Cinnamon-Log Slices

211 Ratings
  • 5 15
  • 4 28
  • 3 85
  • 2 57
  • 1 26

The dough for these bark-like slice-and-bake cookies is amped up with cinnamon and cocoa and finished with a crust of raw sugar.

Martha Stewart Living, December 2013

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Credit: ANITA CALERO

Recipe Summary

total:
3 hrs 30 mins
prep:
45 mins
Yield:
Makes about 50 cookies
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Ingredients

Directions

  • Beat together butter and granulated and brown sugars with an electric mixer on medium-low speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Beat in whole eggs 1 at a time, then salt and 1 teaspoon cinnamon, until combined. Beat in milk and vanilla. Add flour a little at a time, beating until incorporated. Divide dough into 4 balls. Roll 1 ball into a 12-inch log; wrap in parchment and refrigerate, along with remaining 3 balls of dough, until firm, about 1 hour.

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  • Combine cocoa powder and remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over work surface. Roll out 1 ball of dough into a 6-by-12-inch rectangle in cocoa mixture. Flip rectangle over onto lightly floured work surface so that 1 long side is facing you; brush off excess cocoa mixture. Place log of dough, also with a long side facing you, in center of rectangle and wrap rectangle around log to enclose completely. Firmly squeeze and massage wrapped log of dough to adhere rectangle to log. Repeat process with second ball of dough, rolling it out into an 8-by-13-inch rectangle, then with final ball, rolling it out into a 10-by-14-inch rectangle. Refrigerate log until firm, about 1 hour, 15 minutes. Log can be stored in refrigerator up to 1 day.

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly beat egg white. Brush outside of log with egg white and roll in turbinado sugar, patting to adhere. Refrigerate until sugar is set, about 10 minutes. Slice log into 1/4-inch-thick rounds and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until slices are golden around edges (rings may separate slightly), 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely. Slices can be made 3 days ahead and stored at room temperature.

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Reviews (20)

211 Ratings
  • 5 15
  • 4 28
  • 3 85
  • 2 57
  • 1 26
Martha Stewart Member
12/17/2017
I think something must be missing. No baking powder or soda? Usually MS is a no fail place for recipes, but these were unfortunately a disappointment--looked and tasted like wood slices. Darn it!
Martha Stewart Member
12/11/2016
DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS RECIPE. Not worth the significant hassle. Never been steered so very very wrong. Thanks Martha. I'll never get those three sticks of butter or the two hours back. In all seriousness, there is something really wrong with the recipe. Too much flour, not enough sugar, not enough cinnamon maybe? Just bland spongey cookies. Also the methodology- why not roll out and layer the sheets FIRST- then! Wrap around the log, roll chill, cut and bake. What a schelpp. Two thumbs way down.
Martha Stewart Member
11/22/2015
Get ready for disappointment. These labor intensive cookies taste like flour.
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Martha Stewart Member
12/08/2014
I was a little late reading the reviews - my dough was already in the fridge - so I worried about how the cookies would turn out. They were actually great - the only thing I'd change would be to leave out the egg white and just roll the rough firmly in the turbinado (when I removed the cookies from the baking sheets, the egg white layer tended to flake off). I also used more cocoa powder and cinnamon than was called for. Otherwise, I highly recommend the recipe!
Martha Stewart Member
12/23/2013
As soon as I saw this recipe, I HAD to make it even though, as an experienced baker, I tend to shy away from MS recipes. I had the 3.5 hours so I thought, why not. Seriously, don't bother - no matter how beautiful the picture is, just don't, please don't!! You will be disappointed. No amount of "massaging" can adhere the layers. It's a disaster. If you even make it to actually cooking them, 20 minutes is too long, way too long. And once they are cooked, they fall apart anyways. Epic FAIL
Martha Stewart Member
12/22/2013
This recipe was a nightmare!!! Dough was soft , even after much refrigeration, and when you tried to roll the it around the log what a mess. It did not stick and just turned into a saggy mess. We gave up and I thought I would just bake the dough as a drop cookie. Dropped the dough in sugar and rolled and baked and they were flavorless. The whole disaster went into the garbage. A waste of time and money. Who ever made them got lucky.
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Martha Stewart Member
12/21/2013
A rare misfire for MS Living recipes! The directions are unnecessarily complicated and particularly don't make sense in the log-making steps. The dough is extremely soft and hard to work with, even after extensive refrigeration. I found myself wondering why I wouldn't just use a shortbread or even cream-cheese dough, rather than struggle with this one - half of which was left stuck to my counter. The cocoa made a terrific mess and necessitated a long kitchen clean up. A real disappointment.
Martha Stewart Member
12/16/2013
I found the dough to be quite beautiful. Nice and smooth. It was quite tricky to work with. It needs to be well refrigerated and move fast!! I like the cookies. It made 37 for me but had I been more efficient I would have gotten 4 dozen. The cookies aren't too sweet and will go good with coffee, anytime. I don't think I will make this recipe again but I do enjoy the cookies. They are a bit messy to eat and the layers pop apart when I bite into them. Use a plate!
Martha Stewart Member
12/15/2013
Waste of time and money. Each year I try one new cookie recipes to add to our holiday cookie mix. I should have read the reviews prior to starting as I would have realized something was off with the recipe. The dough came out very wet and adding flour did not help. No amount of fridge time helped. I could have lived with odd looking cookies and a messy, sticky kitchen to clean up but to add insult to injury, the cookies didn't even taste very good.
Martha Stewart Member
12/15/2013
I'm an experienced baker and like many MSO recipes, but don't use this one; it's not well-tested. Rather, find another log recipe and adapt it (the concept is lovely). This dough is very wet, more like drop cookies than slice cookies. Adding flour doesn't help much and affects the flavor. And use a light hand with the cocoa/cinn mix; too dense and your layers will not stick to each other. I adapted as I went and ended with 4 trays of attractive, "ok" cookies, but who loves an "ok" cookie?
Martha Stewart Member
12/11/2013
I also found the dough really sticky. I chilled it for 1 1/2 hours after it was mixed. I then divided the dough in half and rolled out each ball into a rectangle on parchment paper. I spread brown sugar, cinnamon and cocoa on the rectangle and rolled it up, using the parchment, into a long cylinder, like when making cinnamon buns. I froze each roll for an hour, then sliced and baked as directed. They don't look like the photo, but taste good and look decent.
Martha Stewart Member
12/09/2013
I agree the dough was too sticky, but manageable if well chilled. HOWEVER, trying to roll the log with the sheets of dough covered with the cocoa-cinnamon mixture was impossible! The log became completely misshapen and trying to "massage" the dough in order to get the two to stick just resulted in the dough sticking to your hands. In complete frustration, I threw the entire mess away. What a waste of time and money!
Martha Stewart Member
12/01/2013
I wish I'd seen the online reviews before making this recipe. It is a complete disaster. Where was the test kitchen on this? Like others, I am down the cost of ingredients and a ton of time to make these. I'm a very experienced baker; it wasn't user error. I should have listened to my gut when I looked at the ingredient list and it didn't seem to make sense. The dough was a nightmare to work with, which I would have tolerated if they were tasty. But instead they are dry, tough, and unpleasant.
Martha Stewart Member
12/01/2013
I wish I'd seen the online reviews before making this. It would have saved me a ton of time and expensive ingredients. Where were the test kitchen staff? Anyone who made these would have seen they weren't ready to be published. I'm a very experienced baker. I should have listened to my gut when I looked at the ingredient list and it didn't seem to add up. Instead, I made them and they were a complete disaster. The dough was impossible to work with. The cookies were dry, tough & truly unpleasant.
Martha Stewart Member
12/01/2013
I added extra flour, and still ended up with a mess. I threw it all away. I'm down 5+ cups of flour, 3 sticks of butter, 2 hours of my time, and have nothing (but a mess) to show for it. I usually have great success with Martha's cookie recipes, and I have to wonder if this was even attempted in the test kitchen. I could have made two different batches of cookies in the time I wasted messing around with this.
Martha Stewart Member
12/01/2013
I tried to make these cookies this afternoon and ended up with a sticky, frustrating mess....just like everyone else who has reviewed this recipe. If you are considering trying this recipe, DON'T!
Martha Stewart Member
12/01/2013
I made these last night. As others have said, the dough is way too sticky. I am really disappointed at this. I have very limited time and I have put my trust in making a recipe that I assume has been tested again and again. They ended up shaped like a diamond, the layers separated and the dough crumb is actually tough.
Martha Stewart Member
12/01/2013
The dough is way too sticky if you make it as per the recipe. Because of the consistency, it makes it near impossible to make the cookie log as described in the instructions. In addition, the cookie itself is fairly plain tasting. If you're going to try this recipe...make sure to add more flour than the 5 cups it calls for.
Martha Stewart Member
11/29/2013
I had to add at least 1-2 extra cups of flour to get to dough constancy. Haven't eaten yet so not sure it will compromise the taste we will see.
Martha Stewart Member
11/25/2013
The "dough" consistency is very soft and sticky even after being refrigerated over an hour. Seems like not enough flour or too much milk. Tried to wrap the log with one layer so far and it is a sticky mess. Rolled it up in parchment and put into the freezer while I figure out how to roll out the last two balls in the cinnamon / cocoa mix and continue wrapping....thinking about adding more flour. Any suggestions?
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