Though it gets used year-round, there’s something undeniably warm and cozy about cinnamon. Sure, I’ll eat cinnamon rolls in the heart of summer, and palmiers are my go-to quick cookie for a last-minute coffee morning with the gals. But warm apple cinnamon bars, spiced scones, and cinnamon bread just make those dark, cold mornings a little more toasty. Keep this list of 24 sweet cinnamon desserts close because once you get started, you’ll want to try them all!
1. Cinnamon Dessert Nachos with Salted Caramel Apple Dip
I’ve been making a variety of dessert nachos for some time, and they’re always a hit! There’s something so satisfying about the crunch of baked tortillas covered in cinnamon sugar, combined with an assortment of toppings. For this recipe, you’ll be making a jaw-dropping salted caramel apple dip that you should keep in a dish for dipping. This way, the “nacho” chips don’t go soggy. If you like caramel apple pie, this recipe is for you!
2. Crispy Sand Tart Cookies With Cinnamon
Sand tart cookies are essentially very thin sugar cookies. They can be as thin as ⅛ inch and will crisp up in the oven. They come together much like any other cookie recipe, but the trick to getting them so thin is to chill the dough. I like to roll mine between parchment sheets and keep the dough in the fridge until it is hard enough to cut. Be careful when baking. Since they’re so thin, they will burn quickly if you don’t keep an eye on them.
3. Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
Cinnamon rolls might just be the most indulgent cinnamon dessert out there. Served warm and smothered in cream cheese frosting, they’re tender, sweet, and lightly spiced with a cinnamon sugar filling. Though some recipes don’t include butter in the filling, I find it helps to make sure it gets spread evenly across the dough. It also adds a nice nutty flavor once it starts to bake and brown. You’ll need a bread machine for this recipe, or you could use a simple brioche. I like to make my dough first thing and keep it in the fridge for the day. Before bed, roll it out and make up your rolls. Wrap and keep them in the fridge overnight and pull to rise for an hour or so before baking.
4. Cinnamon Raisin French Toast Bake
French toast casserole is the perfect thing to make for a crowd. Make it the night before and let the custard soak into the bread. Bake first thing in the morning for a warm and filling start to the day. For this super fast recipe, you’ll be using cinnamon raisin bread from the store – but don’t be afraid to try making your own.
5. Easy Cinnamon Cookies
These soft and chewy cookies are easy and delicious. They’re spiced with cinnamon and baked just until the edges turn golden. Starting with room-temperature ingredients, make sure to beat the butter and sugar until they turn pale and extra fluffy. Slowly incorporate the eggs and mix the dry by hand until it just forms a dough. These are great by themselves, but a few white chocolate chips would make a nice creamy extra.
6. Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodle Recipe
When it comes to snickerdoodles, I love to throw in some dark chocolate chunks or chopped pecans. The sugar-cookie-like treats are covered in cinnamon sugar before baking and are soft and incredible served warm. But I do like to mix things up a little with added extras. Another great alternative would be to make smaller cookies and sandwich them together with cream cheese frosting.
7. Cinnamon Apple Dumplings
These apple dumplings are the perfect end to a winter dinner. Once the dough is formed, you’ll need to wrap the apples, pitching the seams, so they’re enclosed. A great way to infuse extra flavor is to poach the apples in cinnamon simple syrup for a few minutes before wrapping and baking. Depending on the size of your apples, they can be individual servings. Try baking them in cute little dishes with a drizzle of warm creme Anglaise.
8. Sugary Cinnamon Twists
These incredible twists need a little love – and an hour to rise – to bake into the perfect mid-morning snack. Once your simple yeast-based dough has been mixed and allowed to rise for an hour, you can punch it down before rolling and cutting it into rectangles. Don’t be shy with the cinnamon sugar. After another quick rise, they will bake for about 15 minutes. Drizzle them with glaze for a cross between a cinnamon roll and a donut.
9. Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
Speaking of donuts! They might not be fluffy and fried, but these baked donuts are light and tender, with a beautiful sugary coating. Be careful when mixing the dough. You’ll want it just combined for the most tender crumb! I love to make these in my mini-donut pan and hooking them onto the rim of my hot chocolate mug.
10. Churro Waffles
Waffles make for a sweet change from the usual pancakes. There’s just something special about the crisp edges and the pockets full of syrup. Once you have your waffles are made, brush them with some melted butter and coat them in cinnamon sugar. For an extra kick, try broiling for a few minutes to get some caramelization on the sugar.
11. Cinnamon Apple Cake
I can’t say enough good things about this cake. It’s incredibly moist, perfectly flavored with both brown sugar and cinnamon, and packed full of chopped apples. I love the bigger pieces of apple used here, but you can make them smaller if you prefer the flavor to be more evenly distributed. The cake is moist enough that you don’t need anything on the side. But it wouldn’t hurt to serve it warm with a scoop of ice cream, either.
12. Irish Potato Candy
We’ve talked about potato candy before, and I know you raised your eyebrows then and chuckled at the thought of it. So here’s a recipe that’s a little easier to visualize. These little bites might look like mini-potatoes, but they’re actually a creamy mixture of butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, brown sugar, coconut, and cinnamon. As far as truffles go, these are creamy and cool on the inside, with a fabulously sweet and spicy coating.
13. Cinnamon Pudding Cake
Even with a moist cake, I often add an extra sauce. It’s not about fixing a dry cake. It’s about adding another layer of flavor. For this recipe, the spiced cake is filled with chopped pecans and baked with a fantastic caramel poured right over the top. Once baked, the sauce will seep through, infusing flavor, and collect on the bottom, much like a pineapple upside-down cake. Just be sure to invert the cake while it’s still warm to prevent it from cooling too much and getting stuck.
14. Mexican Cinnamon Cookies
Also known as reganadas, these are traditionally made from puff pastry and served on the Day of the Dead. The layers are thought to represent the souls of the people waiting in purgatory. For this recipe, you’ll be making more of a crunchy cookie, using lard as a binder and for moisture. Once the dough is together, it needs kneading a few times before being portioned. Coat them in the powdered sugar and the cinnamon mix while still warm.
15. Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
Sour cream and buttermilk keep these cupcakes ultra moist, and the cinnamon sugar topping will add a nice crust to the finished cake. Cream cheese frosting is the perfect partner, especially when you sprinkle it with extra cinnamon. Or an excellent sweet option would be to top with a salted caramel frosting.
16. Cinnamon Sugar Puff Pastry Palmiers
With just three ingredients and around 10 minutes, you can have a tray of these crisp cinnamon cookies in the oven. Using frozen puff pastry and cinnamon sugar, the only caveat is that you need the pastry to thaw before you can roll and cut. I like to roll mine from either end, making a cute double swirl effect. But they look just as effective as one big swirl. If I’m craving something extra, I’ll even grate a little dark chocolate over the filling.
17. Simple Cinnamon Crescent Rolls
As impressive as cinnamon rolls are, I don’t always have the time to make dough from scratch. The beauty of these crescent rolls is that you get the same tender, buttery crumb with the indulgent cinnamon filling and sweet glaze. Using cinnamon sugar is far easier in this case, given that you can’t really spread a butter filling onto the small triangle as well. Bake until golden and dip into the glaze for total coverage and sweetness in every bite.
18. Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake Bars Recipe
The key to these neat little bars is the layers. You’ll need a classic graham cracker crust – though a pecan crust would add some swoon-worthy flavor. The cheesecake filling is simple, using cream cheese, sugar, and eggs – though brown sugar would add a nice caramel flavor. Finally, it gets topped with a cinnamon layer that not only tastes incredible but looks great, too. Let them cool all the way down before cutting and serve with a dollop of whipped cream.
19. Apple Cinnamon Crumb Bars
Rather than a shortbread crust, this recipe ingeniously uses brown sugar, butter, and graham cracker dough full of apple pie flavor, with the texture of shortbread. I like to prep my apples by mixing into the sugar and cinnamon and leaving it to macerate (draw out the moisture into the surrounding sugar). With this technique, the apples and sugar will create a thick syrup, and you don’t need additional flour or cornstarch to thicken your filling. Crumble the remaining top over the apple and bake until bubbly and golden.
20. Maple Glazed Brown Sugar Cinnamon Scones
Scones are one of those British treats that I don’t think we give enough love to. They’re soft and sweet (or sometimes savory), can be full of fruits and chocolate (or cheese and bacon), and keep well in both the freezer and in an airtight container. I love the color and caramel flavor you get from using brown sugar here, and the cinnamon gives the whole thing extra warmth. The trick when making scones is to stop mixing when the dough is still a little shaggy. Turn it out and finish bringing it together with your hands, gently pressing it into a thick round that you can portion.
21. Apple Brown Betty
Making an apple pie can be such an accomplishment. But who has the time when it’s 8:00 pm on a Thursday and the craving hits? Enter Apple Brown Betty! Once you have your apples sliced, the crumble top can be mixed in just a few minutes. You can use a mixer to create the top, or I would just rub the butter into the dry between my fingers to save on dishes. After 45 minutes in the oven, you’ll have a bubbling apple base with a crunchy, spiced top.
22. Cinnamon-Candy Cookies
Most people are happy with a lightly spiced cinnamon dessert. Some people, on the other hand, want that overwhelming spice you get when eating Red Hots. Though I’m in the first group, I can definitely see the appeal, and this recipe packs a punch. These have Red Hots blitzed right into the dough for all the flavor and color you can’t miss.
23. Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread
I almost always have some kind of loaf in the house and the freezer. I never just make one. They’re great for breakfast, a mid-morning snack with coffee, or a late-night sugar fix. I think it’s safe to say we’ve banana’d ourselves out during lockdown, and it’s time for something different. Made using oil and sour cream, this bread has a moist cake-like crumb with a fantastic dark cinnamon swirl throughout.
24. Coffee And Cinnamon Brownies
If you’ve never added coffee into your chocolate cake or brownies before, you’re missing out. You don’t really taste the coffee due to baking’s magic, but it definitely enhances the chocolate for something indulgent and rich. For this recipe, you’ll get all that decadence plus another layer of warmth from the cinnamon that will have people begging you for the recipe. I would also mix through some chili chocolate chunks for an extra spice kick! Click on a star to rate it!
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