Cinnamon Twists

Tasty & crunchy cookies  

The downside of baking cakes, cookies or bread is that it limits me from playing around with the ingredients.  Lack or too much of any usually results to myriad of errors.  Unlike cooking where I can easily adjust the quantity of ingredients and the taste as I cook, baking needs exact measurement.

I thought this recipe was a bread. I should have known, bread usually has yeast as one of the ingredients and this one doesn't. Also, since the instruction said to place the mixture 2 inches apart from each other, I thought the dough might grow in size. I was surprised that after the required baking time, the growth was minimal. When I took a bite, it was only then that I realized that it's a cookie, not a bread.

I got a little tip from my aunt - on the first encounter with the recipe, just follow it,  then develop your own from it by adjusting the ingredients. This recipe has just too much sugar which makes it very sweet. Next time I'll make this, I'll probably lessen the sugar by 1/8 cup. It tasted very good with the cinnamon flavor there.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
½ cup butter or margarine (softened)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 375F (I set it to 175C initially and reduced to 150C for the next batches).  Beat sugar, butter, vanilla and egg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon.  Stir in flour, baking powder and salt.  Divide dough in half. Stir cinnamon into one half.

Shape 1 level teaspoon each for plain and cinnamon dough, into 3 inch rope. Place ropes side by side; twist gently. (I formed mine into circles after twisting). Repeat with remaining dough. Place twists about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until very light brown.  Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Adapted from The Big Book of Cookies
I forgot that I copied the recipe from the cookie book. That should
have given me an idea what I'm baking instead of surprising me.

Tip: Store cookies in an airtight container to keep its crispiness.