
Yay, I’m so happy you were able to make successful vegan swaps! Thanks for leaving your comment and substitutions :)
These are amazing! First time making them, definitely will not be the last!!
Yay! I’m so happy to hear you loved them Taresa :)
No I didn’t get the recipe
Hi Kathy, if you click the “View Recipe” button at the top of the page, it will lead you to the recipe card with the instructions/measurements.
Can you make these with gluten free cup 4 cup flour?
I haven’t tried, but that should work well with cup 4 cup.
Hey there! I am thinking about attempting these with gluten-free flour also. Have you tried it? If so, I’d love to hear how they turned out! I typically use Bob’s Red Mill GF 1 to 1 Baking Flour.
I made these cookies and I can’t wait to make them again! All of my friends and neighbors loved these! They are delicious warm or served cold. Such a great flavor!!💗
I’m so glad they were a hit!