Same shape, same taste but smaller - Cinnamon Roll Cookies

It is truly good to be back here blogging regularly again but it has the terrible side effect that I eat too much and especially now before Christmas when I want to share some nice baking with you. The "Someone is shrinking my trousers during the night" syndrome has popped up again so I just want to prepare you for a more frugal January. I will most probably post a little less as well as I have two jobs in Milan lined up in the second half of the month but I'm happy because that will make it pass quicker. January is the cruelest month, not April, and I dread it every year; if I every get mad, I'm sure it will happen in January. 

But December it is and if you are like my mother was, you bake seven kinds of cookies for Christmas so I thought that you might appreciate a new type to try out. I really like cinnamon rolls, they have an almost archetypal status in Sweden - the ideal mother is one who serves you freshly baked cinnamon rolls (or kanelbullar as they are called in Sweden) when you come back from school. I have serious doubts that any mothers have the time to do that any more but I am convinced that cinnamon rolls are found at the top of many Best of lists in Sweden. Everyone loves a kanelbulle. Or two. So I wanted to make a cinnamon roll cookie instead, much quicker to make when the craving is too strong and you can't resist the urge. These are simple to make, the dough don't need any rest and they are ready to eat with the hour if not earlier. 

CINNAMON ROLL COOKIES

100 g/3,5 oz soft butter

200 ml/0,85 cup sugar

2 egg yolks 

200 ml/1,25 cup wholewheat flour

300 ml/0,85 cup cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

3-4 tbsp fresh cream, if needed

cinnamon and cardamon
sugar to sprinkle

   Stir butter and sugar in a bowl until creamy, add one egg yolk at a time, always stirring.

   Sift the flours and baking powder into the bowl and quickly work the dough into a ball. While you work it, add the fresh cream if the dough feels too dry.

   Dust the working surface with a flour and roll out the dough into a rectangle about 25 cm x 40 cm ( 9,4 in x 15,7 in) but as I forget to measure it properly, go for what seems sensible.

  Sprinkle the dough with sugar first and then cinnamon and finish with a little cardamon. Roll up the dough as tightly as you can and cut 1 cm/ 0,4 in thick slices.

   Put the cookies on a baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 10-12 minutes but as usual you need to keep an eye on what is happening in there as every oven is different.