By Nigella Lawson
- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus cooling
- Rating
- 4(308)
- Notes
- Read community notes
You could think of these cinnamon squares as the wintry brother of tangy, summery lemon bars, but what they really are is shortbread topped with a cinnamon-infused glaze, perfect with a cup of tea or a mug of coffee. And it is a reassuringly straightforward recipe. Make the crust and press it into a pan, bake it and let it cool. Drizzle a warm cinnamon glaze over it, cut and serve. Inhaling is wonderful; eating is even better.
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Ingredients
Yield:16 squares
- ½cup confectioners' sugar
- 1½cups plus 1 tablespoon flour
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½pound (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into small cubes
- 6tablespoons butter
- 1tablespoon cane syrup like Lyle's Golden Syrup (or substitute dark corn syrup)
- ½cup confectioners' sugar
- 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the Base
For the Icing
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (16 servings)
218 calories; 16 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 26 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Prepare base: heat oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, combine confectioners' sugar, flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Pulse until free of lumps. Scatter butter cubes across top and pulse again until mixture is crumbly and beginning to come together.
Step
2
Press mixture evenly into a shallow 9- to 9½-inch square baking pan. Bake until shortbread is firm, barely colored and no longer has a sheen on its surface, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack until warm.
Step
3
While shortbread cools, prepare icing: In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter and syrup together. Whisk in the confectioners' sugar and cinnamon until free of lumps. Remove from heat and allow to cool just until slightly thickened. Whisk again and pour over warm shortbread, using a spatula to reach edges. Allow to cool completely, then cut into 16 squares.
Ratings
4
out of 5
308
user ratings
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Cooking Notes
Martin
NYT Cooking - Can you PLEASE start to post recipes with recipe ingredients by weight as well for those of us with a kitchen scale and like our measuring to be accurate?
mafaldachan
pst, you (me). Yeah, honey works just fine instead of syrup!
Aanna
Easy, perfect shortbread texture, and very satisfying. I resisted the urge to clutter the flavor with nutmeg, and used only my good Vietnamese cinnamon. Perfect. This is the third day, and I think they are just getting better as the flavor develops -- not that they will last past today!
The only thing that concerned me was that the butter separated from the glaze during the initial cooling, but it reincorporated nicely with a thorough whisking.
Gustav
I whisked in zest from 1 lemon in the icing to add some zing to the recipe, with a very pleasant result
Susan J.
I agree that these were even better the second day. I used light corn syrup and the icing worked out just fine.
mafaldachan
Is it possible to replace syrup with honey? :)
Gretchen
These were delicious, classic shortbread, and perfect on a snowy day. I used a mixture of honey and maple syrup in place of the syrup.
Johnathan
Amounts to an oven baked donut of sorts. Luscious, yet succulent, the butter shines through, not terribly sweet.
John
TERRIBLE! Iv'e been baking for 30 years and these were so off. I have never seen a shortbread recipe with powdered sugar but I thought I would give it a try even though I had trepidation. The texture was off, crumbly, tasted undercooked and I followed the recipe exactly. The glaze was the best part but other than that, just not a good recipe. I would not recommend this one. 2 thumbs down!
DL
These were delicious. For the syrup I used light corn syrup since it was all I had, and the syrup thickened well and tasted great. I also added a teaspoon of Kosher salt to the shortbread and a half-teaspoon to the syrup, with good results. I have no idea what the baking powder was for.
Jwkimw
I'm from Europe so I converted the ingredients to grams and that was as follows: 225 g butter, 180 g flour, 100 g sugar. I should have known from the numbers that the shortbread would be way too buttery. I love me some buttery shortbread, but these were way over the top, and definitely not the classic shortbread texture everyone is reporting in the comments. Not sure what i did wrong. Melissa's shortbread recipe uses 250 g of flour for the same amount of butter, which sounds much more reasonable
David
Try with cardamom in place of cinnamon; it’s great either way depending on your mood.
Sarah C.
Love this recipe and it was pretty darn forgiving for how impressive it looks!
Cathie
What is the purpose of the baking powder? There’s nothing there to activate it and certainly causes no leavening.
Meljorino
Looks and smells beautiful! Followed directions exactly.
qa
Tasty recipe
sarah
The recipe does not specify salted or unsalted butter. I defaulted unsalted, but I think it would be better with salted butter, or at least adding some salt to that flour. Otherwise delicious!
Jules
I used salted, on the advice of a shortbread recipe from King Arthur Flour which points out that butter is the only source of liquid in the dough.
mike s.
I followed the recipe exactly. The shortbread was fine but the glaze never thickened. I had it on very low heat but butter melted easily.I am new to baking. Any ideas why the glaze never thickened?
Mona B.
Made exactly as directed and it was very good. Next time I’ll add a bit of salt (maybe quarter teaspoon) to the shortbread and a dash to the icing.
Craig
First: I love me some Nigella Lawson so no shade on my favorite British cooking queen.I made these last night for a small dinner party and invited comments from our guests. The overwhelming consensus was that they were a tad too sweet and 'one-note'. No contrast. We dropped a couple of flakes of sea salt (those gorgeous little pyramids) and that helped. Perhaps next time I'll add a pinch of salt to the icing and use less of it.
Edward in Paris
This is awfully sweet. I don’t know if you can make a glaze with less sugar but I would like to try. Good flavor though.
Sam
I substituted maple syrup for the syrup, and the icing was still quite tasty and firmed up.Mine were very crumbly the first day--hard enough to get out of a pan where no parchment paper or buttering of the pan! Less crumbly after a day or two.Frankly, I found them very meh (even thought I added in some salt and lemon juice), but the office liked them well enough.
Cecilia
I substituted molasses for syrup and it worked well. Also nice to sprinkle some cinnamon on top afterwards
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