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Cinnamon Sugar Cookies. These soft and buttery sugar cookies are loaded up cinnamon and spice plus they’re topped with cinnamon icing for even more flavor! Perfect for Fall. Or anytime really. Just the combination of spices always makes me think cozy thoughts of Fall.
The recipe for these cookies is based off of my ALL TIME favorite Sugar Cookie recipe that has been handed down to me by my mom and has been made every Christmas.
These Cinnamon Sugar Cookies are super easy to make. There are a few tips and tricks that I want to share with you real quick though.
- Chill the dough. This will help the cookies keep their shape while they bake and prevent spreading.
- Thickness of the dough matters. You want your cookies to be about 1/4 of an inch thick. This will help them be soft and fluffy. If you make the dough too thin then the cookies will be hard and brittle.
- Bake time is key! If the edges are turning golden brown then it’s already been too long! We want to get these out of the oven before they turn golden. Trust me. This will make for some soft and tender cookies.
Not only are the cookies easy to make, the icing is too. I’m not a professional cookie decorator by any means. But I think these can pass for pretty cute. Right? Humor me here at least.
There’s two consistencies of icing that we need to make. An outline icing, which is thicker. And then the flood icing, which is thinner. I have links below to some of the tools that I used to create these cookies too. Make sure you check those out under the recipe.
Cinnamon Spice Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 2¾ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon Outline Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp milk
- ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
Cinnamon Flood Icing
- 2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup milk
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
- In large mixing bowl with paddle attachment cream the butter, add the sugar and then cream together until light and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs one at a time mixing in between. Mix in the vanilla extract.
- Slowly add in the dry ingredients, mix on low until dough is mostly formed. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a clean counter or non stick surface. Work dough together with hands. Be sure not to over work the dough.
- Separate the dough into three equal amounts. Place a section of dough onto a piece of parchment paper. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 of an inch thick. Keeping the dough between the paper lets you easily roll the dough without having to flour the rolling pin, we want to avoid having extra flour on the cookies.
- Continue with the next amount of dough. Place the rolled out cookie doughs on a cookie sheet and place them in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to chill.
- Once the dough has chilled remove one section at a time, cut with cookie cutters and place onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.
- Bake at 350°F for 9 minutes. Remove from oven prior to any edges turning golden.
- Allow the cookies to set for about 2-3 minutes then remove from the baking sheet to allow to cool on wire cooling rack.
- Outline Icing
- In small bowl stir together the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Should be thick! Add to piping bag with a small tip. I used a Wilton 2 tip. Outline the shape for the cookie. Allow this outline to dry for about an hour, it will harden.
- Flood Icing
- In small bowl stir together the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract and cinnamon. This will be thinner! Add to plastic squeeze bottles and pour into shape you want iced. Spread icing with toothpick until entire area is covered in icing.
- Allow the flood icing to dry at least 24 hours before stacking cookies or giving as gifts. I placed mine back on the baking sheets in a single layer and covered with plastic wrap to keep them fresh and let them sit overnight.
Equipment
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These are delicious! I am making them for our Christmas cookie exchange so I was wondering how long they keep?
Thanks!
These sound so good. I am actually going to make them but use white frosting for Christmas Cookies. The spice cookie sounds delicious and I am thinking it would make a great cookie for my friends cookie exchange.
Do these cookies spread? I’m hoping to find a recipe that holds its shape.
My dough seems really sticky…am I missing something?
Hi Natalie. It could be due to the temperature of the butter. Try chilling the dough a little bit then rolling it out to chill more before cutting the shapes.
These are fabulous. Because they are soft I had to be careful while frosting. I broke a pumpkin so I might stick to leaves and acorns next time. A new fall tradition for us.
Just made these today. They turned out perfectly. The taste was great, and I caught them just in time to keep them nice and soft. Followed the recipe exactly for the cookies; I improvised a thicker, spreadable icing using the same ingredients because I was in a hurry. Definitely will make again.
How long do you chill the dough
Hi Danielle! If you’re rolling it out and storing it in the fridge already rolled then it will be ready in about an hour. It should feel somewhat stiff, then you’ll know it’s ready 🙂
Hi, I love the shape. Where can I get the parchment paper? Are there any different parchment paper shape? Thank you for the recipe, it looks very nice.
Thanks so much! I typically buy a roll of parchment paper similar to this type: http://amzn.to/2jI282Q (affiliate link). You can buy rolls or sheets of parchment paper, but it doesn’t matter which one you use.
These are just so happy and sweet! I have been enjoying cookies with steamed milk in the cold-weather afternoons, this looks like a perfect recipe to try next!