Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies are melt-in-your-mouth buttery cookies with warm cinnamon flavor, baked until lightly golden brown and rolled (TWICE!) in cinnamon sugar. Delicious enough for your Christmas goodie tray, and easy enough to stock your cookie jar any time of year.
For more Christmas cookies, try No Spread Cut Out Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting next.
These sweet little cinnamon cookies have my heart. The rich, buttery shortbread is tender with a soft, crumbly texture, rich, warm spices, and a layer of cinnamon sugar for a little crunch, sweetness, and even more cinnamon flavor.
This delicious shortbread cookie recipe is really easy and made with simple ingredients. And the dough is so versatile you can use it to make drop cookies or roll out the dough for cutout cookies!
🧈Ingredients
See recipe card at the bottom of the post for the full list of ingredients and exact amounts.
- Unsalted butter. Use room temperature butter -- it should feel cool to the touch and indent when pressed. It shouldn't be soft and squishy.
- Powdered sugar. Powdered sugar plays double duty in this shortbread cookie recipe, acting as a sweetener and helping provide structure through the cornstarch.
- All-purpose flour. Measure the flour carefully by spooning the flour into the measuring cup and leveling off the top. Scooping flour straight out of the bag compacts the flour and you may accidentally add too much, which can make the cookies tough and dry.
- Cinnamon. Between the shortbread dough and the cinnamon sugar mixture, there's a lot of cinnamon in these cookies! Adjust to taste.
- Nutmeg. Nutmeg enhances and balances out the cinnamon, somehow making these cookies even cinnamon-ier (try saying that, lol), without being too much.
- Cinnamon sugar. To really drive home the cinnamon flavor, the cookies are rolled in cinnamon sugar twice -- once before and once after baking. Divide the mixture of cinnamon sugar in half to avoid cross-contamination of the raw flour between the unbaked and baked cookies.
🥣How to Make Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies
Step 1: Cream the butter and salt in a large mixing bowl for 1-2 minutes. Mix in the powdered sugar until well combined. Add the vanilla and mix one more minute.
Step 2: Sift in the flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg just until the mixture forms a soft dough. Gather the dough with your hands and shape it into a flat disc. Cover and chill the dough at least 30 minutes up to overnight.
Step 3: Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Place half in another small bowl and set aside. Scoop dough into 1-tablespoon-sized portions and roll into balls. Roll each ball of dough in cinnamon sugar and place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Discard the cinnamon sugar after all the dough has been r
Step 4: Bake in a preheated oven at 325 for 15-17 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned. Let the cookies cool for a couple of minutes on the pan until they are cool enough to handle. Roll warm cookies in the reserved cinnamon sugar and place on cooling rack.
👉Top Tip: For cinnamon cut out cookies, roll out the dough to ¼" thickness, and cut it with a cookie cutter. Coat in cinnamon sugar, bake 10-12 minutes, and coat warm cookies again in cinnamon sugar.
☑️Tips
- Instead of sifting, whisk dry ingredients in a separate bowl before mixing into the wet ingredients.
- If the chilled dough is too stiff, let it sit at room temperature 15-30 minutes or until soft enough to scoop.
- If you need more cinnamon sugar, the ratio is 4 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon.
🎁Storage
- Store cookie dough in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Store cinnamon shortbread cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days or in the refrigerator for 10 days.
- Freeze shortbread cookie dough in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator.
- Freeze baked cookies between layers of parchment or wax paper for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
🎆More Shortbread Cookie Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
For Rolling
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream butter and salt on medium-high speed for 1-2 minutes. Mix in the powdered sugar until well combined. Add the vanilla and mix 1 more minute.
- Sift in the flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix on medium speed until it starts to form together into a soft dough. Gather the dough with your hands and form it into a flat disc. Cover and chill dough for 30 minutes up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 325 and line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon for rolling. Remove half of the mixture and place in a separate small bowl; set aside for rolling the baked cookies. Roll 1 tablespoon portions of cookie dough into balls. Roll each dough ball in cinnamon sugar and place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Discard the cinnamon sugar after all the dough has been rolled.
- Bake 15-17 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned on the bottom. It's a little harder to tell because these are dark-colored cookies. Peek at the bottom, and you'll be able to see.
- Cool on pan a couple of minutes until they are cool enough to handle, but still warm. Roll in reserved cinnamon sugar and place on wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Instead of sifting, whisk dry ingredients in a separate bowl before mixing into the wet ingredients.
- If the chilled dough is too stiff, let it sit at room temperature 15-30 minutes or until soft enough to scoop.
- If you need more cinnamon sugar, the ratio is 4 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon.
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