Cinnamon rolls usually get their flavor from butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar spread across soft dough before rolling. But a jar of cookie butter can replace that mixture, adding the spiced flavor of crushed cookies without measuring several ingredients. The filling softens during baking, creating a rich center with caramel notes.
The spread is made from speculoos cookies, known for their cinnamon-forward flavor and crisp texture. Once ground and blended into cookie butter, those same cookies become a smooth filling that can be spread across dough like peanut butter.
Lotus Biscoff is one option, but the technique works with other spreadable cookie butters. The rolls can start with homemade yeast dough or refrigerated biscuit dough for a shorter preparation.
Cookie butter replaces the usual cinnamon filling
Traditional cinnamon rolls rely on butter to hold sugar and spice against the dough.
Cookie butter already combines sweetness, fat, and warm spices in a spreadable mixture, eliminating the need to prepare a separate filling.
Roll out the dough, spread a generous layer of cookie butter across the surface, and roll it into a log.
Cut into portions and arrange them in a baking dish, leaving room for the dough to expand.
As the rolls bake, the filling warms and softens between the layers, contributing a spiced caramel flavor.
Cookie butter can also be spread over a conventional cinnamon-sugar filling for a stronger spice flavor, although that creates a sweeter result.
Refrigerated biscuit dough offers a shortcut
Homemade cinnamon roll dough requires mixing, kneading, and rising, but refrigerated biscuit dough provides another option.
A 16-ounce can of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits contains eight portions in the example described by Tasting Table.
Separate the biscuits and flatten each piece into an oval.
Spread cookie butter over the dough, roll each oval into a tight log, and cut it in half to create two smaller rolls.
Arrange the pieces on a baking sheet or in a suitable baking dish and bake according to the dough package directions, checking that the centers are cooked through.
The biscuit version will have a different texture from traditional yeast-raised cinnamon rolls, but it carries the same cookie-based filling.
The frosting can use cookie butter too
For a topping that matches the filling, combine softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and a small amount of melted cookie butter.
Adjust the consistency until the mixture can be spread or drizzled over the baked rolls.
Crushed Biscoff cookies can be scattered over the frosting for contrast between the soft dough and crisp cookie pieces.
Chopped pecans, walnuts, or small pieces of baked apple are other possible additions to the filling.
The important change happens before the rolls enter the oven. Instead of building a cinnamon-sugar mixture from separate ingredients, the dough gets a ready-made spread containing the flavors of spiced cookies.
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