Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Twirling-swirling...


CREAM CHEESE CINNAMON SWIRLS

Cookies and milk...cookies and coffee...cookies and cookies for all I care - nothing is more comforting than a homemade COOKIE!

The cream cheese in this dough makes it flaky-tender and very easy to work with. I swirled mine with cinnamon-sugar, but adding finely chopped nuts or chocolate would be wonderful.

(The dough itself has no sugar, so using it for savory fillings would be great. Leave out the vanilla and add garlic and parmesan, maybe? How about a little cayenne or chipotle? )

But back to sweet cookies...these would be beautiful on your holiday platters - and made larger and filled with chopped raisins or cranberries could be eaten for breakfast!!

What? That's within the realm of possibilities!

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adapted from Taste of Home

1 cup butter, softened
One 8-ounce pkg cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a large bowl beat the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until fluffy. Combine the flour and salt and gradually beat it into the butter mixture.

Divide dough in two and wrap each tightly in plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour. Combine cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a rectangle - about 1/4 inch thick. Spread the sugar mixture to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Roll up tightly - starting at either the short or long edge. (Starting at the short edge will give you a fatter log, and bigger cookies.) Wrap log tightly and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Slice logs into 3/8 inch slices and place two inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

TIP: I like to take a 12-inch piece of sewing thread and use that to cut things like this - keeps them from being squished with the knife. Simply hold the thread in both hands and slide it under the log. Bring both ends up and cross them, pulling until it cuts through the dough. Perfect!

Ready for an oven nap...






20 comments:

  1. Will be adding this to the list of cookie recipes to try this year! Thanks for sharing! I like the savory ideas too, very versatile.

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  2. Oh damn these look delicious! Love the addition of cream cheese into the batter - I'll be giving these a whirl soon.

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  3. So are these cookies softer or crunchier?

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  4. NikiTheo - the longer they are baked the crispier/flakier they get. They aren't CRUNCHY, really.

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  5. The breakfast idea appeals to me!!! The cream cheese is a very interesting twist.....

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  6. Oh yum - I could eat at least two dozen of these. with some raisins added it, it's almost like rugelach.

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  7. Oh my- yum! This looks fabulous.

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  8. Beautiful! I'm going to have to make these.

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  9. No, no, no!! *Please* don't show me these! My hips! My thighs!....lol...seriously, these look amazing. I never would have thought to put the cream cheese *in* the dough...Very nice :)

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  10. I wonder if you could use marscapone cheese in this recipe. It would be like a sweeter cream cheese.

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  11. I would think so...I LOVE marscapone. It's slightly softer than regular cream cheese, but I actually used reduced-fat CC in these - which is softer than regular - and they worked fine.

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  12. hello! i got a hankering for some cinnamon roll cookies, and your blog turned up when i googled for a recipe. i decided to try yours because it looked interesting, but i did make a few changes: i used fat-free cream cheese, 1/2 white and 1/2 brown sugar and 1 tbs cinnamon for the filling. also, before sprinkling on the filling i brushed the dough with maple syrup as per another recipe's suggestion, despite my own doubts (turns out it was a bad idea after all). oh, and i brushed each cookie with an egg wash before baking them.

    and let me tell you, the cookies taste absolutely amazing! flaky yet soft, the ideal cookie texture, and just sweet enough. the only problem was the darn syrup because it caused the majority of the cookies to spread open slightly as the filling oozed everywhere. no worries, though, because i was able to gently squish them back into a tight spiral immediately after i removed them from the oven. they may not look as good as yours, but i'm happy with the taste and will definitely make them (sans maple syrup) again. thank you!!

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  13. I tried these for the first time a couple months ago. They were such a hit we made them for the holidays and since then I have had endless requests for the recipe. Thank you for sharing! This is a new favorite for us.

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  14. I whipped up a batch of these today before the kids got home from school, and I am a hero now. What a great recipe! Simple to put together and super tasty. Definitely a keeper at our house!

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  15. I tried this recipe just a few days ago and it was amazing. I would make a few changes, however: 1 cup of sugar was way too sweet for me, I would halve that. And I also found the dough went too hard after chilling, impossible to work with unless you bring it to room temperature again. So maybe shape the rolls first and then chill? I'll try it next time, because there simply must be a next time! Too tasty to leave alone.

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  16. Yum. Turned out great and thanks for the tip to cut back on the sugar which I did. Glad I did too... Also never used the thread technique before.. Loved that!!

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  17. I tried this yesterday. Mine don't look as great as yours -- the cookies spread open -- however, the taste is great! Also I like the thread idea, which worked perfectly. The only problem is that I can't stop eating and I'm afraid I'm getting too much fat.

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  18. Does the whole cup of sugar get added with the cinnamon? It doesn't make sense to me not to add any sugar in the batter but maybe you don't?

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    1. Yes, all the sugar is in the filling! The dough is sort of like a pie pastry dough...not sweet. The filling does the trick!

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