“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”
Harriet van Horne
This is a sweet & spicy shortbread, not the traditional sort, because I made it with brown sugar that gave it a very different texture. In addition, I went further and sprinkled the tops with a mix of brown sugar & cinnamon before baking, which enhanced the flavour of cinnamon!
I love the ‘Think Spice’ monthly event at Sunita’s World. It does make you put on your thinking cap, and actually think the spice…at least with me it does! Can you imagine…I been thinking ‘Cinnamon’, her spice of choice for December ’07, ever since I read her post. I madly tried to stick a stick of cinnamon into anything & everything, but wasn’t quite there. This spicy cinnamon ‘shortbread of sorts’, which is my own creation, finally did it!
Cinnamomum Zeylanicum
Native to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), true cinnamon, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, dates back in Chinese writings to 2800 B.C., and is still known as kwai in the Chinese language today. Its botanical name derives from the Hebraic and Arabic term amomon, meaning fragrant spice plant. Cinnamon was once so highly-prized that wars were fought over it, it was used as currency, and it has aphrodisiacal powers. (Peggy Trowbridge Filippone)
Ingredients:
Butter – 3/4 cup
Brown Sugar – 5 tbsps
Flour – 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt – 1 /4 tsp
Cinnamon – 1 tsp
Topping
Brown sugar – 2 tbsp
Cinnamon – 1/2 tsp
Method:
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Preheat oven to 150 degrees C. Grease 2 baking sheets.
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Sift flour + baking powder + cinnamon + salt 3 times.
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Beat butter & brown sugar till mixed well. ( I hand mix it)
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Stir in the flour & pull together into a soft dough.
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Rest the dough for at least 30 minutes. I feel this intensifies the taste of the cinnamon.
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Roll out to 1/4 ” thickness & cut out into desired shapes. Place on baking sheets.
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Mix the cinnamon powder & brown sugar for the topping. Sprinkle onto the cookies.
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Bake for 15-20 minutes till the egdes begin to brown. Keep an eye on them since the dough is brown. Cool on cookie racks. drizzle with melted chocolate if you like.
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Makes 2-3 dozen cookies depending on the size of the cutters.
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Note: Do not be tempted to roll the cookies out thinner, because they become very fragile.
Hi Vindee! These look so nice! I wonder to whom you sent them 😉
Vindee, thanks for those lovely cookies…nice to see your enthusiasm for the event 🙂
Those cookies look so good. Nice presentation. Though I’m not a fan of cinnamon in sweets.
Another yummy recipe. I love cinnamon, especially in combination with pumpkin. What if I make this same recipe with pumpkin? Hmmmm… I am starting to think “cinnamon” too. 😀
Ooh, who wouldn’t love cinnamon and sugar baked onto the top of shortbread? Delicious and festive! Thanks again for another sweet entry to Eat Christmas Cookies, Deeba! -Susan
I wish I could grab a sample to taste. 🙂
u r a super baker, what a variety of cake adn cookies u bake my god. I want to try each one in your website.
I have a basic doubt about cake and its decoration could u pls solve it.
To decorate cake is whipping cream or butter cream is used? what is the difference? is it necessary to refrigete the whipped cream cake for some time?
pls do solve my doubt
Hey Manggy, wish I could have posted them to you! These were for my daughter’s friend!!
Thanks to you Sunita, otherwise I was a far shot from cinnamon cookies!!
Hi Rina, can imagine; but they did taste different. I love cinnamon in sticky buns & apple crumbles.
Did you get to the pumpkin Ben? Hmmm…are u still thinking :0)
Thanks Susan…always fun to do cookies at Christmas!
Hi Fredrick…wish I could help there! California is right across 7 seas, rather oceans!!
Hi Anonymous, I usually decorate with whipping cream as first choice because I like the texture more. Yes, it needs to be refrigerated to get whipped up. Buttercream is a combo of whipping cream and butter, & is very easy to work with. Will send u a link to a nice recipe online (Kittencall’s). :0)
These sound really good with the brown sugar and cinnamon! And, as always, look great!
Hi
u cook so many cakes and it just look gorgeous, any one would like to try.
I hv a reques for you, why can’t u have 3-4 post expaling the decoration of the cake and so us step by step with making leaves, rose etc, this will help us a= lot, u r teaching how to bake cake but while reading i had millions of doubts regarding decorating cake.
pls teach us before christmas, so that we can also bake a nice cake
Lovely cookies. Still have tocome up with something for the event.
Make sure that you use Cinnamon when baking. As most often Cassia is sold as Cinnamon.
Cassia has a chemical called coumarin which could be toxic. Please click the below link to learn how to identify Cinnamon.
http://www.ceylon-cinnamon.com/Identify-Cinnamon.htm
These sound delicious! I wish I had come across this recipe before the holidays as I'd have substituted it for my usual shortbread/sugar cookie recipe.
Have you ever thought of adding a bit of ginger as well? I feel like that would balance out the cinnamon a bit.
Either way I'll definitely be giving them a try. 🙂
I am trying these cookies today. What is the oven temperature?
Hi Shubhra, It’s 150C. Have highlighted it for you!