Whip butter, cream cheese and sugar until combined, then stir in vanilla and egg yolk.
Sift together flour and baking powder, then slowly add to wet ingredients. Mix until dough is thick and smooth.
Prepare a piece of parchment paper or pastry mat by dusting liberally with gfJules Flour. Transfer dough to the parchment and pat out to an elongated rectangle shape using the palms of your hands. Roll out to the thickness of pie crust dough, dusting the top with more gfJules Flour if sticky.
Mix cinnamon and brown sugar in a small bowl and set aside. Brush on the melted butter to cover the entire surface of the dough, then sprinkle cinnamon-brown sugar over the melted butter, leaving the long/vertical edges slightly exposed without topping.
Lift the parchment paper under one vertical/long side of the dough to gently start the dough rolling upon itself. Use a bench scraper or rubber spatula to help, if needed.
Continue to roll gently until the dough is rolled into a long log. Arrange the log of dough so the seam is down when finished rolling. Consult the photos above the recipe card for how-to method.
Cut the log in half and place each half of the dough in a zip-top gallon freezer bag, laid gently in the freezer until hardened - 1/2 hour to 1 hour works well. This step is only necessary if the dough is super sticky and warm or you want very crisp, neat cookies.
Once frozen, preheat your oven to 350°F.
Remove the dough logs from the freezer and slice into approximately ½ inch thick pinwheels.
Arrange on parchment-lined baking sheets one inch apart and bake for 11-12 minutes in the preheated oven. You will start to see texture to the dough once fully cooked, as opposed to smooth, uncooked dough, but the cookies should not be browning or they’ll have cooked too long. These cookies should be tender, not crunchy, once cooked and cooled.
Remove to cool on wire racks and ice if desired before serving.
Makes 24 cookies.