Cinnamon sticks

For the past year or two I've wanted to make the cinnamon candy canes featured in Donna Hay Magazine #24, so when I saw them made over at Technicolor Kitchen I thought it was about time I did. Yet, somehow Christmas came and went and making candy cane biscuits no longer seemed appropriate. Rather than leave this recipe for another year, I set about making them into sticks. They're not as cute as candy canes, but that's okay.

The recipe itself is a tad too sweet for me, which is unfortunate. They're still tasty and I have been snacking on them all afternoon. Apparently, when my brain says "too sweet" my mouth says "yum!"

The biscuits are supposed to be cinnamon flavoured, however mine aren't. The spice mix I used is apparently the traditional speculass spice mix, this was by no means intentional. I grabbed the spice I thought was cinnamon and only after mixing it in did I look at the packet. Silly me. These's nothing wrong with this spice mix in these biscuits, it just means that rather than tasting of cinnamon they taste of allspice. You could use any combination of sweet spices if you wanted, there's no reason these can't have a hint of nutmeg or cloves. There's also no reason they can't be candy caned shaped!

(though these weren't my favourite biscuits, I just recieved a text that said: "You left your biscuit sticks here so I ate them all. They were delicious." Friends, gotta love them!)

Cinnamon sticks

(adapted from Donna Hay Magazine #24)
makes about 20

185g (6 1/2oz) butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon or Quatre Epices
2 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 egg white, lightly beaten
granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Place the butter, sugar, and spice mix in a food processor and process until smooth, Add the egg, egg yolk, and flour and process until a smooth dough forms. Lightly knead the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.

Preheat oven to 180°C (355°F), line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Roll one tablespoon of mixture to form a 15cm log, transfer to lined baking tray. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes on tray. Once firm, transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

Once throughly cooled, brush the sticks with egg white and sprinkle over the sugar. Store in an air tight container.