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These cinnamon sugar cookies taste just like the inside of a cinnamon roll! This recipe makes soft cinnamon cookies with pantry ingredients. Everything you love about a chewy sugar cookie with the warmth and comfort of cinnamon and brown sugar.
Dark brown sugar and just the right amount of cinnamon give these soft cookies the very best chewy texture and rich, molasses-infused flavor. Judging from the over 250 cookie recipes on this blog, you can imagine cookies are in our house a lot. But, it’s rare that I bake a cookie and my husband sheepishly asks, “Lindsey, when’s the next time you’ll make those?” Ladies and gents, these cinnamon sugar cookies are it! Like my pride and joy, which is these chewy sugar cookies combined with molasses cookies and my prized snickerdoodles to create the easiest, most comforting cookie ever!
I keep these cinnamon sugar cookies in my freezer all the time and I bake them from frozen so I can have them almost instantly whenever a whiff of cinnamon crosses my mind. Which, you know from my cinnamon rolls, sourdough cinnamon rolls, and apple cinnamon rolls is pretty often!
Table of Contents
Why this is the best cinnamon sugar cookies recipe:
- A whole new level of cozy sugar cookie. The dark brown sugar and cinnamon paired at the perfect ratio make these cinnamon sugar cookies taste like the gooey center of a cinnamon roll. Truly!
- Crunchy edges & chewy centers. They spread just enough to have crunchy edges, and the dark brown sugar adds extra moisture so they have incredible chewy centers without being underbaked.
- Super easy to make ahead. Unlike a lot of traditional sugar cookies, these bake perfectly from frozen. It is an easy dough to prepare, roll and freeze for later baking. That also makes their texture extra chewy!
Professional Tips for this Cinnamon Cookie Recipe
- Measure carefully. Cinnamon sugar cookies are fairly simple in their ingredients so the battle lines are really drawn around the ratio of sugar to butter to flour. Measure carefully, pastry is a science my friends.
- Don’t over cream your butter and sugar. Under-creaming the butter and the sugar will prevent too much air from being trapped in between the particles, thus creating a thicker, chewier cookie. Beat just until a paste forms and use cold but pliable butter for the best texture.
- Bake these cookies from frozen. Chilling the dough all the way before baking helps the cookies keep their shape. It also helps ensure a chewy texture with crisp edges!
Ingredients
- Dark Brown Sugar: Using dark brown sugar adds sweetness along with a nice, rich molasses flavor. There is more moisture from dark brown sugar than there would be from granulated sugar, which keeps the cookies soft and chewy.
- Unsalted Butter
- Whole Egg: The egg is here to add fat, moisture and leavening. The fat from the yolk adds richness and helps keep the cookies chewy. Beating in the egg just enough will add a little or a lot of leavening. Egg also emulsifies the batter and keeps everything texturally perfect.
- Vanilla Extract
- Cinnamon
- All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour has just the right amount of gluten to make soft chewy cookies. Too much flour will make cakey cookies, and too little will cause excessive spreading. For example, snickerdoodle cookies have more flour in proportion to the other ingredients than these cookies, which makes them thicker, a little cakier but still chewy.
- Baking Powder: Double acting baking powder will react instantly when it is mixed with an acid and then again when it is heated. I do not use baking soda in order to keep them thick and chewy!
- Kosher Salt
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
- Take the cinnamon up a notch. Take a page from my cinnamon sugar twists recipe and roll your dough balls in a cinnamon-sugar mixture made from cinnamon and white sugar right before baking. This will give you an extra crunch on the crust. You could also add a ½ cup of cinnamon chips to your cookies, and use any extra for some cinnamon scones!
- Make them maple. Use maple extract instead of vanilla extract for the cozy months! Once you fall in love, make my maple pound cake with a maple glaze or maple pecan caramel blondie next!
- Add a frosting. Try spreading on cream cheese frosting, cream cheese frosting for cookies, American buttercream colored with food coloring if desired, or even the frosting from these sprinkles triple cinnamon cupcakes.
How to Serve
- Classic with a glass of cold milk. Eat them straight from the oven warm with some cold milk. Enough said.
- Ideal ice cream sandwich cookies. These chewy cookies are thick enough (in the best way) and chewy enough to be the perfect for ice cream sandwiches. Vanilla bean ice cream would be a great pairing, but honestly so would this maple walnut ice cream!
- Bring on the cookie platters! Cinnamon sugar cookies are a great balance for a holiday cookie platter. I love them so much I’d mix and match them with literally any of these Easy Christmas Cookies!
How to Make Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below!
Step 1: Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Step 2: Cream butter and dark brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer (or electric mixer) until a paste forms. Add egg and vanilla extract, and beat well to combine.
Make sure your butter is softened and pliable. This helps you avoid over-creaming your ingredients!
Step 3: Reduce the mixer to low and add dry ingredients in three additions, waiting until almost all the flour has been incorporated before adding the next.
Step 4: Scoop with a large cookie scoop or roll into balls about ¼ cup size. Chill dough before baking. Bonus points for freezing!
Many bloggers say that “bigger is better” or that “more dough leads to chewier cookies,” and I am here to tell you that with the right recipe this is not true. In Les Filles Bakery, we sell 2 different sizes of this exact same cookie. One is only 30g (less than an inch across) and it still bakes perfectly chewy. You just need to watch the bake time!
Step 5: Preheat the oven to 325°F convection.
Step: 6: Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a preheated oven for 17-20 minutes until the edges are a nice golden brown, the centers have puffed and the surface looks matte not shiny. Cool completely. You can cool them on a wire rack or on the baking sheet.
Chef Lindsey’s Recipe Tip
Do be careful not to overbake. Perfectly baked cookies are chewy but the same recipe becomes dry quickly when over baked.
Frequently Asked Questions
My grandmother stored her chewy cookies in a plastic baggie with a slice of bread. The cookies absorb the moisture from the bread and stay soft longer! Alternately store chewy cookies in an airtight container in the freezer, which will keep them soft, chewy and flavorful for up to a month! You can also store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week, but they will gradually lose their chewiness.
Bake at 325°F (convection) or 350°F (standard) for 17-20 minutes straight from frozen! Bake until the edges have begun to brown, the centers are puffed and the outside has begun to crack. The center should look matte rather than shiny.
These cookies ship wonderfully. Package in a decorative tin or just place in a zip-top bag in a mailer box. They keep for 10 days and they stay chewy for almost as long. The larger the cookie, the longer they stay chewy!
Since the butter was softened, these cookies do need to chill at least 2 hours before baking. Otherwise they will spread too much and they will not be chewy. Chilling the dough before baking will create thicker, chewier cookies.
If you tried this recipe and loved it please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below. I love hearing from you; your comments make my day!
Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cream butter and dark brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer (or electric mixer) until a paste forms. Add egg and vanilla extract, and beat well to combine.
- Reduce the mixer to low and add dry ingredients in three additions, waiting until almost all the flour has been incorporated before adding the next.
- Scoop with a large cookie scoop or roll into balls about ¼ cup size. Chill dough before baking. Bonus points for freezing!
- Preheat the oven to 325°F convection.
- Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a preheated oven for 17-20 minutes until the edges are a nice golden brown, the centers have puffed and the surface looks matte not shiny. Cool completely. You can cool them on a wire rack or on the baking sheet.
Notes
Nutrition
Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed this professional chef tested recipe. Check out all our 250+ cookie recipes or try one of our professional cake recipes instead.
