Cinnamon Swirl Honey Bun Cookies

Patience is not my virtue. [Ed. note: I want to comment, but appreciate my life.] Rolling out cookie dough and cutting out cookies with cookie cutters? No patience for it. Hell-o slice-and-bake simplicity!

These cookies are tender, lightly sweetened with honey, and swirled with cinnamon and spice–a perfect holiday cookie that travels and keeps well, perfect for gracing your Hanukkah dessert table, a cookie exchange, or to leave as a nice treat for Santa and his helpers. I have been known to have them for breakfast with coffee, or late afternoon pick-me-up with tea.

Winter is coming: let the holiday cookie season begin!

NOTE:  Although the glaze is delicious, I opted not to use it as I prefer it much better plain (plenty sweet for this household), and if you are going to ship it as a gift it's probably more practical to go glazeless. That said, if you're serving at a party or leaving for Santa, by all means glaze it up.

Adapted from: Marbled, Swirled, and Layered, by Irvin Lin
Number of servings: 48 cookies

Ingredients
Cookie Dough

• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 cup  (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Cinnamon Filling

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ½  teaspoon ground nutmeg

Glaze

• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½-¾  cup powdered sugar, sifted

Optional

• Ground cinnamon for dusting

Directions
Cookie Dough

1. Combine powdered sugar, butter, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. With a hand mixer, start mixing on low speed and slowly increase speed to medium until butter looks creamy and starts to cling to the sides of the bowl (about 2 minutes).
2. Add vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until incorporated. Add egg and beat until Incorporated. Add flour and mix on low speed, then slowly increase to medium speed until flour is incorporated and a dough forms. The dough will be soft.
3. Scrape the dough out onto a clean, floured surface and shape into a ball. Flatten into a circle and then square off the edges. Roll out dough into 13 x 14-inch rectangle with a long side facing you. (You will need to occasionally add more flour to the top and bottom of the dough so it doesn’t stick.)

Cinnamon Filling and Baking

1. In another bowl (use same bowl if you like), combine the butter, brown sugar, flour, honey, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat together until the filling is uniform in color, fluffy, and light (about 2 minutes). Scrape the filling out onto the rolled-out dough and spread to cover the entire surface (you may need to use your fingers for this, as the filling will need to be spread thinly). Tightly roll up the dough starting from the bottom edge (you may need to use a little more flour here again so the dough does not stick). Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and freeze for 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Remove dough from the freezer and unwrap. Carefully slice ¼-inch-thick cookie "disks" from the rolled log, slicing straight down (do not saw back and forth). Place on baking sheets, spacing the cookies about 1 ½ inches apart.
4. Bake until edges of the cookies start to turn golden brown (12 to 14 minutes). Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. NOTE: don't overbake!

Glaze

1. Combine honey, milk, vanilla and ½ cup powdered sugar in a bowl and stir together. If glaze looks too thin, add more powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it has thickened to the right consistency. Brush glaze onto cooled cookies with a pastry brush. Once glaze has settled, you can dust the cookies lightly with more ground cinnamon (optional).

NOTE:
Make sure the butter for cinnamon filling is truly at room temperature or even slightly warmer than that. It makes spreading the filling easier.
 
You can make and freeze this cookie dough for future baking. Once frozen for an hour, place the log in a labeled zip-top plastic bag. Slice and bake cookies at your convenience. Frozen dough should keep for up to 2 months.