Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
My daughter gave me some Ceylon cinnamon for my birthday. It is very much more cinnamon than ordinary cinnamon, like a dream of cinnamon. The little plastic bag i had smelled up the whole kitchen with an overpowering cinnamon smell. You could even smell it when you walked in the front door, some distance away.
I wanted to try it right away, but what would benefit from intense cinnamon? The only answer to me seemed to be Snickerdoodles. When i was about 7, my mother made them for the first time. I couldn’t decide if i liked them or not. They seemed strange, because i had never had them, and at that age, that seemed in and of itself like something i maybe didn’t want to eat. But my mother seemed to think they were a real treat, and not something strange. Sugar, cinnamon and fat, what’s not to like? Although they never became a favorite of mine, i made them from time to time, half out of nostalgia, and half as a way to eat a lot of cinnamon and sugar, which i also had on toast sometimes. Last year, when i was still sometimes baking with margarine, i found a really good Snickerdoodles recipe in my favorite vegan cookbook (my favorite cookbook, period!) La Dolce Vegan. I realized this must be what people were raving about when they talked about how good Snickerdoodles were. While they would never replace chocolate chip cookies as a favorite for me, i put it in my file of recipes to repeat regularly (which would be every 2 years or so).
I recently wrote on how i had given up on cookies without margarine. I completely forgot about that as i plotted how to use my new Ceylon cinnamon. But these cookies did not come out wonderfully, even with the perfect recipe. They were dense little balls that needed to be flattened before baking. They did not spread out like the ones made with margarine. As i usually do, i used half the fat of the original recipe, but i don’t think even the whole ½ c. would have made these less tough. They would be fun to dip in tea, though.
Also, the cinnamon sugar you roll them in burns easily, and you have to watch for that magic moment when the insides are cooked, but the outsides are not yet overdone.
But they were wonderfully sweet and cinnamony, and for that reason, i would make them again. Next time, i think i will try adding ¼ c, pureed plums, which i freeze in the summer. (If you use prunes, cook them first and take the skins off before you puree them.) The fruit would make the cookies rather cake-like, but maybe that would be a good thing in this case.
Like many things, the cookie is a vehicle for the particular food taste i want, in this case, cinnamon. Of course, there’s always oatmeal to have with cinnamon.
Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
Makes about 16 cookies
Preparation about 25 minutes
Can be made ahead
Can be frozen
Topping:
3 T. vegan sugar
1 ½ t. ground cinnamon
Cookies:
1 1/3 c. whole wheat flour
¾ c. vegan sugar
1 t. ground cinnamon
2 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
1 T. ground flaxseeds
3 T. water
¼ c. nut butter such as cashew butter
¼ c. pureed plums or other fruit?
Stir together the sugar and cinnamon topping and set aside.
Line the baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix the flaxseed and water and set aside for a few minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400°.
Mix the dry ingredients together.
Add the nut butter and mix well. An electric mixture makes this easy. Add the flax seed mixture, and fruit, if using.
Shape dough into 1 ¼ inch balls and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Place on parchment lined baking sheet, and flatten slightly. Bake 7 – 10 minutes.
Adapted from Snickerdoodles in La Dolce Vegan by the incomparable Sarah Kramer.
Nutritional information – not guaranteed to be accurate:
Per cookie – 107 calories/2.5 g protein (9.2%)/2.4 g fat (20.1%)