These Copycat Crumbl Cinnamon Swirl Cookies are made with a thick buttery cookie base topped with a cinnamon sugar topping and hypnotic swirls of cream cheese frosting. They taste just like cinnamon rolls in cookie form!
If you can't get enough cinnamon rolls in your life, try our Cinnamon Roll Waffles next!
Can we talk about the Crumbl Cookies craze for just a sec? They are taking the country by storm with their oversized cookies and weekly lineup change so there is always something different or new to try there. If you don't have one near you already, chances are you will get one soon at the rate they have been growing.
It used to be that I could only get Crumbl cookies when we were visiting family in Utah, but then one opened in a neighboring town and now I find myself lured over there more often than I would like to admit by the allure of their delicious cookies that are typically served either chilled or warm (depending on the flavor).
In all honesty, I don't always love the lineup! But most of the time there is one or two that stand out and are good enough that I find myself craving them long after they are removed from rotation in the stores. Which is why sometimes I just have to make them at home for myself!
These copycat Crumbl cinnamon swirl cookies are one of the flavors that I just couldn't get out of my head. I love it so much that it is easily in one of my top 5 flavors of all time, right up with there with their caramel popcorn, churro, and raspberry cheesecake cookies.
Why this Recipe Works
- You can make an entire BATCH of cookies for the cost of one or two of the Crumbl cookies at the store.
- The cooked cinnamon topping hardens for a really interesting textural element that is pretty unique in this kind of a cookie.
- The soft cream cheese frosting really sends home that cinnamon roll vibe, both in terms of flavor and appearance.
- This approach is much easier than other cinnamon roll cookie recipes I have tried where you roll them up and slice like actual cinnamon rolls.
Ingredient Notes
- Butter: I almost always use salted butter in my recipes because that's what I keep on hand.
- Brown sugar: We love the extra depth of flavor this gives the cinnamon sugar topping.
- Cream cheese: You'll want full-fat cream cheese here for best results. Try to remember to pull it out of the fridge to soften so it mixes in smoothly for the frosting.
- Cinnamon: You just can't make cinnamon swirl cookies without plenty of ground cinnamon! A little goes into the cookie base for dimension and flavor, but most of it is in the topping.
How to Make Crumbl Cinnamon Swirl Cookies
Start by beating the butter and sugar together until creamy and light, about 2-3 minutes. You don't need to soften the butter first since that much mixing will soften it for you if you cut it into cubes before adding it to the bowl.
Add the eggs and vanilla extract, then mix again, making sure to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl for even mixing.
Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the creamed mixture and mix again just until combined. The dough will be thick and should clear the sides of the bowl, but be careful not to overwork it.
Use a large cookie scoop to portion out generous sized mounds of dough, spacing them a couple inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Press them flat-ish either with your hands or the bottom of a glass or measuring cup. They should be about ¾-inch thick.
Bake for 10-12 minutes just until the cookies are set. These cookies won't really brown around the edges and you don't want to overbake them or they won't stay soft, so look for them to lose their shiny appearance and for the edges to be set up.
Make the cinnamon sugar topping by heating butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon either on the stove or in the microwave until it comes to a boil, then spoon the mixture over the top of each cookie. It will harden as it cools to form a delightful sort of crust.
In another large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth, then add vanilla extract, salt, and milk and beat again. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth, then transfer this to a piping bag fitted with a round open tip or a Ziploc bag with one corner snipped off.
Pipe swirls of frosting starting from the center of each cookie and working outwards, leaving space between the lines. This not only allows the cinnamon topping to peep through but it also keeps the cream cheese frosting from overwhelming the cookies.
I think these cookies are best served warm (like I prefer most cookies), but you can store them in the fridge and serve them chilled as well.
Recipe FAQ's
No, you don't need to worry about chilling the dough when making these cookies. They have enough flour and ratio of other ingredients to control the spread that sometimes happens with other cookie recipes.
If you are frosting them and serving right away, you don't need to refrigerate them. They could even sit out overnight since the sugar in the frosting acts as a preservative. But if it's longer than that, then yes, I would recommend refrigerating these cookies. You could also always just make and refrigerate the frosting while storing the unfrosted cookies are room temperature until you are ready to frost and serve.
Recipe Tips
- Freezing: You can freeze these cookies for 2-3 months whether they are frosted or unfrosted. Just thaw at room temperature for a couple of hours before serving.
- Making the topping: You can make the cinnamon sugar topping either on the stovetop or in the microwave. I have included both methods in the recipe card below, although my preferred approach is on the stovetop. Either way, it needs to come to a bubbling boil so it hardens into a sort of crumbly shell on top of the cookies.
- Making smaller sized cookies: As written, this makes intentionally large cookies, just like the ones served at Crumbl Cookies stores. You can make smaller versions, if you prefer, and bake them for only 8-10 minutes.
More Cookie Recipes
- Dark Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies
- Big Blue Monster Stuffed Cookies
- Copycat Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
- The Best Snickerdoodle Cookies Recipe
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Copycat Crumbl Cinnamon Swirl Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Base
- 1 cup salted butter (227g)
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar (250g)
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, scooped & leveled (564g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
- ½ cup salted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup salted butter, softened
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Cookie Base
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar by beating for 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla, then beat again, stopping to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until combined, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Scoop large scoops of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them a couple inches apart. Flatten them slightly by pressing down on the top of each bowl with your hand or a flat-bottomed cup until they are approximately ¾-inch thick.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until set, but do not overbake. Cool completely.
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
- Combine the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until the butter is melted and the mixture comes to a boil, then remove from the heat and spoon 2-3 teaspoons of the mixture over each cookie. Let cool. (See notes for microwave approach.)
Frosting
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until creamy and smooth. Add the milk, vanilla, and salt, then beat again. Add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing between each addition until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a round open tip or a Ziploc bag with one corner cut off. Pipe thick spiral ropes of frosting on top of each cookie once the cinnamon sugar topping has cooled.
Notes
- Storage: You can leave these cookies out overnight even though they have cream cheese frosting because the sugar in the frosting acts as a preservative. But if it is longer than that or your house is warm, then you will want to stick them in the fridge until shortly before you are ready to serve them.
- Freezing: You can freeze these cookies for 2-3 months whether they are frosted or unfrosted. Just thaw at room temperature for a couple of hours before serving.
- Microwave: If you want to make the cinnamon sugar topping in the microwave, combine the butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a medium microwave-safe bowl and heat for 3 minutes, stopping each minute to stir well, until it bubbles.
- Smaller cookies: As written, this makes intentionally large cookies, just like the ones served at Crumbl Cookies stores. You can make smaller versions, if you prefer, and bake them for only 8-10 minutes.
Well done. Great recipes and web site.
Mille mercis ! 🙂
These came out perfectly! I haven’t had the Crumbl one yet, so I can’t compare these. But, if you’re considering trying this recipe you should totally go for it!
I'm so glad they were such a hit!
Best cookies I’ve ever made!!! SOSOSOSO GOOD! Most crumbl copycat receipts don’t work for me because of the weather in Utah but these are perfect!
Delicious !!! Thank you for the recipe. Taste on par with a Crumbl cookie.
These cookies are so delicious!! I made them for my grandmother's birthday. They tasted just like cinnamon rolls! So soft! I was looking for a reliable site and I found Amy! Would recommend!!
Can gluten free flour be use instead of AP flour
I haven't tried it myself with this particular recipe but have had really good success with it in other cookie recipes. I think you should be just fine.
The best cookie recipe you will find on the internet after i brought these cookies to a bake sale EVERYBODY was begging me for the recipe i 100% recommend
Amazing recipe. Wasn't sure I wanted to try it since there weren't a lot of comments but I am so glad I did. When I tell you everybody loved these cookies, that is an understatement. They were amazing. The cinnamon sugar topping seeps into the cookie a little bit, keeping it soft and spreading the flavor through. They truly tasted like cinnamon rolls.
3/4" thick for the dough seemed like a lot to me, but I trusted the process and they were just fine. I made about 20 cookies and baked them for 10 minutes.
Thank you for commenting with your experience, Heather! I'm so glad to hear they were so well-received! If you happened to take a pic and want to share it on IG, tag me in it because I would love to see how they turned out!
I absolutely love this recipe. Cookie is so moist and I love the cooked cinnamon sugar to put on top this is better than a Crumbl cookie. They are very dangerous can’t stop eating them lol.
This is the best cinnamon roll recipe I have made and I have made many. Easy to make, the flavor is just like a cinnamon roll. None quick question and change I would make is the frosting. It’s a bit on the sweet side as the cookie is sweet enough. I would like to make it more cream cheese tasting. I don’t taste much cream cheese in the frosting. If I add more cream cheese do I have to change the amount of butter. Changing this frosting to ore cream cheese tasting less powered sugar I would give it 10 stars. I look forward to hearing from you.
Hi! This is one of my favorite cookies. It's so good. But yes adjust to how you like it! Less butter and more cream cheese would totally be fine. You can adjust while you go to make it taste how you want it. 🙂
If I want to halve this recipe would I use 1 egg? How do I divide 3 eggs?
Whenever I am dividing a recipe in half that calls for 3 eggs originally, I use 1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk. 🙂
Perfect! Thank u. Going to make these today. I've looked at probably 100 cinnamon buns cookie recipes today and decided to go with yours based on the great reviews. I hope it doesn't disappoint!
Me too! That's a lot of pressure now, lol! Let me know what you think!
Are u sure 564g of flour is correct? I always weigh my flour at 120g/cup for all my recipes. That would mean 480g of flour. Please confirm your gram amount. Thanks.
Yes, it's 564 grams. I based this recipe off of 141 grams of flour per cup, which is what I get when I scoop the flour. If I spoon it in and level it, I get 125g per cup. It's a hard choice when developing recipes because I agree that weighing is far my accurate, but the majority of home bakers in the U.S. just use cups, and honestly, I think most people scoop rather than spoon. So I try to specify the method I used along with the measurements to give the most accurate info possible, but I know I don't always get it right. I think if you use 480g your cookies will be quite flat and spread much more.
Got it! I made them using your gram measurements and wow! Best.cookies.ever!!
I give it 10 stars. Going to be making it again soon!
I'm so glad you loved them! 10 stars?! I love it!
Hi
Thanks for sharing. Tomorrow I'm going to make these cookies.
My son does not like cream cheese icing. I was thinking of making a icing with milk and powder sugar. How would I make it thicker.
Thanks for getting back.
Have a wonderful day.
Recipes look great.
My daughter loves red velvet cupcakes, so l will make it soon.
Amazing cookies - got so many compliments at work!
Be warned if multiplying the recipe though, the grams don't change.