Cinnamon Shortbread

This week I have made cinnamon shortbread with added currants. I just made a small batch of 12 slices (some seem to have disappeared in this photo, I can’t imagine where to!) as this will be plenty for us over the next couple of days.

I love a quick and easy bake in the week for a quick treat for my kids after school.

As I still have loads of dried fruit to use up after Christmas, I am adding raisins, currants and whatever else I can find in my store cupboard to all of my bakes recently, like my cranberry and ginger oat cookies last week for example.

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• Cinnamon
• Ingredients
• Step by step
• More traditional bakes
• Recipe
• Reviews

Cinnamon

These cinnamon shortbread fingers look very rustic as I made them quickly, but I think that adds to their charm! After all, the taste is more important, right?

And there certainly is bags of flavour here.

Cinnamon is used in a lot of my baking to add a hint of warmth and that familiar flavour which I think you need in a lot of cakes and biscuits.

In shortbread it adds extra flavour to that buttery biscuit.

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients you will need (get the quantities in the recipe card):

• plain flour – (or all purpose flour in the US) gives the shortbread that close texture we love.
• caster sugar – (superfine sugar in the US) to sweeten
• unsalted butter – to add butteriness and richness. Leave it at room temperature to soften before using.
• cinnamon – adds colour and that comforting flavour/scent.
• currants or sultanas (optional) – add chewiness and sweet flavour.

Step by step

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees F).
2. Place the softened butter and sugar in a bowl and stir together until fully mixed.
3. Add the cinnamon and flour and stir to combine. You can start using a spoon and will need to use your hands to bring the mixture together in a dough at the end.
4. You will end up with a ball of dough.
5. Add the currants or sultanas now if using, and mix them through the dough.
6. Line your baking tin with baking paper and press the dough out in the tin to approx. 1 cm thickness.
7. Prick the shortbread all over with a fork. 
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden (the cinnamon means the shortbread will be darker than usual, look for a golden colour around the edges).
9. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, dust with caster sugar, then cut the shortbread into fingers in the tin. 
10. Lift up using the baking paper and place the whole thing on a cooling rack to cool. Devour warm or once cooled!

More traditional bakes

What is your favourite traditional bake? Along with shortbread, scones, Victoria sponge, bakewell tart and tea loaf are some of the classics.

Find all of my baking recipes in my Recipe Index.

Recipe