Cinnamon Roll Shortbread Bars

This recipe for Cinnamon Roll Shortbread Cookies combines two favorite treats into one delicious bar! A cozy cinnamon swirl ripples through buttery, flaky shortbread that’s finished off with a drizzle of vanilla icing, making for one tasty twist on shortbread bars!

Shortbread Meets Cinnamon Rolls

This cinnamon roll-inspired recipe delivers everything you love about the classic breakfast treat but with a buttery, shortbread twist! In this recipe, we trade fluffy bread dough in for a firm, flaky buttery shortbread dough that pairs deliciously with a cinnamon swirl and vanilla icing.

A batch of these Cinnamon Roll Shortbread Bars make for the perfect snack or evening sweet treat. However, if you still want them for breakfast, I can guarantee that they also go well with your morning cup of coffee!

As with any Shortbread recipe, the secret to its success is found in the butter. Therefore, it’s key to use high-quality butter to reach that melt-in-your-mouth texture that we look for with shortbread.

So that’s exactly what we used in this recipe to ensure these Cinnamon Roll Bars came in at an elite level! Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

Cinnamon Shortbread Ingredients

If you’ve tried my delicious Ted Lasso Recipe for Shortbread then you may recognize that this Cinnamon Shortbread recipe shares a similar base. This also means that you can fully trust that this is an EPIC cinnamon swirl shortbread recipe since my Ted Lasso recipe is out-of-this-world.

For the Shortbread dough you’ll need granulated sugar, vanilla bean paste, salt, all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, and corn starch. Of course, you’ll also need the star of the show, butter! Since shortbread calls for so much butter it’s important to use a high-quality one to achieve the best flavor and texture.

I recommend using grass-fed butter such as Kirkland, Kerrygold, or Finlandia. Once the dough is prepared, we’ll then need the cinnamon swirl filling!

To make this we’ll need dark brown sugar, salted butter, ground cinnamon, corn starch, vanilla extract, and salt. This makes for the perfect cozy sweet swirl between the shortbread layers!

Once the bars have been cooled and cut, they’re finished off with a sweet drizzle of icing. This is made with powdered sugar, heavy cream, salted butter, and vanilla bean paste.

How To Make Shortbread Cookies With Cinnamon Swirl

1. Line a metal baking pan with parchment paper and then set it aside.
2. Cream salted butter with granulated sugar, vanilla bean paste, and salt. Stop to scrape the sides of the bowl down half-way through mixing.
3. Whisk together all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, corn starch, and salt in a separate bowl.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter mixture in three parts, mixing between each addition. The goal is to have the dough be mixed yet slightly crumbly.
5. Press about 2/3 of the shortbread dough into the bottom of the prepared baking pan.
6. Prepare the filling by mixing dark brown sugar with salted butter, ground cinnamon, corn starch, vanilla extract, and salt.
7. Spread the cinnamon filling over the top of the shortbread dough in the pan.
8. Top the filling with the remaining shortbread dough, gently pressing it down to cover it. It’s ok if there are some gaps!
9. Chill the shortbread in the fridge and then preheat the oven.
10. Bake the Cinnamon Roll Shortbread Bars until the top and edges begin to turn golden brown. Then transfer it to a wire rack to cool.
11. Cool the shortbread completely before lifting it out of the pan. Afterward, use a sharp knife to cut the shortbread into squares.
12. Prepare the icing by whisking together powdered sugar, heavy cream, salted butter, and vanilla bean paste together.
13. Drizzle the vanilla icing over the sliced shortbread bars and then allow them to set.

How To Prep Shortbread Cookie Bars In Advance

To prep Cinnamon Swirl Shortbread Bars ahead of time you can make the dough and then store it tightly in plastic wrap or an airtight container. The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.

When you’re ready to make the bars, prepare the cinnamon swirl mixture and assemble the bars in the pan according to the recipe instructions.

How To Store Shortbread

Once the drizzle of icing has firmed up on the shortbread bars, transfer the slices into an airtight container. If the storage container you’re using is deep, then I’d suggest separating the layers with parchment paper to prevent the bars from sticking to each other.

Keep the Shortbread Bars at room temperature to enjoy for up to a week.

For longer storage, you can wrap the shortbread dough in plastic wrap and again in aluminum foil and then store it in the freezer. The dough can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To make the Cinnamon Rolls Bars simply thaw the dough in the fridge overnight and then prepare the bars according to the recipe instructions.

More Shortbread Cookie Recipes

• Easy Vanilla Chai Shortbread Cookies – Cozied up with pantry staple spices!
• Shortbread Christmas Crack – Topped with chocolate, chopped pecans, and toffee bits!
• Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies – Finished off with a citrusy sweet lemon glaze!
• Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies – A sweet treat that’s perfect for the holidays!
• Shortbread (Ted Lasso Recipe) – Melt-in-your-mouth buttery shortbread!