Day 10: Cream Cheese Cinnamon Swirl Cookies

Twirly, swirly, cinnamon spun

I am now ready for some holiday fun

Hump day is over, and I am already ready for the weekend, per my usual banter. I can't wait to watch cheesy Christmas movies, drink hot chocolate, and eat, eat, eat cookies, cakes, and tamales.

Okay, I take that back...I may take it easy on the cookies this time around because, as you can assume, I've been eating cookies everyday for the past week and a half. Just need to cut back on the sugar a tad bit. I've never had such a constant flow of sweets at home before and it's been a bit overwhelming. I usually keep it out of the house to prevent from overeating. As of late, the majority of the time I'm trying to finish as much of the cookies as I can just so they don't become stale. Those aren't fun to eat. Actually, a couple of stale cookies might be salvageable with a good cup of coffee.

Day 10's cookie surprise of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies are baby cinnamon buns. Alright, not quite, but they're adorably similar. If you think about it, the cinnamon bun is quite the well-rounded dessert. You can cut into it like cake or bite into it like a doughnut, yet it has the texture of bread all drizzled with a generous dollop of icing; just like the way you would pour hot fudge on your sundae. I love cinnamon buns and if you do too, you'll really love these.

Cream Cheese Cinnamon Swirl Cookies

From Stick to your Hips

for cookie dough

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

for cinnamon sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

make the dough

1. Beat together the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla extract.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and salt and gradually add this into the butter mixture while beating. Keep mixing until well combined.

3. Divide the dough into 2 portions and wrap each tightly in plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

assemble cookie

1. On a lightly floured surface, roll each dough portion into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.

2. Spread the cinnamon sugar on the dough within a 1/2-inch from the edge.

3. Roll the dough up tightly, starting at either the long or short edge. (This is to your preference - Starting at the short edge will give you a fatter log and bitter cookies. The long edge will yield a thinner log and smaller cookies.) Wrap your logs up tightly with parchment paper and chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

equipment prep

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Line your baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

bake

1. Slice each cookie log into 3/8-inch thick discs and place each cookie 2 inches apart on your prepared baking sheet.

2. Bake the cookies at 375°F for 14-16 minutes, or until lightly browned.

3. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

*** ENJOY!