1032

There seem to be two types of people, cinnamon lovers and cinnamon haters.  In my experience you either love it are dislike it, although you may come along and contradict me.  Perhaps I'm yet again speaking in the experience of "my house".  We have two lovers and two haters.  I'm a lover.  That statement makes me giggle, as a couple of weeks ago, walking at night with a friend we were discussing whether we'd stay single forever if we lost our partners, or date again.  I definitely felt that I fell into the stay home, sew, bake and dedicate myself to the children camp.  My friend corrected me by saying "No way, you're a lover, you would HAVE to date again".  I nearly wet myself with giggles at the absurdity of the conversation, but also at the fact she actually considers me a lover!

Going back to the cinnamon, today's slightly cooler weather meant baking day in this house.  It seemed like a good idea when the weather was cool this morning after 12 hours of torrential rain.  Of course by the time the biscuits were cooking, the humidity had kicked in along with the sunshine.

The first biscuit I made today is for the lovers in this house, Snickerdoodles.  The name is so delicious and the biscuits equally so.  If you have a penchant, as do I, for a White Wings style cinnamon tea cake, brushed with melted butter and dusted with a caster sugar and cinnamon mix, then these are the biscuits for you.  Crunchy edges with a slightly chewy centre, not super sweet.  Delicious.

The second biscuit is a Pecan Sandie, although in my case a slightly adjusted recipe, becoming Hazelnut & Pecan Sandies.  A much drier, more crumbly biscuit, perfect with an afternoon espresso.

Snickerdoodles 
Adapted from Cookiepedia
I halved this recipe and again, ended up with a good 2 dozen biscuits, making them slightly smaller than the recipe calls for.

1 1/3 cups of plain flour
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup + 2 tbs sugar
2 tbs brown sugar
1 egg beaten
1 tsp vanilla

For Rolling  1/4 cup caster sugar, 4 teaspoons cinnamon

1.  Line 2 trays with baking paper and preheat oven to 180C.
2.  Cream butter and two sugars until light and fluffy.  Add beaten egg and vanilla.  Mix to combine.
3.  Add flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in two batches, mixing thoroughly after each one.  Top when second batch combined.
4.  Combine cinnamon and caster sugar in a separate bowl.  Make small 1 inch balls of dough (it's quite soft) and roll them in the cinnamon sugar until completely covered.  Place on the baking sheets 2 inches apart.  Flatten slightly with the flats of your fingers.
5.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Cool in wire racks and when cool store in an airtight container.


Pecan Sandies
From Cookiepedia
I again halved this recipe and still come out with about 30 biscuits.  I also used a half and half measure of hazelnuts and pecans, as that's what I had to hand.

1 1/2 cups pecans, dry roasted in a pan
1/3 cup icing sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of plain flour plus extra for dusting
3/4 cup plus 2 tbs cold unsalted butter, butter into small cubes
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
@30 pecan halves
Icing sugar to dust

1.  In a food processor, finely grind the pecans with the sugars.
2.  Add the flour, salt and buzz again until combined.   Add the butter and process until it looks a little like coarse crumbs.  Add the egg and vanilla process until the dough comes together.
3.  Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for an hour. 
4.  Dust your work surface with flour and take the chilled dough, roll to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut the cookies from the dough and space about an inch apart on paper lined baking trays.
4.  Place one of the pecan halves on and bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the sheets half way through.
5.  Allow to cool on a rack before dusting with icing sugar.