Cinnamon sugar cookies made with cinnamon cut-out sugar cookies and browned butter, cream cheese, and cinnamon buttercream frosting. My favorite reaction to these cookies is when someone takes a bite and stops in awe, makes some inaudible sound of delight, and continues to eat the whole cookie.
Yes, it’s really happened.
What are Cinnamon Sugar Cookies? | Best Baking Mats for Sugar Cookies | My Favorite Frosting Tip
What are Cinnamon Sugar Cookies?
Cinnamon sugar cookies consist of a super soft and delicious cut-out cinnamon sugar cookie base. The cookies are topped with the most delicious brown butter and cinnamon cream cheese frosting, bringing all the warmth and goodness of cinnamon together in one cookie.
And the brown butter really heightens the flavor of the cinnamon, so don’t skip the brown butter. If you are new to making brown butter, you can find information on brown butter in my post for pumpkin spice cookies.
Best Baking Mats for Sugar Cookies
I’ve made a lot of sugar cookies over the years (especially while teaching royal icing cookie classes), so I’ve tested the various baking mats to see what works best.
For these cookies, I recommend using parchment for super tender cookies. If you like a crisp bottom and cookies that spread less, use a perforated air mat.
I’ve done a lot of testing with baking materials, and I almost always choose parchment for cookies. The cookies brown less on the bottom, are softer overall, and the texture is usually the best with parchment.
I also like air mats because cookies spread less, but the cookies are crisper and more golden on the bottoms. This may or may not be a drawback (depending on what you want).
My Favorite Frosting Tip
If you want to make these cookies as they are shown in the photos, then you will need this frosting tip. It’s a super quick and easy way to frost the cookies, and it takes so little effort.
I prefer this particular frosting tip because it creates a looser and more flowy look than a French star tip.
Other Recipes You’ll Love
PrintCinnamon Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Chill Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 11 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 41 minutes
- Yield: 25 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Creaming
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 226 g unsalted butter, room temp (65 F)
- 200 g granulated sugar
- 1 whole egg, room temp
- 1 yolk, room temp
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 325 g all-purpose flour
For the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 113 g unsalted butter, browned
- 180 g cream cheese, softened
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 480 g powdered sugar
Instructions
To Make Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
- Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add whole egg and mix on low, then add egg yolk and vanilla and mix on low speed until blended in.
- Add flour and salt; mix on low/medium-low speed until all of the ingredients are fully incorporated. Do not over-mix the dough! If there is any butter or sugar stuck to the paddle, scrape it off and mix for a few seconds until combined.
- Cut two pieces of parchment paper to fit a rimmed half sheet baking pan. Place one sheet of parchment on your work surface, put the dough in the center, and then place the second sheet of parchment on top. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick.
- Place the sheet of rolled dough on your baking pan and cover it tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour. The dough can be frozen at this point if you do not want to use it right away.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove dough from the fridge, uncover, and gently lift dough away from parchment on each side so it’s not stuck to the paper. Cut out desired shapes (I used a 2 1/2-inch round cutter) and move cookies to a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate cutout cookies for 10 minutes.
- Bake for 9 – 11 minutes, but do not brown the cookies. They will still be light in color, and they can have a slight golden hue on the edges at the most. A cookie with sharp corners, such as a star, will be slightly golden on the pointed edges, but the rest of the cookie should not be browned. Let cookies cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
For the Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
- Melt butter in a small pot and whisk occasionally. Continue to whisk and watch for the milk solids to turn brown. It should take 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat once it smells nutty and there are some brown bits in the pot.
- Pour the butter into a bowl and let cool in the fridge for an hour. Before creaming the butter, make sure it’s not cold and hard. It should still be soft and easy to mix.
- Cream butter and cream cheese with a hand or stand mixer until smooth. Add vanilla and mix.
- Add the cinnamon, salt, and a third of the powdered sugar. Mix on low so a sugar cloud doesn’t form in the air. Gradually increase the speed to mix in completely powdered sugar. Add the remaining powdered sugar in 2 additions, and mix on medium-high speed for 3-5 minutes until icing is light and fluffy.
- Turn the mixer down to low and mix the cinnamon frosting for 1 more minute to get rid of any air that is in the frosting.
- Spread or pipe the frosting onto the cookies and enjoy! Store these cookies in an airtight container for up to a *week. Do not stack cookies or it will most likely ruin the look of the cinnamon frosting.
Notes
This is a Baker Street Society original recipe.
*Because there is cream cheese in the buttercream, you may want to refrigerate the cookies. I never refrigerate this buttercream, but it’s a personal choice based on what you are most comfortable with.
Keywords: cinnamon sugar cookies, cinnamon frosting, cinnamon buttercream frosting
