In my continuing obsession with all those holiday magazines, these cookies come to you courtesty of Paula Deen’s Christmas. This time of year, one of the most important considerations when baking cookies is how they look. Most holiday cookies are to be given away, so they should at least look nice, right? With the cinnamon swirl in these sugar cookies, these are just begging to live on a cookie tray.
These are not quick cookies to whip up. They’re not difficult, but they have to be refrigerated before being baked. Because of that, they do lend themselves to being good make-ahead cookies. I actually made the dough for these late one night and then sliced and baked them the next morning for my co-workers. I should mention here that they were quickly devoured, and I was told more than asked to make more.
One of my least favorite things in baking is rolling out dough. I’m not good at it, never seeming to be able to make anything remotely resembling an actual rectangle. I’m not blessed with patience, so I’m sure that doesn’t help. That being said, I still liked these cookies and would make them again. Be sure to give them plenty of room on the baking sheet, because they do spread quite a bit. They’ll be much more holiday-worthy if they don’t run all over each other.
15 responses so far ↓
1 Patricia Scarpin // Dec 13, 2006 at 6:56 am
Jennifer, these cookies look so good - the perfect gift!!
I need to put together small Xmas gifts and I’m decided to use cookies for that - this recipe and the chocolate shortbread are on my mind for that.
Exchanging cookies is not a tradition here in Brazil, but I’ll start my own tradition this year. lol
Would you please be so king to tell me if these and the shortbread still taste good (not too soft, I mean) after a few days? I’m planning on making little plastic bags filled with cookies.
Thanks and sorry for the long comment. ;D
2 jennifer // Dec 13, 2006 at 7:40 am
Hi, Patricia! Both cookies should be good for about a week as long as they’re kept in an airtight container. Happy baking and happy holidays!
3 Brilynn // Dec 13, 2006 at 8:34 am
This is definitely another winner, they look great. And I can’t make rectangles out of dough either, I generally get random shaped blobs…
4 rachel // Dec 13, 2006 at 9:32 am
They look so pretty! Paula Deen does know high fat baking!
5 Claire // Dec 13, 2006 at 11:02 am
Jennifer, I have also made a cinnamon roll cookie. It doesn’t run all over the place and my dad has requested it MULTIPLE times (that means it’s good, he’s quite the cookie monster!)! I don’t know how it compares to Paula’s but here’s the link if you want to check it out.
http://cookiedoc.blogspot.com/2006/06/rolling-away.html
6 Abby // Dec 13, 2006 at 11:54 am
You’re right. Very pretty.
But wait. No pecans? Could they be crushed and added with the topping?
7 Kristen // Dec 13, 2006 at 4:42 pm
Those look really good. I see another cookie baking night in my near future.
Claire - thanks for the recipe!
8 jennifer // Dec 13, 2006 at 7:51 pm
Brilynn, that definitely makes me feel better.
Rachel, I admire Paula for being able to say, “yeah, it’s fattening. so what?” A little bit of that is good for all of us.
Thanks, Claire! Ours look very similar, although yours are a bit fluffier, maybe.
Oh, Abby, there are pecans. They’re just in the cinnamon/sugar part. Actually, I thought it could use a few more, but I think that of most desserts.
Kristen, it’s hard to resist baking, especially this time of year. I have to whittle down my baking wish list several times.
9 peabody // Dec 14, 2006 at 3:03 am
These look fantastic. I too am addicted to holiday magazines but I did not buy the Paula Deen one.
10 Lauren // Dec 14, 2006 at 9:57 am
Ditto on the holiday baking mags… I just looked through this one again and thought this looked like promising. Thanks for the review - they look wonderful too!
11 Nicole // Dec 14, 2006 at 4:53 pm
These are beautiful Jennifer!
12 dallimomma // Dec 22, 2006 at 10:55 am
I mixed these up a few days ago and then chilled for a couple of days due to other craziness. My daughter baked them for me. I think that if she hadn’t placed them 1) so close together so as to make one big cookie, or 2) on both the upper most and lowest racks in the oven and then 3) forgotten to set the timer and 4) gone to wash her hair, they would have been great. The ones that didn’t burn looked and tasted great. I’m going to try again after the holiday. Thanks for the great recipe.
13 jennifer // Dec 22, 2006 at 11:40 am
Thanks for the compliments, y’all! Dallimomma, I admire your optimism after all of that.
Good luck on your second try!
14 Ivonne // Dec 23, 2006 at 6:00 pm
They look wonderful! I can’t believe how many posts I missed while I was away. I’m glad to see that you’ve been baking and having fun. Enjoy the holidays!
15 bridget // Dec 28, 2006 at 12:57 pm
i made these on xmas and they were SO good! we added a basic cream cheese frosting to half of the batch - as a former cinnamon roll bakery employee, i highly recommend adding a little frosting!
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