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Okay this recipe had me a little skeptical. Not because of the cinnamon + chocolate factor, because I'm down with that. No, it was the cinnamon + chocolate + instant espresso factor, I wasn't sure how that would work out. I was very pleasantly surprised. This was really good. I loved that I didn't have to drag my mixer out (even though I love it). The batter was simple and mixed by hand. I did forget to follow the direction about folding the butter in lastly and with a light touch. I just threw all the wet ingredients together and then added them to the dry mixture, oops. It didn't seem to impact the final product though.
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After the batter was 'smooth and satiny' and added a layer of it to the 8 x 8 pan and then sprinkled the chopped up chocolate and the cinnamon/sugar/instant espresso mixture on top before added the second and final layer of batter.
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It went into the oven for around 40 minutes, until the toothpick came out clean. It smelled really, really good. And I found myself eating bit of the trimmed edges before it was cool. I should have never doubted Dorie, because these squares were amazing, even without the frosting. After it all cooled down, I chopped more chocolate (is it just me or does it seems like we chop chocolate every week?) and made the frosting, which was just butter and semi-sweet chocolate.
This was an excellent recipe, I love the cinnamon + chocolate flavors and I didn't really notice the espresso granules at all. The middle cinnamon/sugar layer adds a nice element of sweet and spicy crunch.
I used Saigon Cinnamon from Penzey's and it was very good. Consequently upon Google-ing Saigon Cinnamon I found out that "Saigon cinnamon has 1-5% essential oil in content and 25% cinnamaldehyde in essential oil, which is the highest of all the cinnamon species". So it's extra cinnamon-y I guess. All in all another great Dorie recipe. Thanks to
Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventures for this week's selection!
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7 comments:
these look really good!
Thanks for baking with me this week! The simplicity of this recipe was a big draw for me. I'm glad you enjoyed the squares :)
If you ever need any help getting rid of this stuff, let me know!
I want a piece of your Cinnamon Squares! They look great! I used Saigon Cinnamon too, although not Penzey's and I didn't taste much of the espresso flavor either but loved this cake!
YUM! I'm glad you ended up liking them. They were really good.
UUUMMM!!!! That looks tasty.
Super yummy! I get the China Cinnamon from Penzy but will have to pick up Saigon Cinnamon for that extra flavor!
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