Are cinnamon roll cookies made with yeast?

No. These are true cookies — a creamed butter-and-sugar dough leavened with baking powder. There's no yeast and no proofing, so the only wait is chilling the dough log so it slices into clean pinwheels.

Why do I have to chill the dough log?

Chilling firms the butter so the log holds its spiral and slices cleanly, and it keeps the cookies from spreading into flat blobs in the oven. Skip it and the swirl smears and the shape is lost.

How do I know when they're done?

Bake at 350°F for about 11–13 minutes. The edges should be set and just golden while the centers still look soft and slightly underdone — they finish setting on the hot pan, which keeps them tender.

Can I make the dough ahead of time?

Yes. Wrap the chilled logs and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 2 months, then slice and bake. It's an ideal slice-and-bake cookie for baking a few at a time.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Name: Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 57 min
Yield: 24 cookies
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 0.75 cup unsalted butter, softened; 0.5 cup granulated sugar; 0.25 cup packed brown sugar; 1 egg large egg; 2 tsp vanilla extract; 2.5 cup all-purpose flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 0.5 tsp fine salt; 3 tbsp unsalted butter, very soft; 0.5 cup packed brown sugar; 1.5 tbsp ground cinnamon; 2 oz cream cheese, softened; 0.75 cup powdered sugar; 1 tbsp milk; 0.5 tsp vanilla extract

Soft pinwheel cookies with a real cinnamon-sugar swirl and a cream cheese icing drizzle — all the flavor of a cinnamon roll, no yeast and no proofing.

a plate of soft cinnamon roll cookies on a cooling rack (AI-generated editorial image) — Image: CinnamonRollsRecipe.com · AI-generated editorial (Flux)

Total time: 57 min
Bake: 12 min
Yield: 24 cookies
Level: easy

The quick answer

Cinnamon roll cookies are soft pinwheel cookies: roll out a creamed butter-sugar dough, spread it with cinnamon-sugar filling, roll it into a log, chill until firm, then slice into rounds and bake at 350°F for 11–13 minutes until the edges set but the centers stay soft. Finish with a cream cheese icing drizzle. No yeast and no proofing — they're cookies, not rolls.

These are cinnamon rolls in cookie form: a creamed butter-and-sugar dough that you roll thin, spread with a buttery cinnamon-sugar filling, roll into a tight log, chill, and slice into pinwheel rounds. Because there's no yeast, there's no proofing and no waiting for dough to rise — the only real wait is a chill in the fridge to firm the log so it slices cleanly. They bake up soft in the center with set edges, and a cream cheese icing drizzle across the top makes the cinnamon-roll connection unmistakable. Think of them as the fastest way to get the cinnamon-roll craving satisfied on a cookie sheet.

a single cinnamon roll cookie broken in half showing a soft chewy interior with a ribbon of cinnamon swirl running through it (AI-generated editorial image) — The soft, pull-apart crumb you're after.

Ingredients

Make

Cookie dough

¾ cupunsalted butter, softened — room temperature
½ cupgranulated sugar
¼ cuppacked brown sugar
1 egglarge egg — room temperature
2 tspvanilla extract
2½ cupsall-purpose flour — spooned and leveled
1 tspbaking powder
½ tspfine salt

Cinnamon filling

3 tbspunsalted butter, very soft
½ cuppacked brown sugar
1½ tbspground cinnamon

Cream cheese icing

2 ozcream cheese, softened
¾ cuppowdered sugar
1 tbspmilk — plus more to thin to a drizzle
½ tspvanilla extract

a log of cookie dough spread with cinnamon filling being sliced into pinwheel rounds on parchment (AI-generated editorial image) — A look at the method — follow the steps below.

Instructions

Cream the softened butter with the granulated and brown sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla until smooth.
Mixture is pale, fluffy, and noticeably lighter in color.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together, then add to the wet ingredients and mix just until a soft dough forms and no dry streaks remain. Don't overmix.
Dough is soft and cohesive, pulling away from the bowl.
Divide the dough in half. Roll each half between two sheets of parchment into a rectangle about 10x8 inches and 1/4 inch thick. Working with halves keeps the dough easy to handle.
Even rectangle with no thin or torn spots.
Stir the very soft filling butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon into a spreadable paste. Peel off the top parchment and spread half the filling over each rectangle, right to the edges, leaving a bare 1/2-inch strip along one long edge to seal.
Filling is an even, dark cinnamon layer across the dough.
Starting from the filled long edge and using the parchment to lift, roll each rectangle into a tight log, finishing seam-side down. Gently pinch the seam to seal.
Tight spiral with no big air gaps in the center.
Wrap each log and chill in the refrigerator until firm enough to slice cleanly. This is the only wait — it firms the butter so the rounds hold their swirl.
Log is firm and no longer squishes when pressed.
Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line baking sheets with parchment. Using a sharp knife, slice each chilled log into rounds about 1/2 inch thick, rotating the log a quarter turn between cuts so it stays round. You should get about 24 cookies.
Each slice shows a visible cinnamon pinwheel.
Arrange the rounds about 2 inches apart on the lined sheets. Bake until the edges are set and lightly golden but the centers still look soft and slightly underdone.
Edges are set and just golden; centers look soft, not wet — they finish setting on the pan.
Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack. Beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla into a smooth drizzle, adding a little more milk if needed, and drizzle over the fully cooled cookies.
Icing ribbons off the spoon and sets to a soft glaze on the cool cookies.

Make ahead, store & reheat

Make ahead: The dough logs are made for getting ahead. Wrap the chilled logs tightly and refrigerate up to 3 days, or freeze up to 2 months. Slice and bake straight from the fridge; from frozen, let the log sit 10–15 minutes until a knife passes through, then slice and bake, adding a minute or two.
Storage: Store iced cookies in a single layer or well-separated in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 5 days (the cream cheese icing needs the cold). Un-iced cookies keep at room temperature up to 4 days.
Reheating: These are best at room temperature, but a warm cookie is lovely: microwave an un-iced cookie 8–10 seconds, then drizzle. Don't microwave already-iced cookies or the icing melts off.
Freezing: Freeze baked, un-iced cookies up to 2 months in an airtight container. Thaw at room temperature, then drizzle with fresh icing. You can also freeze the raw dough log and slice-and-bake as needed.

Substitutions

Salted butter (then reduce the added salt to a pinch) instead of unsalted butter, softened
All brown sugar in the dough for a chewier, more caramel-like cookie instead of granulated sugar
A simple vanilla glaze (powdered sugar + milk) if you want to skip the cream cheese instead of cream cheese, softened

Troubleshooting

Cookies spread too much and lost their shape: The dough was too warm. Chill the sliced rounds on the sheet for 10 minutes before baking, make sure the log was fully firm, and check that you didn't over-soften or melt the butter when creaming.
The cinnamon swirl isn't visible: The filling was spread too thin or the log too loose. Spread the filling all the way to the edges and roll the log tightly so the spiral is compact and shows a clear pinwheel when sliced.
Cookies came out dry or cakey: Usually too much flour or overbaking. Spoon and level the flour instead of scooping, and pull the cookies while the centers still look soft — they set as they cool on the pan.
The log cracks or crumbles when sliced: It's either too cold or the knife is dull. Let a very firm log sit a few minutes to take the chill off, use a sharp knife, and rotate the log a quarter turn between cuts to keep it round.

Tools I reach for

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Frequently asked questions

Are cinnamon roll cookies made with yeast?: No. These are true cookies — a creamed butter-and-sugar dough leavened with baking powder. There's no yeast and no proofing, so the only wait is chilling the dough log so it slices into clean pinwheels.
Why do I have to chill the dough log?: Chilling firms the butter so the log holds its spiral and slices cleanly, and it keeps the cookies from spreading into flat blobs in the oven. Skip it and the swirl smears and the shape is lost.
How do I know when they're done?: Bake at 350°F for about 11–13 minutes. The edges should be set and just golden while the centers still look soft and slightly underdone — they finish setting on the hot pan, which keeps them tender.
Can I make the dough ahead of time?: Yes. Wrap the chilled logs and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 2 months, then slice and bake. It's an ideal slice-and-bake cookie for baking a few at a time.

Nutrition (estimate): 1 cookie (of 24) · ~160 kcal. Nutrition is an automated estimate and will vary with brands and exact quantities.

Food safety: don't taste dough containing raw flour or raw egg. Refrigerate anything with cream cheese frosting, and reheat leftovers until piping hot.