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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
Absolute best (and most cool and unique) version of cinnamon cookies ever. Thank you! My new go-to cookie!
Thank you so much Shelley! Love to hear that these cookies were enjoyed! xT
Hi Tieghan
Didn’t make your version of these cookies but I made pretty much the exact cookie published on the Food Charlatan website. You really should start giving credit to the bloggers you’re taking recipes from. You have a huge platform and to be doing this still to those with a smaller one is wrong.
I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It was rude, inaccurate, uncalled for, overreactive, and inappropriate.
It should have been obvious to me that there are countless cinnamon cookie recipes out there, and nobody owns a single one. I will try yours, and will likely find that it’s absolutely amazing.
I just made these! While they’re slightly a higher-maintenance cookie, they are pretty tasty. I didn’t do the glaze, but we didn’t think it was necessary. Next time, I would reduce the flour by 1/4 cup or even 1/2 a cup. They bake up much puffier and thicker than the pictures and a little chewier and thinner would be nice I think. The cinnamon chips are fun though!
Hey Robyn,
Fantastic!! So glad to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks a bunch for giving it a try! xx
Hi! Do you think these will be acceptable without the icing? I have everything I need except for powdered sugar!!
Hey Katie,
Sure, these would still be okay without the icing! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
These turned out SO well! A new favourite for sure! They were super easy to make too so that was a bonus.
Hey Margaret,
Fantastic!! So glad to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks a bunch for giving it a try! xx
Made these for my neighbors and they asked for the recipe. Definitely everyone’s favorite Christmas cookie I’ve made this year.
Hey Ella,
Awesome!! Love to hear that you enjoyed these cookies, thanks so much for making them and sharing with others! xT
These might be the best cookies I’ve ever had! Incredible!
Thanks so much Katie!! Love to hear that these cookies were enjoyed:) Happy Holidays! xT
These are a hit in our house! We love so many of your recipes, but these are simple, delicious, and just might be one of our favorite cookies ever. Like others have shared, the icing isn’t required but it sure does add a little something extra. These are perfect for the holidays, thank you for sharing Tieghan!!
Hey Shelby,
Fantastic!! So glad to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks a bunch for giving it a try! Thanks so much for your kind message! xx
BEST cookies I’ve ever made, everyone loves them. And dangerous bc I can’t stop eating them! I added one tsp of flour to the cinnamon chips, as recommended in notes and they turned out perfect. They’d be great without the frosting too but it was a nice touch. Wonder if you could substitute w almond flour and coconut sugar? I’ll prob try the coco sugar next and will be remaking and double batching for Christmas parties.🎄 These have a few more steps than some cookies but well worth it!
Hey Kelsey,
Fantastic!! So glad to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks a bunch for giving it a try! Sorry, I haven’t tested with almond flour and coconut sugar:) xx
These cookies turned out amazing! I felt fancy making these. A friend said they were one of the best cookie/pastry item he’s had in months! Like other comments, I did notice the cinnamon sugar butter leak out some of the cookies but it didn’t by any means ruin the cookie. I’m sure those cookies just had more of the cinnamon butter than others. I tried to keep it to 1 teaspoon per cookie like recommended but that was tough to do with the chips mixed into the dough. It worked out just fine though! While each batch of cookies was baking, I put the cookie dough in the freezer so the chips would stay cool. I’m sure that helped a lot as well. Loved the cream cheese frosting too!
I forgot to add that I stored these in the fridge and they were so good cold! I think I liked them cold more than warm to be honest. It gave them the perfect chewy texture.
Awesome! Thanks again for sharing:)
Hey Annalise,
Thanks so much for your kind feedback and making these cookies!! I am so glad to hear they turned out well for you! Happy Holidays! xT
love these cookies! enjoyed by all who ate them. adding to cookie rotation 🙂
Yay!! Love to hear this Shanna! Thanks so much for giving these cookies a try! xx
AMAZING!! My husband and I are in love with these cookies!! Best homemade cookies I have ever made and eaten! Perfectly chewy, and the icing adds the perfect touch! I didn’t flatten the dough balls prior to baking for the first batch and they didn’t spread, but I flattened the dough balls on the subsequent batches and they came out perfect!
Hey Natalie,
Happy Wednesday!! I truly appreciate you giving this recipe a try and sharing your review, so glad to hear it was a hit:)
I’m doubling the recipe and making 40 cookies. How many cups total for butter to make the cookie portion? I’m confused on the 4 sticks (1 cup). My sticks are 1/2 cup each. So……8 sticks=4 cups or 4 sticks equal 2 cups??
Lol… it’s been a day! ☺️ How many cups of butter for 40 cookies??
Hi Heather,
1 stick of butter is equal to 1/2 cup. The recipe calls for 2 sticks of butter, if you want to double the recipe, you will want to use 4 sticks of butter which is equal to 2 cups. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
Hi! These look just perfect for my upcoming cookie exchange. I am making these about a week ahead of time and freezing. Do you know about how long they’ll take to thaw out from the freezer in preparation to bake?
Thank you!
Hi there,
Are you going to assemble them into dough balls or are you just going to freeze the dough? The dough itself will take an hour or so, but the dough balls will just take about 15 minutes. I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give the recipe a try! xT
Tried these yesterday and they were really good. I was curious with the browned butter if the flavor was too strong, I will admit I have made another cookie with browned butter and the family was not a fan. But… this was much better it’s only half the butter in the recipe you brown and I think that is the magic ticket. These take a little more work making the brown sugar swirl and icing, but well worth it.. Shared with family and friends and they were a hit.
Thank You!
Hey Gail,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it turned out well for you! Thanks for sharing your feedback! Happy Tuesday! 🎄