Simple Cinnamon Suggestions ~ both ground and sticks
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I was inspired to write this post by a gift from my lovely niece, Jenny, ~ bloody enormous cinnamon sticks!!
The thing is I don’t want to spoil them by using them. I think I shall keep them for display purposes only, but here are some delicious things I could do with them if I wanted to!
Here are some ideas if you have “normal” sized cinnamon sticks or are prepared to break up your large ones.
Cinnamon Sticks
~ Drink stirrer – coffee, tea, hot chocolate and some cocktails will benefit from a cinnamon stirring stick, here are two such cocktails: Cough & Cold Medicine for Adults aka Hot Toddy and Wassail. A cinnamon is also an ingredient in Mulled Wine Syrup which is, in my opinion, the best way to make mulled wine.
~ Make Cinnamon Syrup which is great drizzled on ice cream, pancakes and waffles, stirred in coffee and whatever else you fancy!
~ When making porridge add a cinnamon stick at the start of cooking so that it infuses the oats.
Cinnamon Infused Rum
1 bottle of white or golden rum
2 tbsp caster sugar
4 cinnamon sticks – normal size
AND a large, clean and sealable jar
~ Put the rum and the sugar into the jar.
~ Add the cinnamon sticks.
~ Pour in the rum.
~ Seal well and give it a good shake.
Obviously the longer the cinnamon sticks are in the rum the stronger the flavour so, sorry about this, you will have to taste it after about 4 days and if it is cinnamony enough for you then remove the sticks. Or leave it a few days and try again.
And here are some ideas for …
Ground Cinnamon
Cinnamon Sugar
Thoroughly stir together three parts of granulated or caster sugar (or even in some cases soft light brown sugar which has a lovely butterscotch taste) and one part ground cinnamon and store in an airtight jar.
And this is what you can do with it …
~ Add to crumble toppings for fruit, especially apple crumble or sprinkle on apple pie.
~ Roll doughnuts or churros in it.
~ Toss with warm, freshly popped popcorn.
~ Stir a little into pancake batter.
~ Brush the tops of scones with cream and sprinkle with the sugar before baking.
~ Make Cinnamon Toast (incidentally there are some lovely variations on this here too!).
~ Make a lovely crunchy topping for apples and other fruits with pastry scraps and cinnamon sugar.
Or …
Crunchy Cinnamon Sugar Crusts
stale crusts from 4 slices of bread
60g butter
2 tablespoons of cinnamon sugar
another tablespoon of cinnamon sugar!
~ Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350°F/160ºC fan/gas 4
~ Melt the butter and cool a little.
~ Add the bread crusts and using your hands turn them in the butter to make sure it is evenly shared out.
~ Add the cinnamon sugar and manipulate manually again to coat evenly.
~ Spread on a baking tray as not-couching as possible.
~ Bake for 6-8 minutes till lovely and crunchy.
~ Sprinkle with the final tablespoon of cinnamon sugar to serve.
Honey Cinnamon Butter
110g soft butter
110g honey
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
an optional drip of vanilla extract
~ Mix together thoroughly. That’s it!
OR add cinnamon to Cookie Butter!
Either way use to …
~ Butter toast, crumpets, scones etc.
~ Toss with warm popcorn.
~ Top pancakes and waffles.
See here for more flavoured butter ideas.
Add to Savoury Dishes
~ Add to apple sauce to serve with pork.
~ A pinch of cinnamon is good in roasted carrots or roasted pumpkin, flesh or seeds!
~ When roasting butternut squash wedges, melt a little butter, stir in a pinch of cinnamon and pour over the squash.
~ When seasoning dishes from India and also Greece, Turkey and North Africa try a pinch or two of cinnamon.
~ Sprinkle a little on lamb when grilling or pan frying.
Health Benefits of Cinnamon
Apparently it’s not just yummy, it’s good for you too! Here are 10 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Cinnamon but don’t go too crazy, apparently too much cinnamon can cause problems – see end of the above linked post.
And in a post entitled How to Make Sex Coffee it is argued that cinnamon is good for your sex life too. Sadly I didn’t include this in my Quiz About Aphrodisiacs.
Suzy Bowler
Having been a somewhat itinerant chef for over 30 years I was amazed, on my return to the UK, at the blatant food waste that now seems to be rife in the country; amazed and irritated. So much so that I decided to start a blog about spontaneous cooking from leftovers to show people that there are great alternatives to throwing food away.
