These Pecan Cinnamon Roll Cookies drizzled with cream cheese frosting are super soft, super chewy and SUPER delicious.
Pecans. Cinnamon. Soft-baked cookies. Cream cheese frosting. Now that is the ultimate flavour combination. This has to be my new all-time-favourite cookie recipe!
How to make Pecan Cinnamon Roll cookies
There are 3 parts to this recipe, each one is really quick and easy to make.
1. Start with the cookie dough – you’ll start by making my go-to cookie dough recipe but with a few additions. For these cookies you’ll add ground cinnamon which gives the dough a lovely sweet and spicy flavour, and you’ll also add some chopped pecans, which pair so well with cinnamon and add crunch throughout the cookies.
2. Roll the cookies in cinnamon sugar – Just before the cookies go in the oven, you’ll roll them in cinnamon sugar. Made by mixing light brown sugar with ground cinnamon, this extra step will give the cookies a gorgeous crinkly top and a sweet sugary coating.
3. Decorate with a drizzle of cream cheese frosting – just like classic cinnamon rolls are finished with a coating of icing, these cookies are finished with a drizzle of cream cheese frosting. You can either pipe the frosting over the cookies or use a teaspoon to drizzle it across. This step really is the icing on the cake…or cookie in this case!
Other cookie recipes to try
Once you’ve mastered these cookies be sure to give another a go. Here are a few of my favourite recipes:
Pecan Cinnamon Roll Cookie recipe (makes 12)
Ingredients
For the cookies:
160g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
150g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 medium egg + 1 medium egg yolk, at room temperature
1 + ½ teaspoons cinnamon
250g self-raising flour
100g whole pecans
For the cinnamon sugar:
1 teaspoon cinnamon
30g light brown sugar
For the cream cheese frosting:
75g icing sugar
35g unsalted butter, soft at room temperature
35g full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese, cold from the fridge
Method
Start by making the cookie dough.
Melt the butter in 20-second blasts in the microwave until it turns to liquid. Add the light brown sugar and caster sugar, and mix together. Add the vanilla extract, whole egg and egg yolk and mix together.
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour and cinnamon in a bowl. Add to the wet ingredients and fold together until the mixture forms a dough.
Roughly chop the pecans, add them to the bowl and fold into the cookie dough. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and put it in the fridge to chill for a minimum of 4 hours, or overnight for best results.
Bake the cookies.
Preheat oven to 180°C and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper. Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and leave at room temperature for 10 minutes.
Make the cinnamon sugar by mixing together the light brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
Take a heaped tablespoon of cookie dough, roll it into a ball and then roll it in the cinnamon sugar. Place on the baking tray. Repeat this step until all the cookie dough has been used up. Leave about 5cm between each cookie so they have enough room to spread out. I had 4 cookies on each baking tray and baked them in batches.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned on the edges and the middle is still soft. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking tray, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Now make the cream cheese frosting.
Beat the butter until really soft and pale in colour. Sift in the icing sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Add the cream cheese and gently fold into the mixture until just combined. Be careful not to over-mix, as it can quickly become runny.
Time to decorate!
Transfer the cream cheese frosting to a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle. Pipe the cream cheese frosting over the cookies in a zig-zag motion. Alternatively, you can use a teaspoon to drizzle it on top.
Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 day, or in the fridge for up to 3 days.