No chilling, no creaming fool proof cut out cinnamon cookie recipe for all occasions. These African/Moroccan cinnamon flavored cookies are one of the easiest cookies you'll ever make. These heart shaped cookies make for a seriously easy Valentine's dessert too.
Cinnamon Cookies
Cinnamon cookies are one of the most popular cookies in Egypt. These jam filled cut out cookies are made ridiculously easy that my kiddos actually do them under supervision. They have had loads of fun making shaping and filling them.
This cinnamon cookie recipe has been one that I longed to share with you since I started this blog many years ago. Finally, making them last week made me so excited to share with you guys.
Cinnamon cookies can be cut with different cookie cutters depending on the season. Crescents, trees, gingerbread, bunnies and hearts we've done them all.
This is the season of love, so making these easy cookies as a heart shaped ones seemed second to nature. These are my go to cookie recipe, it is easy and fun to make plus it fills the home with this sweet aroma that makes you feel cozy.
The best cinnamon cookie recipe
What makes these cookies the best?
- No need for softened butter, yaaaay. I usually hate this step because, being me- which means forgetful- I usually forget to get it out long enough to be ... softened.
- No creaming, many recipes call for creaming butter and sugar until light and fluffy and sometimes you do not even know what does this mean or how this should look like. Other times you never actually get to this point!!!. This recipe does not need that either .
- No chilling, after your dough is made: A lot of recipes call for chilling, which means more waiting time for the kids who you've just been promised to make cookies and they cannot wait.
- Also, it does not require any special tools for mixing, just use your hands. And also no baking skills is required.
These above reasons qualifies these cookies to be the best, at least around my crazy home.
Cinnamon cookies, step by step
- We’ll start by mixing dry ingredients well.
- Add melted butter and an egg. Mix well with your hands until the dough comes together. If you felt that your dough is a little dry and there are still crumbs in the bowl, you can add a teaspoon of milk or water.
- On a floured surface, roll the dough. Thick or thin it is up to you but adjust baking time accordingly. Sometimes I really like to roll these thin which makes them really crunchy like crackers.
- Nowwww for the fun part, kids love this part when they use cookies cutters to make shapes they like.
- I made a small heart shaped hole in the middle using a smaller heart shaped cutter. If you do not have that you can make this with a small bottle cap.
- Bake in the oven for 10-13 minutes until done.
- After it cools down, it is time for more fun. Kids can glue two cookies together with their favorite jam. You can also dust the top part with confectioner's sugar before sticking the cookies together.
This one ☝️ ☝️got really excited and he kept jumping up and down so I could not get a clear picture for him, cute .
I like to stick the cookies together just before serving. If they are glued then left for like overnight they might soften a bit from the jam. If this is ok with you then no problem.
You may need
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This Nordic baking sheet is a must for your baking projects.It is super sturdy and does not bend under any circumstances.
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Cinnamon cutout cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup AP flour.
- 1/2 cup confectioners sugar.
- a dash of salt.
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder.
- 1 teaspoon baking powder.
- 1 large egg
- 3 Tablespoon unsalted butter melted.
- Water or milk if needed, mine did not need any more liquids.
- Jam for gluing. about a teaspoon for each sandwich.
Instructions
- In a deep bowl, mix flour,salt, cinnamon,sugar and baking powder.
- Mix in the egg and the melted butter.
- If your dough did not come together and you felt it is dry, add milk or water by teaspoons until you reach a nice consistent dough.
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Line two large cookie sheets with parchment.
- Roll the dough into a floured surface ,3-4mm thickness shape.*
- Cut with a heart cookie cutter to an even number then cut out the center of half of them with a smaller cutter.
- Bake for 10-13 minutes depending on the thickness and size of your cookie.
- Let it cook down on a rack.
- Sift confectioners' sugar over the cookies you are using as the top.
- Spread jam over the bottom cookies.
- Sandwich cookies together.
- Enjoy!!
Notes
- If your kitchen is too hot you might want to consider wrapping up the dough in plastic and stick it in the fridge for 15 minutes to ease rolling.
- Nutrition values are calculated on the assumption that each sandwich will contain about 1 teaspoon strawberry jam and without the dusting of powdered sugar.
Nutrition
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First published February 2017 . Last updated February 2020 with important tips, clear step by step instructions and readability.
Maria
Hi Amira. Love your site and all your recipes! Even though I grew up in the states I’ve started to cook and bake Egyptian food to be more in touch with our beautiful culture and traditions. Our Easter is coming up and I tried making these because they were my favorite growing up. Every time I stretched the dough it just bunched back up which resulted in tiny cookies coming out of the oven. What could I be doing wrong?
Amira
Maria, happy easter dear. One of my goals from this blog is to offer recipes to the second generation and up so they can relate to their roots. I am so happy to know that you like the recipes here and it makes you feel connected. Regarding the cinnamon cookies, do you mean the dough pulls back when you roll it or it shrinks in the oven?
Maria
Thank you so much Amira. My problem is both: the dough itself pulls back and the cookies shrink
Amira
Normally dough does that because of over kneading but honestly I do not think this is the problem.. may be experimenting with adding a little bit more butter would help. Let me know what do you think?
Maria
Hi Amira! Kol sana wenti tayeba for Ramadaan! I know this is a year late but I certainly made a mistake the first time around. This year for Easter I’ll try to pay more attention and hopefully it’ll turn out better . Thank you so much and thank for giving us a taste of home!
Gina
Hi Amira. I wanted to double check the number of eggs called for in this recipe. Eggs are not listed in the ingredients list, but in the directions it says to add egg. How many please? I'm very excited to try this recipe, with a couple modifications in hopes of achieving a cinnamon cookie that my aunt used to make in Egypt. Hers were very dark in color and used apricot jam as the glue. I think I will try increasing the amount of cinnamon and maybe adding a bit of cocoa powder.
Thank you.
Amira
Gina, thank you twice for spotting this mistake and for being interested in the recipe. Recipe calls for just one egg, I've used large one.Thanks again I'm always counting on clever minds like yours. Error has been fixed. Please come back and tell me how it went, I hope you'll get as close as possible to your aunt's recipe.
Juliana
These cookies are so cute...and I love that you have you little helper helping you...adorable.
Happy Valentine's Day Amira 🙂
Sabrina
Adorable cookies! So perfect for Valentine's day!