Vegan Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Method (vanilla cookie dough)

1. Add the flour, sugars, butter and vanilla into the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times adding in the milk and continuing to blend until a smooth ball of dough forms. 
2. Shape the dough into a disc and wrap loosely with cling film or grease proof paper. Place into the fridge while you make the cinnamon dough.

Method (cinnamon cookie dough)

1. Add the flour, ground spices, sugars and butter into the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times adding in the milk until a smooth ball of dough forms. 
2. Shape the dough into a disc and wrap loosely with cling film or grease proof paper. Place into the fridge for at least 1 hour or until it feels firm / not sticky.

Method (rolling the cookie)

1. Unwrap the vanilla cookie dough and place it on a sheet of grease proof paper dusted with flour with another sheet on top. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a rectangle shape until it’s approximately 1/8 inch in thickness. It should be be roughly around 8 by 13” in size. Peel away the top piece of baking paper. The amount of cookies including the swirl depend on the thickness and size of your dough. The thinner the dough, the more swirls you’ll achieve. 
2. Roll out the cinnamon dough doing the same method in-between two sheets of grease proof paper. Peel away the top piece of baking paper. Try to make it a similar size and thickness. 
3. Gently lift and place the cinnamon dough on top of the vanilla dough. Place a piece of baking or baking paper on top and use a rolling pin to roll the two doughs together, just a few rolls will be great then remove the paper.
4. Starting from the shorter side, very tightly roll the dough together, similar technique as a yule log (watch video for reference). Once it’s in a tight log, wrap it in cling film and chill for at least 2 hours or until firm.

Method (bake)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C fan and line a baking tray with grease proof paper.
2. Once the dough log is firm, use a sharp knife to cut the log into cookies, appropriately 1/4 inch thick.
3. Place the cookies on the lined tray, making sure to have them apart from each other as these cookies will spread slightly in the oven. It’s best to bake a few cookies at a time keeping the rest of the cookies in the fridge ready for baking once the first batch has baked.
4. Place into the middle of the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until lightly golden in colour. Slightly underbaked cookies will be softer then slightly over-baked, as these will be more of a biscuit texture.
5. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the tray for at least 10-15 minutes before transferring them on to a cooling rack to cool fully as they will firm up. If you try to remove them when they’re first out of the oven, they will be very soft and could break. Repeat for the whole batch of cookies.
6. You can enjoy them as they are or serve with a delicious cream cheese glaze / drizzle.

Method (glaze drizzle)

1. In a bowl, combine the icing sugar, cream cheese, milk and vanilla. Mix until a thick, yet smooth glaze. If it’s too runny, add in more cream cheese. You want it a little thinner than tooth paste consistency.
2. Transfer into a piping bag and snip off the tip. Alternatively you can use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the cookies.
3. When the cookies have cooled down slightly, drizzle the glaze over each cookie (how much you add is completely up to you and your preference).
4. Serve and enjoy!