Cinnamon Roll cookies

The plague is no fun. Not only am I miserable and coughing up a lung, I can't bake. Well, I can, but I typically bake to taste stuff, and then send the rest to work with Tim. And I personally wouldn't want to eat goodies from a plague-infested home, so I'm not into feeding others right now.

Solution: slice and bake cookies. I can make up the dough, bake a little for me, and throw the rest of the dough in the freezer for a later time.

Cinnamon Roll cookies
Recipe from Paula Dean's Christmas magazine through www.bakeorbreak.com
Dough:
1 & 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablesppons chopped pecans
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Beat together sugar and butter until creamy. Add egg and vanilla.In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to sugar/butter mixture. Cover and refrigerate for one hour. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle, 18″ x 10″.

Combine all filling ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle over cookie dough and press down gently. Beginning with the long side, roll up dough jelly-roll fashion. Place seam side down and cover with heavy-duty plastic wrap and/or parchment paper. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.










Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut dough into 1/2-inch slices. On a sprayed/greased/lined baking sheet, place dough slices about 3 to 4 inches apart. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly on baking sheets, then place on wire racks to cool completely.









***A smart person would cut the log into two, because a clumsy person almost drops the entire log while transporting to the refrigerator. I may also try baking just 8 minutes. After baking 9 minutes, the cookies were warm and slightly crisp and yummy. However, by the time I ate the 6th cookie, they had cooled off, and were crunchier than I like. So either I need to eat faster, or shorten the baking time a smidge. Probably eat faster, I prefer these fresh from the oven.

***1/2/09: Reading comprehension fail! Yesterday I cut the slices about 1/4 inch, so they were rather crispy after baking for 9 minutes. Today I cut them 1/2 inch as the recipe stated, baked about 10 minutes and they were perfect. They spread more than yesterday, but they disappeared just as fast. I also made a quick icing with a little heavy cream, a couple drops of vanilla extract, and enough powdered sugar to thicken.