Cinnamon Girl Cookies

In this kitchen, the holidays are officially a GO! once the yearly Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap sign-up email drops into my inbox. I love this yearly blogger process – if you are actively posting to a food blog you can sign up to the swap and the lovely and talented Lindsey of  Love & Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen will send along three addresses of other food bloggers. Send each of them one dozen delicious homemade cookies and receive three different boxes of scrumptious cookies yourself. Brilliance in simplicity.

Each afternoon for the past week, I have felt a giddy rush as I insert the key into my mailbox and turn – “what kind of tasty delight will be waiting for me today??” So much more fun than – “I owe how much on that credit card??”  Plus, as if tasty trips to the mailbox weren’t motivations enough, the cookie swap also stimulates donations and support for the great cause of Cookies For Kids’ Cancer.

Each year I begin the cookie swap process fantasizing about some elaborate new cookie recipes I can try, ways to impress the foodie community, and each year I end up sending out a variation of the classic sugar cookie. What can I say? Life is busy, sugar cookies freeze very well and they never seem to fail at pleasing the masses.  Last year I shipped off the White Christmas Cookie, with dried cranberries, orange zest and topped with melted white chocolate. For the 2012 swap, I took influence from a moment in a train station: as I ran to my train’s platform, the smell of a nearby Cinnabon vendor hit me like a rock and in one of those eery moments of coincidence, Neil Young‘s song, Cinnamon Girl began to play in my headphones. Message received: I had to prepare a Cinnamon Girl Cookie.

Part cinnamon roll, part classic holiday cookie, all spectacular.

Cinnamon Girl Cookie

Adapted from Elyse Wahle of Sullivan and Bleeker Baking Co.
Prepares about 2 dozen cookies
Prep Time: 25 minutes  Bake Time: 15 minutes

Cookie Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda.
2. In an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add flour mixture and beat until your dough is smooth.
3. Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 1/4-inch thick square on a flat, floured surface.
4. In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar; mix well. Brush the dough squares lightly with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Gently, yet quickly, roll each log.
5. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove dough logs from freezer, unwrap, and using a sharp knife slice into cookies about 1/4″ thick. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack completely before drizzling with the icing sugar glaze.

Note: cookies will double in size as they bake, be sure to space each at least 1.5″ apart.

Perhaps I went a little heavy on the flour board this round but not to fret, flour grains fall off or absorb into the dough. Just be sure to move quickly for this part of the process so the dough stays chilled.

♪ I could be happy the rest of my life with a cinnamon girl… cookie. ♪

Time to package.

I just adore that sense of satisfaction that comes from bundling up a box of homemade cookies, ready to ship to a fellow foodie. I hope my 3 recipients enjoy! (Gift boxes found at Winners / Marshalls.)

If you’re interested in signing up for next year’s Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap you can sign up for notifications here. And now for the song that started it all…

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