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Chewy Frosted Cinnamon Swirl Snickerdoodles with pockets of cinnamon swirl and a sweet cream cheese icing. These are yummmmy! Homemade snickerdoodle cookies, made with browned butter, chunks of cinnamon that melt into wonderful swirls, and a small pinch of flaky sea salt. The best snickerdoodle recipe to share with family and friends. Each cookie dough ball is rolled with cinnamon sugar for that classic snickerdoodle finish before baking to perfection, then topped with creamy icing. There’s nothing not to love about these sweet Christmas cookies.
Ingredients
- dark brown sugar
- salted butter
- cinnamon
- large eggs
- vanilla extract
- all-purpose flour
- baking soda
- kosher salt
- granulated sugar
- cream cheese
- milk
- vanilla extract
- powdered sugar
What to have in the kitchen:
- Bowl
- Baking sheet
- parchment paper
- electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- skillet
- heatproof bowl
- small bowl
- whisk
- teaspoons/ tablespoons
- wire rack for cooling
Cookies! Tis’ the season! And man oh man, I have baked up a lot of cookies this week. I had quite a few failures until I landed on these. But these – oh these are extra special and worth all the testing time.
Oh, how I adore these cinnamon cookies. They’re Christmas time in a nice big, chewy, snickerdoodle(ish) cookie. The cinnamon-sugar coating is delicious. These are the best snickerdoodles and definitely a new holiday favorite.
Here’s the story, I’ve been testing a lot of cookies! And I am finally close to completing my 2022 Christmas cookie box, which I’m excited to share soon. But all the cookies came with a lot of failed recipes.
Failed recipes are sad in the moment, but often times they lead me to some of my very favorite recipes. After I worked and worked on a new gingerbread recipe, I decided to completely switch gears and move on to cinnamon cookies.
I just needed to forget about gingerbread for the moment. Once I did, I dreamt these up. They’re my favorite chewy snickerdoodle cookies. This might be my best snickerdoodle cookie recipe. Swirled with chunks of buttery cinnamon and notes of brown butter and vanilla. Then iced with creamy icing. I envisioned these like a cinnamon roll cookie, so the icing was needed.
Cream cheese icing, but not too sweet. Tis’ so delicious glazed over each cookie.
Here are details
Make the cinnamon swirl first. It’s just brown sugar mixed with butter and cinnamon. The best cinnamon sugar mixture! Exactly what you’d roll a cinnamon roll up with!
Now crumble the cinnamon into chunks and then freeze. It’s not fancy at all.
While the chunks freeze, make the cookies.
Start by browning half of your butter. It’s one stick of browned butter, and one stick of soft. This gives you the flavor of browned butter but leaves you with a cookie that has great texture too. Shocker, I know, I added browned butter (yes, I may have a browned butter fetish). But the browned butter really does add so much to cookies. It’s worth the extra step.
Then add brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix together, then add all the dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, and salt. I didn’t add chocolate chips in this recipe, but I’m sure that would be delicious as well!
By now the chunks should be frozen, mix them into the cookie dough and scoop out all your cookies. In classic snickerdoodle form, take each dough ball and roll through cinnamon sugar.
I do a light roll as I didn’t want the cookies to be overly sweet. Bake them up until they are barely set on the edge. Remove the pan and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. The cookies continue to bake on the warm sheet.
For the icing. I suppose it’s not needed, but it’s certainly delicious, and I think it balances all the cinnamon in the cookie.
Cream cheese, milk, vanilla, and sugar. It’s thick and creamy, just the way we want it!
These are soft and gooey in the center. The best kind of cookie. I’m not normally such a decadent cookie person, but as I always say, I like to really do it up for the holidays. They only come once a year, so let’s just have fun and enjoy every minute of the season.
It’s cheesy, but the holidays do only come once a year!
Looking for other Christmas cookies? Here are my favorites:
Easy Vanilla Bean Christmas Lights Cookies
Easy Hot Chocolate Lace Cookies
Lastly, if you make these Chewy Frosted Cinnamon Swirl Snickerdoodles, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Chewy Frosted Cinnamon Swirl Snickerdoodles
Servings: 20 cookies
Calories Per Serving: 192 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Cinnamon Swirl
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Cookies
- 2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Icing
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- 1. To make the cinnamon swirl. In a bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Line a small baking sheet with parchment. Crumble/tear the cinnamon mix over the baking sheet, creating small chunks, no more than 2 teaspoons in size. They should be small like chips. Freeze 10 minutes, until firm.2. To make the cookies. Add 1 stick butter to a skillet set over medium heat. Cook until the butter begins to brown, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Freeze 10-15 minutes, but no longer.3. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.4. In a bowl, beat together the remaining stick of butter, the cooled browned butter, and the brown sugar until combined. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, until combined. Add the vanilla, beating until creamy. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in the frozen cinnamon chunks. 5. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Roll the dough into rounded tablespoon size balls and then roll through the cinnamon sugar. Place 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. 6. Bake for 8 minutes, rotate the pan and bake another 1-3 minutes or until the cookies are just beginning to set on the edges but still doughy in the center. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. They will continue to cook slightly as they sit. 7. Meanwhile, make the icing. Melt the cream cheese in the microwave, stirring until smooth, 15-20 seconds. Whisk in the milk and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar, whisking to combine. Add milk, if needed, to thin. Spread or drizzle each cookie with icing. Eat warm or let cool and store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. The icing will harden/dry enough to stack.
Notes
Freezing: the cookie dough balls can be frozen for up to 3 months. Then just thaw and bake as directed.
This post was originally published on December 2, 2022
Why say it’s an original recipe when it’s clearly an adaptation of this recipe posted last month? https://thefoodcharlatan.com/cinnamon-roll-cookies/
So true! As soon as I saw this I was like…. Wait I’ve made these before!!
I wish she’d give credit where credit is due and propped up lesser known cooks. You adapted something? Cool, I’m down with that, but don’t claim you dreamt it up all on your own.
Agreed, Marie!! All other cooks/chefs/bakers I follow talk about where they get their inspiration for recipes from, and it’s other people. None are just “dreamed up”, lol.
Girl.
Bullshit. Sounds like the losers you follow have no initiative.
Stop agreeing with yourself under fake names, Marie. You just look schizo on top of stupid now. You got called out, you got owned, your ridiculous claims have no merit, and you just look sad and pathetic. Try doing something worthwhile in life instead of harassing people whose accomplishments you will never measure up to.
Would you give it a damn rest? It’s already been established that she never even saw the other recipe. A little reading comprehension goes a long way. News flash: people dream up twists on recipes (and many other creative endeavors) every day. You sound like a very sad person with no dreams, other than complaining and harassing people. I feel bad for you. You clearly can’t conceptualize thinking for yourself.
Here’s some advice – when you create multiple dummy accounts, please try to improve your juvenile vocabulary. “Lol, lollllll, lol shut up, Taylor” and other such infantile gibberish in every post makes it clear that you are the same silly child making all these useless, embarrassing remarks. You also outed yourself when you admitted you came oozing out of the sewers of Reddit.
Maybe step away from the internet and invest some time in taking a remedial English class, and building your self-esteem so that you feel less threatened by other peoples’ success. When you are old enough, get a job. You seem to be about 10-12 years old, so maybe there is still hope for you yet. Good luck, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.
Hey there. This is Marie. I have only ever commented under one name – my real name – and if you read back through my comments, you’ll see I didn’t ever stoop to name calling, shaming, or anything else of the sort. I simply pointed out the similarities of two recipes (and yes, they are similar – even Tieghan admitted it) and wondered if she was inspired by it when she dreamt this up. I stand corrected, so can we please move on?
Also, Tieghan, if you’re reading this, can you please delete this whole comment section? I truly didn’t intend for it to spiral like this, have never posted under anything other than my given name, and honestly have no clue about a Reddit controversy. Thanks.
Marie:
Rather than play innocent now, and ask that the shitstorm mess you started be wiped clean by the person you were targeting, why don’t you think twice next time you decide to personally attack someone? You flat out accused Tieghan of stealing a recipe AND posted a link to another food blog – here. This her business website. Not cool. You know now that she had never even seen that other recipe, that nobody can “own a recipe” and nobody can be expected to “give credit” to something they have never seen, or that millions of other people are also doing.
Instead of asking her to clean up the aftermath of your inappropriate behavior, why don’t you show some class, and sincerely apologize for falsely accusing someone and doing something that could actually harm their business. Maybe do some reparations by asking that nobody else pile on and parrot your antics.
If you had legitimate questions about this recipe, you should have contacted her privately and asked. Not accused. Asked.
Accusing her outright, publicly, in the comment section of her blog, and posting a link to another food blog shows you know exactly what you were doing. That was deliberate and calculated. And now you see the result.
Do better, Marie.
You don’t get to claim the high road here.
This: “Why say it’s an original recipe when it’s clearly an adaptation of this recipe posted last month?“
Is ABSOLUTELY shaming. So was that 1 star rating for a recipe you never tried, to accompany your false accusation. Nice. You stooped, and you stooped low and hard. Don’t be trying to point out your virtues and blame the “spiral” on everyone but you. Because that was all you, Marie, or whatever your actual name is.
As for name calling, I’d say some of your minions got called out for being what they were. Fair play, and to be expected.
Don’t be absurd. Nobody “owns” a recipe. What you call “adaptation”, is actually posting a different recipe. Please, just stop with the nagging trolling and one star ratings on recipes you didn’t even make. There are at least 1,000,000 adaptations of literally every recipe known to man worldwide.
You look and sound like an idiot.
While yes there are millions of cinnamon roll cookie recipes online, this one is pretty unique with the freezing of the cinnamon mixture before adding to the dough. I have made the ones I linked, which is how I made the correlation.
I agree that no one outright can own a recipe, but it seems to be best practice with most cooks I follow to give credit to those who provided inspiration for their twist on a recipe. I wish HBH would consider it if/when she’s inspired.
Nope. Just because a step matches, also does not mean anything. How many recipes worldwide have steps that match? You are really just reaching. I made a pizza today from scratch and I mixed fresh herbs into the dough before proofing. Pretty sure if I look hard enough, I could find countless others who have done the same. I wouoldnät even know where to begin “crediting”. Nobody owns a “step” in a recipe either. Yes, you made a similar cookie to this one and saw a correlation. YOU saw a correlation. That doesn’t prove that Tieghan has ever even seen that recipe before. It definitely doesn’t mean she has to credit someone else because a step in a process matched. Please…just stop.
Very weird typo on the mobile. That’s “wouldn’t”.
Thumbs up to you.
Thanks Marie! 😀
What makes you think she even saw that other recipe in the sea of millions of similar ones?
Lolllll why so defensive over a cookie recipe? In denial that she just copies other creators?
“Lolllll” isn’t a word, you illiterate cunt. Why so obsessed over trolling this website? Oh. That’s right. Jealously at your staggering lack of success has made you bitter. Got it.
Not so much defensiveness as calling out BS when it rears its stinking head.
Every content creator in the world is influenced by others. You seem unnaturally preoccupied with policing this one particular person.
Link us to your super successful website/business/bestseller book list. Oh…don’t have any of that? Of course you don’t. If you did, you’d have a life.
It’s so obvious that the sniveling trolls who target this site are less successful attempted food bloggers who haven’t managed to set themselves apart from the herd, or succeed on any real level. They should probably focus on learning some skills, and bettering themselves instead of tearing down their more successful competitors.
It says a lot about them that they only spew negativity. No well adjusted person does that.
Oh, please. That’s a HELL of a stretch. The link you posted is to a very basic cinnamon cookie recipe, that has the same basic ingredients that every single other cinnamon cookie recipe has. That’s where the similarity ends. There are also countless versions of that exact same thing on the internet. And you know it. Try googling “cinnamon cookie recipe”.
About 175 000 000 results.
I have made Tieghan’s cookies, as well as multiple other similar cookies over the years, and Tieghan’s are – hands down – the best. They are also one of the more creative versions.
You have your work cut our for you if you want to attack everyone who ever posted a similar recipe.
However, I’m pretty sure your agenda is a little narrower than that, isn’t it? Girl, bye.
Wow, you’re super desperate to make something out of nothing aren’t you? Please take your false outrage elsewhere. Those two recipes aren’t even close to the same, nor is the link you shared something “original” by any means.
Hey Marie,
Thanks so much for the comment! Those cookies do look so yummy and I love that she too had the idea for cinnamon. So fun! I didn’t know about her cookies before posting. I have been working on these for weeks and adapted the cinnamon mix from my cinnamon CRUNCH knots that I shared years ago and have many adaptions for on the site. Regardless, her cookies look amazing too!! But, I didn’t know about them prior to posting. Hope that clears everything up for you. Have a wonderful Sunday and Happy Holidays! xT
Thanks for your reply and clarification, Tieghan. I had just made the other cookies last weekend and it caused me to do a double take when I saw yours. Glad to hear it was just a happy coincidence. 🙂 Happy holidays to you and your family, too.
Lesson learned? Maybe don’t be so quick to criticize, blame, and leave 1 star when you are just jumping to conclusions.
Lol shut up Taylor. These are the exact same recipe except for the amount of one thing. Been on reddit lately? Everyone knows she just copies recipes, changes one tiny thing, and makes it “her own”
Another idiot Redditer who thinks “lol” is a word? Yawn. “Emma/Marie/Sara”, (all the same troll account) why don’t you STFU instead? Do you seriously have nothing better to do than troll a recipe blog of all places looking for similarities in recipe steps so that you can feel superior?
The recipes are completely different aside from being cookies with cinnamon in them.
175,000,000 other people have done the same.
Slam dunk, Taylor. Looks like you triggered the toothless mouth-breathing troll.
Wrong, wrong, wrong, “Emma”. Can you even effing read? Get back on your meds, babe.
Emma seems to have trouble handling the truth.
Anyone who suggests going to Reddit to get the “real scoop” is a flaming moron.
Did this Emma person actually cite Reddit as a source of valuable info?
HAHAHAHAHA.
Emma, anything you have to say is painfully invalid.
Here’s where a sincere and decent person says, “I’m sorry.”
The recipe link you shared, and this one are completely different. Get over yourselves, ladies. 🙄
The Food Charlatan’s cinnamon roll cookie is so good. She actually originally posted it over a year ago and it turns out great for me every time!
I’ve never had any problems with the cinnamon/butter mixture melting out like most of the commenters have with HBH’s version of the recipe so if anyone has problems with that I definitely recommend trying out the one linked above next time.
HBH’s version worked great for me. No issues at all, but always happy to try ALL the cinnamon cookies. 🙂
I’ve tried both. The Food Charlatan one was ok, but a bit dry and bland. I tried again and tweaked the measurements, and it was better with adjustments, but I didn’t make it again after that. Pretty basic. Tieghan’s was perfect as is, no adjustments needed, so I prefer hers. Definitely more flavor.
I’ve tried the FC cookies as well. They don’t work well as stated, you need to adjust the butter/flour ratio otherwise they crumble all to shit. Taste was ok, nothing special, but not bad. HBH cookies were richer and held their texture better for me.
Can’t concur. The foodcharlatan cookies were just ok. The ones on this site are moister, and taste better overall.
This isn’t HBH’s “version”. It’s a completely different recipe.
Hi Tieghan! These look delicious. Are we able to use light brown sugar instead of dark?
Excited to make these.
Xoxo
Hey Tyla,
Sure, that will work just fine for you! Let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope they are delish! xx
I just made these and they are delicious. Based on the other comments I tried the first tray at 325 and the second at 350. It should definitely be at 350. I made 18 cookies as I started out too large. I also didn’t fold the frozen bits into the batter, I tore them off and placed them like chocolate chunks. I didn’t use all of the chunks so I went back and placed some in after baking. Next time I will still place them before I roll in sugar but will use all of them.
Hey Tanya,
Wonderful!!🎄 I love to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks so much for making it and sharing your review! xx
These look delicious, can’t wait to try them! Do we need a mixer to make these cookies?
Hey Tess,
Thanks so much!! If you have a mixer great, if not you can totally mix them by hand! Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love the cookies! xx
Hmmmm the cinnamon-sugar-butter chunks just melted out of the cookies while in the oven. I essentially ended up with cinnamon caramel pooled around the cookies, which tastes delicious but looks the mess. I tried freezing the second tray for 7 min before baking and that was slightly better but still had some that just melted out. I love the idea of these cookies but I did not execute them well.
I froze the cinnamon-sugar-butter for 10 min, maybe I should have frozen it longer? Or should I decrease my oven temperature to 325?
I also made larger cookies, easily 2+Tbs per cookie, as I saw that Becky had a similar experience with small cookies. I think it has more to do with how long we freeze the chunks or how hot our oven temperature rather than the size of the cookies. Do you have any thoughts?
Hey Elise,
Thanks so much for making these cookies:) So sorry to hear you had some issues! Next time, try adding 1 tablespoon of flour to the cinnamon mix and then make sure you are only using about 1 teaspoon per cookie. I hope this helps! xT
Making these tonight, they look unreal! Thank you so much for the recipe.
Also, step 4 last sentence- you might want to fix the unfortunate typo lol
Thanks so much!! I hope you love this recipe!! xT
These cookies are awesome! So good, that icing gives it that great taste that makes them amazing!
Hey Savannah,
Wonderful!!🎄 I love to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks so much for making it and sharing your review! xx
I just made these and I have some input. The recipe asks to form the dough into rounded tablespoon size to bake. Being so small the brown sugar/butter chunks melt out the sides and get brown and crispy and potentially over-baked. I realized after they were done that it is only supposed to make 20 cookies, and I had made over 40. I would recommend that you change the dough ball size to double, and this will keep them chewy.
Hi Becky,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try and sharing your feedback! All of the measurements and instructions are correct here and exactly how I made mine:) Thanks again! xx
Printed this recipe to give it a try for this holiday season. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks!! I hope you love the recipe Abigail!!
I would have expected cream of tartar in a snickerdoodle. I’m curious – why did you leave it out? I’m interested in the recipe testing process 🙂 Thanks!
My thoughts exactly. It’s not a snickerdoodle cookie without cream of tartar. This is just a sugar cookie.
Hey Amy,
I just did not find it to be necessary here:) Please let me know if you give these cookies a try, I hope you love them! xx
I can’t wait to make these!!! Do you think I could make the cinnamon chunks days ahead and keep in freezer?
Hey Clair,
Sure, that would be just fine for you to do! Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xx
So these can be room temp stored, even though there’s cream cheese in the icing?
Hi Nikki,
Yes, that is just fine to do:) Let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xT
Tieghan, these look amazing! How am I supposed to pick just one type of cookie to bring to my small group?! I can’t wait to start! Maybe I’ll do something similar to your cookie box. I bet my friends would LOVE that. Abigail
Lol thanks so much for your kind message Abigail:) Let me know which cookies you decide to make! Happy Friday! xx
I’ll definitely do that! I have a question. Do you know how many tablespoons of dough you used in each cookie? They’re pretty big! Also, I know this may sound odd, but how cold is it in Colorado? In Texas it’s 80 in December. Why? Sorry, I know that question was extremely random. I’m already planning out my cookie schedule! Abigail
I used tablespoon sized balls:) It’s currently 10 degrees in Colorado:)
Wow! That’s cold. Thanks for your reply! Abigail
I can’t rate this yet as I haven’t made these but these look AMAZING. I do have a question regarding your recipes though. Have you ever thought of doing your ingredients in weight measurements as well. I know that using volume is good but can be inconsistent. I can’t wait to make these for the family. I think they are going to be a huge hit.
Thanks so much Karie! Simply click the “metric” button below the list of ingredients for the weight measurements. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
Hi, these look great. Also, you may want to spell check (it’s ‘tis not tis’ – the apostrophe takes the place of the i in “it is”)
Thanks for the spelling lesson, Anne.
Thanks so much Anne:) I hope you love the recipe!! xx
Hi friend! I made these tonight and as some other bakers also noted the frozen chunks appeared to spill out and crisp around the cookie. My cookies are still edible but certainly did not turn out the same as pictured. Any pointers or tips? Thanks so much!
Hey Natalie,
Thanks so much for giving these cookies a try! Next time, I would add 1 tablespoon of flour to the cinnamon mix and then make sure they aren’t to big, they shouldn’t be more than 1 teaspoon. I hope this helps! xx
I appreciate your correction, Anne. Proper grammar and spelling is EXTREMELY important.
That would be “proper spelling and grammar ARE extremely important.” 😉 Just saying, Sharon.
You seem to only comment on this website when you are gloating about how funny it is that someone spotted a typo. You have even admitted on multiple posts that you find it funny, and you like to read the comments here for that reason alone. You seem to have no interest in cooking or discussing the recipes, however. Don’t you have anything better to do with your life?
The hilarious irony is while you sit there smugly shaming Tieghan for her alleged grammar crimes, your own grammar is shit.