I am a big fan of the Los Angeles Times' Culinary SOS column, and it's been a steady source of solid recipes over the years. So I had high expectations for a Culinary SOS recipe for Cinnamon Roll Cookies from the Cravory. Described as having the look and taste of a cinnamon roll with a cookie crumb, it was promised to be the best of both worlds.
To make the dough, you cream butter with sugar, brown sugar, and powdered sugar; add eggs and vanilla; and incorporate the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt). After you chill the dough, you roll it out into a square and spread on a filling made of pecans, brown sugar, melted butter, and cinnamon.
You're supposed to roll up the dough around the filling -- cinnamon-roll style, naturally -- but my dough was so soft and sticky that I found this to be impossible. Even though I had thoroughly chilled the dough before rolling it out, it was completely stuck to the parchment paper underneath the dough. I had to chill the rolled dough -- with the filling spread on top of it -- to get it a bit firmer so that I could pry it off of the paper. Then I rolled up the dough and put in back in the refrigerator for another 24 hours.
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The next day, the dough was firm and easy to cut. I cut slices that were a half-inch thick and dropped each slice into a buttered three-inch cake ring for baking. The recipe instructs you to use a muffin tin, but I have a big supply of cake rings, and I didn't want to have to worry about the cookies sticking to the bottom of the muffin pan.
After the cookies were baked and cooled, I took them out of the rings and drizzled on a glaze made from cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla bean seeds, orange zest, and milk. The glaze remained sticky and never set firm, so I stored the cookies in a single layer in airtight containers in the fridge (I thought that the cream cheese in the frosting probably required refrigeration, even though the recipe didn't give any specific storage instructions).
The cookies were not what I was expecting. I thought that they would be a cinnamon roll in cookie form. But the cookies tasted more like a cross between a blondie (because of the texture) and a crumb cake (because of the cinnamon and pecans). The cookie was wonderfully chewy, and I especially loved the extra firm edges from the cake rings. The dense spiral of cinnamon and pecans in the middle was sweet and delicious. The glaze was delightful, with a bright citrusy zing and a fragrant vanilla aroma; I'm so glad that I added orange zest even though it was listed as optional.
Even though these cookies didn't read "cinnamon roll" to me, they were delicious. And as far as taste is concerned, they exceeded every expectation.
Recipe: "The Cravory's Cinnamon Roll Cookies" from the June 9, 2012 Los Angeles Times.
To make the dough, you cream butter with sugar, brown sugar, and powdered sugar; add eggs and vanilla; and incorporate the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt). After you chill the dough, you roll it out into a square and spread on a filling made of pecans, brown sugar, melted butter, and cinnamon.
You're supposed to roll up the dough around the filling -- cinnamon-roll style, naturally -- but my dough was so soft and sticky that I found this to be impossible. Even though I had thoroughly chilled the dough before rolling it out, it was completely stuck to the parchment paper underneath the dough. I had to chill the rolled dough -- with the filling spread on top of it -- to get it a bit firmer so that I could pry it off of the paper. Then I rolled up the dough and put in back in the refrigerator for another 24 hours.
After the cookies were baked and cooled, I took them out of the rings and drizzled on a glaze made from cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla bean seeds, orange zest, and milk. The glaze remained sticky and never set firm, so I stored the cookies in a single layer in airtight containers in the fridge (I thought that the cream cheese in the frosting probably required refrigeration, even though the recipe didn't give any specific storage instructions).
The cookies were not what I was expecting. I thought that they would be a cinnamon roll in cookie form. But the cookies tasted more like a cross between a blondie (because of the texture) and a crumb cake (because of the cinnamon and pecans). The cookie was wonderfully chewy, and I especially loved the extra firm edges from the cake rings. The dense spiral of cinnamon and pecans in the middle was sweet and delicious. The glaze was delightful, with a bright citrusy zing and a fragrant vanilla aroma; I'm so glad that I added orange zest even though it was listed as optional.
Even though these cookies didn't read "cinnamon roll" to me, they were delicious. And as far as taste is concerned, they exceeded every expectation.
Recipe: "The Cravory's Cinnamon Roll Cookies" from the June 9, 2012 Los Angeles Times.
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