Cinnamon Cream Cheese Pinwheels (Jean Pare - Squirrelly Cakes)

Well, no matter how many of these you think you will need, double or triple the amount of batches you make up - these are everyone's around here, absolute favourite cookies. You do have to make up each batch separately, they are a bit of work, but boy are they good! Even people that hate cream cheese love these.
I make up about 4 batches, keep the other three in the fridge and bake them the next day.
I believe that the recipe is from Jean Pare's Company's Coming Cookies cookbook. I just love her!

For each batch:
1 cup butter, softened
1, 4 ounce package of cream, cheese softened
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. butter melted in the microwave or top of stove
Some cinnamon and brown sugar

Cream butter, cream chees and sugar together well. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir flour, baking soda and salt together and add and mix well.
Take a big rectangle of waxed paper and mark off a 9 inch x 13 inch area on it. Now dust your rolling pin with some flour and roll this mixture out - about 1/4 inch thick until it covers the area you have marked out. Square it up at the sides using a metal bench scraper or a knife or spatula. Brush the top with melted butter. Sprinkle with a good covering of brown sugar - say about 1/4 inch thick. Shake on about 1 1/2 to 2 tsp. of cinnamon. Using the waxed paper to help you, roll this up starting at the long side and roll like a jelly roll. This means that your completed roll will be the length of the 13 inch side. Now you don't roll up the waxed paper into the cookie dough, you use it to help you to roll , but it will stay on the outside of the completed roll. You want to get it so the seam side is underneath at the bottom. Now cover the roll over with plastic wrap and transfer the covered roll to a tray or cookie sheet - careful not to break it. Refridgerate about 4 hours or overnight. You may have to use your hands or roll the refridgerated roll a bit to maintain as close a shape as possible to a round. I lightly mark off the refridgerated roll, in 48 pieces. First marking the half way, the 1/4 and then dividing the quarter into 12. Then you slice into 48 slices and place at least 2 inches apart, pinch the seamed area if you have to, on a greased cookie sheet. You need a lot of space between these cookies as they spread out a fair amount. Bake for approximately 10 to 12 minutes - check them after 8. Let them cool a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
These freeze very well. To freeze, I line a cookie tin with waxed pper and place waxed paper or plastic wrap between each layer, plastic wrap on top, close lid and seal tin in a plastic bag or two - the grocery store bags work well for this. Alternatively, I bag them into freezer bags, like the extra large Ziploc bags, label them as to type and amount. They will freeze for up to 6 months and longer.

Posted by Squirrelly Cakes (possibly from Jean Pare's Company's Coming Cookies cookbook.)