Cinnamon Roll Cookies: Best Easy Chewy Homemade No Yeast Recipe

Craving that warm, gooey cinnamon roll flavor without the hours of kneading and rising? You want the comforting taste of a pastry but need a quick, reliable dessert for your busy life. This is the Cinnamon Roll Cookies Recipe you’ve been searching for.

This easy homemade cinnamon roll cookies recipe delivers the beloved flavor of a cinnamon roll in a soft, chewy cookie form without any yeast or rising time. These cookies feature a buttery dough, a rich cinnamon-sugar swirl, and a simple vanilla glaze, making them a perfect quick and impressive dessert.

Based on a kitchen-tested and perfected framework, this guide provides more than just steps. This post breaks down the simple science for a perfect bake every time. You’ll discover how to get that signature swirl and a melt-in-your-mouth texture that makes this hybrid dessert a guaranteed family favorite.

What Makes This The BEST Cinnamon Roll Cookie Recipe?

This isn’t just another recipe; it’s a promise of a delightful comfort food dessert that’s both foolproof and incredibly delicious. While many recipes exist, this one focuses on delivering the authentic cinnamon roll experience without the complexity or long waiting times associated with yeast doughs. We’ve perfected this tested recipe over many trials to guarantee a soft baked and chewy texture every single time. It combines the simplicity of a sugar cookie with the iconic flavor of a pastry, using standard pantry staples like unsalted butter and brown sugar. You get all the warm spices and the sweet vanilla glaze you love, but in a fraction of the time, making it the perfect choice for holiday events or a cozy afternoon treat.

Why This Easy No-Yeast Recipe Works (The Science!)

Understanding the “why” behind the steps is what separates good bakers from great ones. This recipe’s success isn’t magic; it’s based on simple baking science that ensures a perfect outcome. By explaining these core principles, we’re not just giving you a recipe but helping you become a more confident baker. These techniques are the secret to achieving that coveted soft, chewy, and bakery-quality result at home.

The creaming method, where you beat softened butter with sugars, isn’t just for mixing; it whips tiny air pockets into the dough, which is the foundation for a light, fluffy texture. We also rely on the moisture content in brown sugar; its natural molasses adds depth of flavor and is the key to that perfectly chewy texture. Finally, the most crucial technique is chilling the dough. This solidifies the fat (unsalted butter), which drastically slows down how quickly the cookies spread in the oven. This control is what keeps them thick and round, and ensures the beautiful cinnamon swirl stays intact instead of melting into a puddle.

The Ultimate Cinnamon Roll Cookies Recipe

Here is the complete, step-by-step guide to creating the most delicious homemade cinnamon roll cookies. This recipe is logically broken down into its three core components: the buttery cookie dough, the rich cinnamon filling, and the sweet vanilla glaze. Following these precise, kitchen-tested instructions will ensure you achieve professional results and a dessert that tastes as incredible as it looks. This is the heart of the cinnamon roll cookies recipe, designed for clarity and baking success.

Ingredients

For the Cookie Dough:

• 2 ½ cups (300g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (227g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
• ½ cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
• 1 large room temperature egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Cinnamon-Sugar Filling:

• ¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter, melted
• ½ cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

For the Sweet Vanilla Glaze:

• 1 cup (120g) confectioners sugar, sifted
• 2-3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Equipment Needed

• Stand mixer with paddle attachment or a medium bowl with an electric mixer
• Rolling pin
• Parchment paper
• Baking sheet (cookie sheet)
• Sharp knife or unflavored dental floss
• Wire cooling rack

Instructions

1. Whisk the Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream Butter and Sugars: In the bowl of your stand mixer or a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the softened unsalted butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. This is the creaming method that adds air for a soft baked cookie.
3. Combine Wet Ingredients: Add the room temperature egg and vanilla extract and beat on high for 1 minute until fully combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Fold in the Flour Mixture: Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined—do not overmix. The dough will be soft.
5. Chill the Dough: Form the dough into a disk, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. This is a critical step to prevent spreading.
6. Roll Out the Dough: On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough into a rectangle approximately 1/4-inch thick.
7. Spread the Filling: Spread the melted butter evenly over the dough rectangle. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and ground cinnamon. Sprinkle this cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the butter.
8. Create the Log: Starting from one of the long edges, roll the dough up tightly into a log. Wrap the log securely in plastic wrap and chill for another 30-60 minutes until firm. This second chill ensures a neat spiral and clean slices.
9. Preheat the Oven: Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
10. Slice and Bake: Remove the chilled log and slice into 1/2-inch thick rounds using a sharp knife. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
11. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown. The centers will look soft.
12. Cool on the Pan: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
13. Drizzle the Glaze: While the cookies cool, whisk together the confectioners sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, and vanilla extract. Add more milk, one teaspoon at a time, until you reach your desired viscosity of glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies.

7 Pro-Tips for Perfect Cinnamon Roll Cookies Every Time

Getting that bakery-perfect look and texture is easy when you know a few professional secrets. These seven expert tips are designed to help you troubleshoot common issues before they happen, from preventing cookies from spreading too thin to achieving that beautifully defined swirl. These are the details that will elevate your homemade cookies into true showstoppers and build your confidence in the kitchen.

1. Master the Double-Chill for Zero Spread

Pin this game-changing tip to your ‘Baking Secrets’ board!

The goal is to solidify the fat (butter) within the dough. When cold fat enters a hot oven, it melts much slower, holding the cookie’s shape longer and preventing it from spreading into a thin, crispy disk. A double-chill—once for the dough disk and again for the rolled log—is the secret to thick, chewy cookies with a defined spiral.

How to Apply It

1. First Chill (Disk): After mixing, the dough is soft and warm. Wrap it in plastic and chill for at least 60 minutes. It should be firm to the touch but still pliable enough to roll.
2. Second Chill (Log): After filling and rolling the dough into a log, chill it again for at least 30-60 minutes. This re-chills the butter that softened from the heat of your hands and makes slicing a clean, simple process. For best results, you can even freeze the log for 15-20 minutes.

Pro-Tip: In my experience, if your kitchen is warm, don’t rush the chilling process. A properly chilled dough is the foundation for a perfectly round cookie and is the ultimate solution to stop filling leakage.

2. Use Dental Floss for a Perfect Spiral Slice

Save this surprising kitchen hack for later!

A knife, even a sharp one, applies downward pressure across a wide surface area, which can compress and flatten the soft dough log, distorting the spiral. Unflavored dental floss is extremely thin and strong, allowing it to slice through the dough with minimal pressure, resulting in a perfectly clean cut every time.

How to Apply It

1. Take a long piece of unflavored dental floss (about 12 inches).
2. Slide the floss underneath the chilled cookie dough log to where you want to make a slice.
3. Bring the ends of the floss up and cross them over the top of the log.
4. Pull the ends in opposite directions. The floss will slice cleanly through the dough, leaving a perfectly round cookie with an undisturbed spiral.
5. Repeat for the remaining slices.

Lesson Learned: I ruined many spirals with knives before discovering this trick. While a very sharp, thin knife can work, the floss method is foolproof for achieving that bakery-perfect look.

3. Pack the Filling, But Leave a Border

Pin this tip to avoid a sticky mess!

The cinnamon-sugar filling is essentially butter and sugar, which turns into a molten, bubbly liquid in the oven. Without a proper seal, this delicious filling will leak out, burning on the pan and leaving a hollow gap in your cookie spiral. A clean border of dough acts as a natural “glue” to seal the roll.

How to Apply It

1. After rolling your dough into a rectangle, spread on the melted butter and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture.
2. Use your fingers or an offset spatula to spread the filling evenly, but be sure to leave a 1/2-inch bare border along all four edges of the dough rectangle.
3. When you roll the dough into a log, this clean edge will press against the next layer of dough, creating a seal that traps the filling inside, ensuring a gooey center in every cookie.

Pro-Tip: Pay special attention to the border on the long edge where you will finish rolling. A slightly wider border (3/4-inch) on this final edge can provide an even more secure seal.

4. Don’t Overmix the Dough

Want tender cookies? Pin this essential tip!

Flour contains proteins that, when mixed with liquid and agitated, form gluten. While gluten is essential for chewy bread, too much gluten development in cookies results in a tough, dry, and dense texture instead of the desired soft baked and chewy texture. The goal is to mix just enough to incorporate the flour, and no more.

How to Apply It

1. Add the flour mixture to your creamed butter and sugar on the lowest mixer speed.
2. Mix only until the last streaks of flour have just disappeared into the dough. It’s better to stop a second early and finish combining with a spatula than to risk overmixing.
3. The final dough should be very soft and pliable, not stiff or elastic. This minimal mixing ensures a tender crumb in the final cookie.

Lesson Learned: The difference is noticeable. An overmixed dough feels tougher even before baking and leads to a disappointing, bread-like cookie. Trust the “just combined” rule for ultimate softness.

5. Embrace the Room Temperature Ingredients

Pin this fundamental rule of baking for better cookies!

The creaming method (beating butter and sugar together) is designed to create tiny air pockets that make cookies light and fluffy. This process only works if the butter is soft. Furthermore, a room temperature egg will combine smoothly with the creamed butter and sugar. A cold egg will cause the soft butter to seize and curdle, breaking the emulsification and ruining the dough’s texture.

How to Apply It

1. Butter: Take your butter out of the fridge 1-2 hours before you begin baking. It’s ready when you can press your finger into it and leave a clean indentation. It should not be greasy or melted.
2. Egg: Place a cold egg in a bowl of warm (not hot) tap water for 5-10 minutes to quickly bring it to room temperature.
3. Using these ingredients at the correct temperature will result in a smooth, homogenous dough and a superior final texture.

Pro-Tip: If you forget to soften your butter, you can microwave it in 5-second bursts, but be extremely careful not to melt it. A uniform, soft temperature is always the best for professional results.

6. Slightly Underbake for Maximum Chewiness

This is the secret to soft cookies! Pin it now!

Cookies continue to bake from the residual heat of the baking sheet even after they’re removed from the oven (this is called carryover cooking). To achieve a soft and chewy center, you must pull them out when the center still looks slightly underdone. If you wait until the center looks fully baked, they will cool to be hard and crunchy.

How to Apply It

1. Bake the cookies for the recommended time (10-12 minutes).
2. Look for the visual cues: the edges should be firm and a light golden brown, but the very center of the cookie should still look puffy and slightly pale or “wet.”
3. Remove the cookies from the oven at this stage.
4. Let them cool on the hot baking sheet for 5 full minutes. During this time, the center will finish setting up perfectly, resulting in a firm-yet-chewy cookie from edge to center.

Lesson Learned: My first few batches of cookies were always too crunchy because I waited for the centers to look “done” in the oven. Trust the process! Pulling them out a minute or two early feels wrong, but it’s the secret to the ultimate soft baked cookie.

7. Let Cookies Cool Completely Before Glazing

For a perfect finish, pin this final tip!

The sweet vanilla glaze is a simple mixture of confectioners sugar and liquid. If you pour it onto a warm cookie, the heat will melt the sugar crystals, causing the glaze to turn into a thin, transparent sugar syrup that soaks into the cookie instead of sitting on top. A completely cool cookie allows the glaze to set into a beautiful, opaque white layer.

How to Apply It

1. After the cookies have cooled on the baking pan for 5 minutes, transfer them to a wire cooling rack.
2. Allow them to cool on the rack for at least 20-30 minutes, or until they are no longer warm to the touch.
3. Once completely cool, you can drizzle the glaze. It will hold its shape and set up beautifully, giving you that classic cinnamon roll look.

Pro-Tip: For an even cleaner look, place the wire cooling rack over a sheet of parchment paper before you drizzle the glaze. This will catch any drips and make cleanup effortless.

Key Takeaways: Your Quick Guide to Cinnamon Roll Cookies

This section provides a quick, scannable summary of the most critical steps for success. If you remember these key points from this cinnamon roll cookies recipe, you’ll be well on your way to a perfect batch every time.

• The Double-Chill is Non-Negotiable: Chilling the dough disk and then the rolled log is the ultimate secret to prevent spreading and ensure your cookies are thick, chewy, and have a neat spiral.

• Slightly Underbake for Softness: For that perfect soft and chewy texture, pull the cookies from the oven when the edges are set but the centers still look soft. They will finish baking on the hot pan.

• Room Temperature is Key: Using a room temperature egg and truly softened butter is essential for the creaming method to work, which creates the light, tender crumb of a perfect cookie.

• Dental Floss is a Game-Changer: To slice your cookie dough log without squishing the spiral, use unflavored dental floss for a perfectly clean, pressure-free cut.

• Cool Completely Before Glazing: Patience is a virtue! Let your cookies cool completely on a wire cooling rack before adding the sweet vanilla glaze to ensure it stays thick, white, and beautiful.

FAQs About Cinnamon Roll Cookies Recipe

Here are answers to some of the most common questions about making cinnamon roll cookies. This section will help clarify any lingering doubts and provide extra tips for storage, troubleshooting, and variations.

How do you get the perfect spiral in cookies?

The secret to a perfect spiral is a tight roll and a clean slice. After spreading the filling, roll the dough into a log as tightly as you can without squishing it. Then, after the log is thoroughly chilled and firm, use unflavored dental floss instead of a knife to slice the cookies. This prevents compressing the log and preserves the beautiful, round spiral shape.

Can you freeze cinnamon roll cookie dough?

Yes, this dough freezes exceptionally well, making it a perfect make-ahead dessert. You can freeze the tightly wrapped log for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight before slicing and baking. Alternatively, you can slice the log and freeze the individual unbaked cookie rounds on a baking sheet before transferring them to a freezer bag. You can bake these directly from frozen, adding 1-2 minutes to the bake time.

How long do cinnamon roll cookies last?

Properly stored, these cookies will stay soft and delicious for several days. Store the glazed cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days. If you live in a very humid climate, you may want to store them in the refrigerator to keep the glaze from becoming sticky, but let them come to room temperature before serving for the best texture.

Why did my cookies spread so much?

The most common reason for cookies spreading is that the dough was not cold enough. The butter in the dough needs to be solid and chilled when it goes into the oven. If the butter is too warm, it melts instantly, causing the cookie to spread out flat. Using the double-chill method outlined in this recipe is the best way to prevent spreading. Another culprit could be an oven that is not fully preheated.

Can I use store-bought sugar cookie dough?

Yes, you can use store-bought sugar cookie dough as a shortcut, but the texture will be different. For the best results, look for a high-quality, refrigerated cookie dough log. Let it soften slightly so you can roll it into a rectangle, then proceed with the filling, rolling, chilling, and slicing steps. While convenient, a homemade cinnamon roll cookie dough will have a superior buttery flavor and chewier texture.

What is the best glaze for cinnamon roll cookies?

A simple sweet vanilla glaze is the classic and arguably best choice for these cookies. It provides the perfect sweetness and visual appeal without overpowering the cinnamon flavor. However, a cream cheese frosting is a delicious alternative if you prefer a tangier, richer topping. To make it, beat together 4 oz of softened cream cheese, 2 tablespoons of softened butter, 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar, and ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract.

How do you stop the cinnamon filling from leaking?

To stop the filling from leaking, leave a 1/2-inch bare border on all sides of your dough rectangle before rolling. This clean edge of dough acts as a seal, trapping the buttery cinnamon sugar mixture inside as it bakes. Rolling the log tightly also helps prevent gaps where the filling can escape.

Do I really need to chill cinnamon roll cookie dough?

Yes, chilling this dough is a mandatory step for success. Skipping the chill will result in cookies that spread significantly, lose their spiral shape, and have a greasy texture. Chilling solidifies the butter, which is critical for controlling the spread, achieving a chewy texture, and allowing for the clean slices needed to see the spiral.

What’s the difference between light and dark brown sugar in this recipe?

Both will work, but they offer slightly different flavors. Light brown sugar has a milder molasses flavor, which is what this recipe calls for to let the cinnamon shine. Dark brown sugar contains more molasses, which will give the cookies a deeper, richer, more caramel-like flavor and can make them even chewier. Feel free to use dark brown sugar if you prefer a more robust flavor.

Can I add nuts to this recipe?

Absolutely, adding finely chopped nuts can add a wonderful flavor and texture. The best place to add them is in the filling. Finely chopped pecans or walnuts are excellent choices. Simply sprinkle about 1/2 cup of finely chopped, toasted nuts over the brown sugar-cinnamon layer before you roll the dough into a log.

Final Thoughts on Your Homemade Cinnamon Roll Cookies

You now have everything you need to create the most incredible homemade cinnamon roll cookies right in your own kitchen. This tested recipe proves that you don’t need yeast or hours of waiting to enjoy the warm, comforting flavors of a cinnamon roll. By understanding the simple science behind the steps—from the critical importance of the creaming method to the game-changing double-chill technique—you’re not just following a recipe; you’re mastering the art of the perfect cookie.

Remember to embrace the process, especially the chilling steps, as they are your ticket to that perfect soft and chewy texture and a beautiful, defined spiral. These pastry-inspired cookies are more than just a sweet treat; they’re a perfect project for holiday baking, a guaranteed hit at any gathering, and a simple way to bring a little extra comfort into your day.

Now it’s your turn to preheat that oven and fill your home with the incredible aroma of cinnamon and sugar.

What’s your favorite occasion for baking a comforting dessert like this? Let us know in the comments below

Last update on 2026-02-26 at 17:43 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API