Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cinnamon Squares

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.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. 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!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

these look really good!

Unknown said...

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 :)

Erin said...

If you ever need any help getting rid of this stuff, let me know!

Anonymous said...

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!

Anonymous said...

YUM! I'm glad you ended up liking them. They were really good.

TeaLady said...

UUUMMM!!!! That looks tasty.

The Food Librarian said...

Super yummy! I get the China Cinnamon from Penzy but will have to pick up Saigon Cinnamon for that extra flavor!