22 Feb CInnamon Roll Cookies

I’m a chocolate chip cookie girl, through and through. If faced with the choice between a slice of cake (literally any cake) and a chocolate chip cookie, I’ll take the cookie. Ditto for brownies. In fact I’d choose a chocolate chip cookie over almost any treat! My tried and trusted chocolate chip cookie recipe is the first cookie that I learnt to bake back when I was a teenager, and I still make it more often than any other recipe.
That is until I tasted these cinnamon roll cookies. I feel its too early to say they have taken the number 1 spot, however they are at the very least in tie-first place on my list of favourites! In fact, I have not stopped making them since the first batch I made a few weeks ago. I currently have a roll of dough in the fridge, half a roll in the freezer, a jar of cookies on the counter and a tray in the oven as we speak.
These delicious little cookies look just like cinnamon rolls and taste like them too! The combination of the rich, buttery cookie dough, the crisp, cinnamon sugar filling, and the slightly tangy cream cheese drizzle is simply perfection. Using a good quality butter like Kerrygold Pure Irish Salted Butter makes all the difference – I find it really comes through in the flavour!
TIP: Freeze half the dough and simply slice and bake to have freshly baked cookies in minutes.

This post is sponsored by Kerrygold. All text and opinions are 100% my own.

Ingredients:

(Makes about 40 cookies)

Cookie dough:
200g Kerrygold Pure Irish Salted Butter, room temperature 150g castor sugar (3⁄4 cup)
5ml vanilla extract (1 tsp)
1 large egg
385g flour, plus extra for rolling (23⁄4 cups) 2,5ml baking powder (1⁄2 tsp)

Cinnamon and sugar filling:
60g Kerrygold Pure Irish Salted Butter, room temperature 100g brown sugar eg. muscovado (1⁄2 cup)
15ml cinnamon (1 tbsp)

Cream cheese icing:
15ml Kerrygold Pure Irish Salted Butter, room temperature (1 tbsp) 30ml cream cheese, room temperature (2 tbsp)
60g icing sugar (1⁄2 cup)
5ml vanilla (1 tsp)
5ml milk (1 tsp)

Directions:

• Cream the butter and castor sugar together with an electric or stand mixer for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
• Add the vanilla essence and egg, and beat well.
Stir the flour and baking powder together, then add gradually to the creamed mixture. Mix until just combined (do not overmix).
• Bring the dough together with your hands and divide into two flat discs. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile make the cinnamon sugar filling. Cream together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until you have a thick paste.
• Working with 1 disc of dough at a time, roll out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 25cm x 20cm, with the longest edge closest to you. The dough should be about 3mm thick. Trim the edges so you have a neat rectangle.
• Spread half of the filling over the entire surface of the rectangle, as evenly as possible. Working from the long edge, carefully roll up the dough into a log shape. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 1 hour (or freeze for up to 3 months). Repeat with the remainder of the dough and filling.
• Once the dough is firm, preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line a baking tray with baking paper. Slice the dough into rounds about 0.5cm thick and place on the baking tray with at least 3 cm between them. For the neatest spirals, the sliced cookie dough should still be cold when placed in the oven.
•Bake for 10-12 minutes or until turning lightly golden. Allow the cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes on the tray, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely. If you prefer a crispier cookie, let the cookies cool completely on the baking tray before removing.
• To make the icing, beat together all ingredients until you have a smooth icing. Drizzle or pipe in a zigzag fashion over the cooled cookies.
• Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.