What to do

1. For the cookies, mix flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl- set aside

2. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat your sugar and butter for about 3 minutes until light in color and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, mix well.

3. Sift all dry ingredients into the bowl. I like to run the mixer on low for about 4 seconds and then use a spatula to fully incorporate everything.

4. Lay out saran or plastic wrap on your counter and plop your cookie dough onto the wrap. Place another piece of saran wrap on top of the dough and form everything into a disc. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Next steps, we need to roll out the dough to spread the filling. However, the dough needs to be soft enough to roll out. Remove dough from the fridge and place on counter for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. Dough should be soft to touch but not too flimsy (we don’t want the butter to melt). While the dough is coming to room temp, begin the filling. Mix your softened butter, cinnamon, salt and brown sugar in a bowl. Roll dough out in the shape of a rough rectangle and about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Spread your brown sugar butter generously. Then like cinnamon rolls, start at one end of your dough, and roll it til you get a perfect log shape. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for another 1-2 hours. Over night preferred (*see note below).

5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove your dough from fridge and slice the log into 1/2-3/4 inch slices (*see note below). You will have about 10-12 cookies, depending on size. Immediately, place your shapes on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. (Note: before you bake your cookies, you want to ensure that the dough is still cold after slicing. If the dough is warm, pop the baking sheet into the fridge for about 20-30 minutes.

6. Bake for 8-10 minutes (ovens vary) or until you notice a slight (I MEAN SLIGHT!) browning at the edges of the cookies.. Remove from the oven. After about 3-5 min of cooling, using a spatula, transfer the cookies to a wire rack.

7. For your cream cheese icing, using a hand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and beat until icing reaches desired consistency. Note: Icing should be runny. We want to easily pipe or spoon the icing onto the cookies.

8. To ice the cookies, simply take a spoonful of icing- and in a back and forth motion drizzle the cookies! IYou can also use a piping or ziplock bag to pipe the frosting on. I was too impatient, and I think the piping method looks nicer. Up to you! Serve immediately and store in an airtight container in fridge overnight if you have any leftovers.

*Pro tip: You can reheat your cookies at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. This gives your cookies that fresh baked taste again!

FAQ’s

Helpful tips

Here are some important Pro tips by Maude

• When measuring your flour, if you are not using a baking scale, be sure not to scoop your measuring cup into the flour (that is too much flour!) You want to spoon your flour into your measuring cup (spoonful by spoonful) until the cup is full. Then use a knife to scrape off the top, excess flour. This tip will ensure that you are not using too much flour in your recipes.
• When you mix room temp ingredients, the food tastes better- plain and simple. However, you also have an easier time mixing when ingredients are room temp. Additionally, I would argue that baked items like cakes and even cookies (if baking immediately after mixing) bake more evenly when ingredients are at room temp
• When you slice your cold cookies, you want to immediately get them into the oven- so they don’t spread too much! You dont want the cookies to lose their shape. If you slice the cookies and havent preheated the oven yet, place them in the fridge so they can chill til bake time.
• Chilling your dough makes a difference in taste. Try to hold out and chill your dough for 24 hrs and again for 20 min right before baking
• When baking your cookies, try not to crowd your pan as your cookies will spread. For this recipe, I usually bake 3 cookies at a time.
• I often bake ugly looking cookies (LOL). To avoid ugly cookies, and to create uniformed cookies, I take a cup or cookie cutter and place it over each cookie- give it a nice swirl, which helps the cookie return to a circular shape. Its a bomb technique, and no skill required!

If you try this recipe, I would love your feedback! Please leave a star rating, a comment below or on the reel in Instagram! Also please share what you made and tag @eatmaudes !! Thank you so much for stopping by and making yumminess with me!

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