Coffee Cake Cookies
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When you take a bite of these soft and chewy coffee cake cookies you will savor each bite that includes a blanket of buttery brown sugar streusel and vanilla icing. Each cookie is filled with this cinnamon-y sweet crumble and you won’t be able to stop at just one bite.
After making these apple pie cookies I knew I had to make another thumbprint style cookie.
You’ll love baking these because the whole house gets filled not only with scents of yummy homemade cookies but the irresistible smells of buttery cinnamon-y coffee cake too. It will make you want to grab a plate of them, a cup of coffee, a good book with a blanket and cozy up to treat yourself! Since I have a 14 month old daughter to chase around the house I don’t have much time for that, so I will have to live vicariously through you! ?
My childhood memories of my mom’s homemade coffee cake coming out of the oven as I headed downstairs for breakfast inspired me to create these coffee cake cookies.
Just like a great piece of coffee cake, every bite of the coffee cake cookie is crowned with a buttery -sweet cinnamon crumble that is crunchy on top and soft on the bottom. And you can’t forget topping cookies with icing! Oh my gosh the icing is SO GOOD. I feel like they are naked without it! The creamy, buttery, vanilla icing tucks itself around each morsel of the streusel crumble in all of the best ways.
Just writing about them makes me want to eat another one! I mean…look at that crumble!
These cookies are a great grab-and-go quick breakfast treat, mid-day snack, or the perfect pairing with a cup of coffee and I hope you love them!
Once you’ve tried these Coffee Cake Cookies, check out my Cinnamon Banana Bread, Tiramisu Cookies, and Cookie Butter Cookies for more delicious baked goods!
Ingredient Notes
Sscroll down to the recipe card for the full list of ingredients and measurements.
- All-Purpose Flour: All Purpose Flour provides a delicious texture and gives the cookies the perfect chewiness you love.
- Cake Flour: Adding in cake flour, which is ground extra fine, balances out the texture for a lighter, looser crumb and fluffy texture.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch helps keep the cookie from spreading, plus it increases the crumb strength and increases the tender texture of the cookie.
- Cinnamon: I used Ceylon Cinnamon. It is both healthy and delicious and adds a warm accent of flavor to these Coffee Cake Cookies.
- Unsalted Butter: The biggest benefit of unsalted butter lets you control the overall flavor of your cookies, plus you get the pure sweet flavor of butter in the cookies.
- Brown Sugar: I use light brown sugar, but you can easily substitute dark brown sugar.
- Granulated Sugar: granulated sugar adds to the crispiness of the cookie, and makes for a lighter colored cookie.
- Vanilla: Vanilla is a must in cookies, it adds a complex and subtle spice, and I always recommend using real vanilla extract.
- Egg & 1 egg yolk: The protein in eggs adds to a chewy texture, so adding an extra yolk, gives the cookie the extra chewiness that makes these cookies perfect.
- For the streusel you’ll need softened butter, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.
- For the icing you’ll need: melted butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla and a pinch of salt.
Step by Step Directions
This recipe is inspired by the popular thumbprint cookie! It’s like eating coffee cake, but without the hassle of making an entire cake! Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for the full recipe instructions.
- Prepare the streusel filling: combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt together. Then work in the butter until small clumps form. Refrigerate.
- Make the cookie dough next. This cookie dough for this recipe is my snickerdoodle cookie base, without the white chocolate chips.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F
- Roll cookie dough into balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat mat or parchment paper.
- Make an indent in each cookie, using your thumb or the end of a spoon/spatula or something similar. (I used the end of a wooden juicer).
- Spoon ~1 Tbsp. of the streusel filling in each cookie and bake for ~9-11 minutes.
- Fill the center of each cookie with a little more streusel filling once they’re baked.
- Cool for a few minutes. Make the icing and once cookies are cooled, drizzle icing over the tops.
Expert Tips
- Mix the streusel topping and then place it in the refrigerator until ready to use. This will keep the streusel topping consistency we want. The streusel can also be made up to three days in advance and stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator.
- You can double the streusel to have extra streusel topping to garnish the cookies with after they bake.
- Make certain that the unsalted butter for the cookie dough is cold and cubed. There is a case to be made when to use cold butter in cookies especially if you are looking for a crisp texture with a tender center.
- Using a mixture of all-purpose flour and cake flour gives the cookies just the right tender, cake-y center.
- Ice the cookies only after they are completely cool.
- For added texture to the streusel add shredded coconut, or finely chopped pecans or walnuts.
FAQ
Cookies will stay fresh for up to 3 days, but make sure they are stored in an air tight container. If refrigerated, they will last up to a week, and up to 3 months in the freezer.
How do I make homemade cake flour?
Substitute ¾ of a cup of all-purpose flour, and remove 2 tablespoons. Then add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to the flour. Sift the flour and cornstarch twice so that it aerates the mixture so that it will have the consistency of cake flour.
Can I make these gluten free?
Yes! Replace both the All-Purpose flour and Cake flour with: Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.
Can’t get enough cookies? Here are some more of my favorites you’re bound to love:
- Kroll’s Kookies – the BEST chocolate chip cookies!
- Giant Funfetti Cookies – GREAT for birthday parties!
- Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies – they melt in your mouth!
- Almond Butter Blossoms – can’t go wrong with these!
- Gingerbread Snickerdoodles – your new holiday (or year-round) favorite!
- Iced Oatmeal Cookies – a reader-fave recipe!
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Ingredients
For the streusel
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- pinch salt
- 5 Tbsp. softened butter, unsalted
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cake flour
- 1 tsp. cornstarch
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 8 Tbsp. cold butter, unsalted, cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
Icing
- 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
- 3 Tbsp. heavy cream
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- pinch salt
Last step! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Prepare the streusel filling: In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt together. Then work in the butter until small clumps form. (I just use my fingers to work it together). Refrigerate.1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed, 2 tsp. cinnamon, pinch salt, 5 Tbsp. softened butter, unsalted
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl: all purpose flour, cake flour, corn starch, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.1 1/4 cup all purpose flour, 3/4 cup cake flour, 1 tsp. cornstarch, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt
- Place the cubed butter and sugars into the bowl of a stand mixer and secure the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer on and cream until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.8 Tbsp. cold butter, unsalted, cut into cubes, 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed, 1/4 cup sugar
- Add in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract and blend until mixed. Use a rubber spatula to knock off mixture if any is sticking to the sides of the bowl and mix again.1 tsp. vanilla extract, 1 large egg, 1 large egg yolk
- Gradually add in the dry ingredients, about 1/4 cup at a time. Mix until incorporated.
- Scoop and roll cookie dough into ~8 large balls, or smaller if preferred. Place on prepared baking sheets.
- Make an indent in each cookie, using your thumb or the end of a spoon/spatula or something similar. (I used the end of a wooden juicer).
- Spoon ~1 Tbsp. of the streusel filling in each cookie and bake for ~9-11 minutes, or until edges appear set and are slightly golden. (They will continue to bake a bit more on the pan after you pull them out so pull them out just before you think they're done so they don't over-bake/become dry.)
- *Optional step to get cookies perfectly circular: Immediatley after the cookies come out of the oven, place a circular cookie cutter or a circular drinking glass around one of the cookies (it should be larger than the cookie so you don’t cut off any edges) and give the cookies a spin. Swirling the cookie should help to smooth out any uneven edges.
- Let cookies rest on cookie sheet for ~5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Whisk together the ingredients for the icing and once the cookies are cooled, drizzle icing over the tops and enjoy!2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, 3 Tbsp. heavy cream, 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted, 1 tsp. vanilla, pinch salt
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Notes
- Make the streusel up to three days in advance and store in an air tight container in the refrigerator.
- You can also double the streusel so you have extra streusel topping to garnish the cookies with after they bake, if needed. If you do this, it’s important to heat treat the flour so it becomes safe to consume. To do so: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the flour onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat and bake for 7 minutes in the oven or until the flour reaches 160°F then let it cool and use to make the streusel.
- Ice the cookies only after they are completely cool.
- For added texture to the streusel add shredded coconut, or finely chopped pecans or walnuts.
- Store cookies in at room temperature in an air tight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Information
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is automatically calculated. It should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Kroll’s Korner can’t make any guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
I made these for a work potluck, the theme was “Farmer’s Market” and I wrapped them in individual bags tied with some bakers twine & burlap string with cute little “coffee cake cookie” tag with a link to the recipe at the bottom. I was told they were “heaven in a bag” and “better than Crumbl”. My new favorite cookie!!! I’ll send you a picture on insta ๐
How cute!!!!! amazing, can’t wait to see thank you sooo much! ๐ You can also upload photos here in the comments too just so you know โค๏ธ
Tasted like coffee cakeโฆobviously. Very pleasant flavorfully and aesthetically pleasing!
I made them today and they are absolutely mouthwatering and tasty. Cinamon packed and buttery soft, pure bliss ๐
Amazing! thank you sooo so much!
Very yummy
thank you!
unfortunately this did not work for me at all and I made a horrible monster. it still tasted good but was not firm at all (also messed up the streusel thing lol)โฆ I tried it using the metric conversions so not sure if thatโs whyโฆ tried my best, not sure where I went wrong
they look great to me?!
So delicious. They were good fall cookies for work and home. Everyone loved these.
gorgeous! thank you!!
I cannot get these to work for me. ๐ฉ Iโve tried three times and it always ends in a mess. I even tried baking them in rings to stop the spread but then they didnโt bake through. That said, they TASTE great, but I end up with a baking sheet full of cookie dough that has spread out to one big mass. Not sure where the issue is coming in. For reference, I bake weekly for a farmerโs market, including 12 dozen cookies each week, I sell cakes, I decorate sugar cookies, I make stuffed cookies, so I have some experience. And I love so many of the recipes here! But this one has been a miss for me no matter what I try.
Hi Angie! That is so strange, I have not heard about people having that issue before. Dang, I am very sorry. Here is one thought: I don’t ever chill the cookie dough since I use cold butter, but have you tried chilling the cookies prior to baking?
My family LOVES these cookies. Made them last week for the first time with my granddaughters help. We made 16 instead of the 8. They were the perfect size!
We had these at a bbq place and loved them so much I went looking for the recipe. This one is dead on what we had!
i am sooo so glad! yay! ๐ thank you!
Though they were delicious, I followed the recipe to the letter and they turned out completely flat! Disappointing to say the least, but I cut them into “bars” and served them that way.
oh no, I am so sorry. I have never heard of anyone having that issue, and I personally have made these so many times and never had a problem. Was your cookie dough very warm, and how many cookies did you bake on a cookie sheet at a time?
Could I add finely chopped apples to the strudel?
Thatโs a good idea!
Question KK. I am wanting to make these but 2 questions. How large (ounces) are these cookies? I’m looking for a 5 oz recipe. Also, have you tried these stuffed vs on top? Would you adjust your temperature if stuffed vs topped? Looking forward to trying the many recipes here!
Hi! Good questions. I haven’t measured them in ounces, but you could make them 5 oz. And I haven’t tried stuffing them so I can’t say for sure. If you try it out, let me know how it goes! Thank you:)