Orange & Cinnamon Crisps

I love the flavour of orange in desserts! In fact, I'm a little bit obsessed with oranges in general! Now add cinnamon to that and you have an absolute winner! I tried a recipe for orange and cinnamon crisps which are actually cookies, on the weekend.  It was pouring down with rain outside and it was something to do to keep Little Miss J occupied! Although having said that and having done it now, this isn't the ideal recipe to make with a toddler! If you want a toddler friendly recipe, try these lemon biscuits.

The crisps turned out great. Here is the recipe.  I've made a few tweaks to the original as I like things more orangey and more cinnamony (yes both those words exist - at least in my world!). Again, apologies that I only have a photo of the final outcome! Like I've said, baking with a toddler and photography don't go together! Also they're not perfectly round, but who cares - they taste great!

Cinnamon & Orange Crisps

Makes 25 – 30

Ingredients

225 g butter, softened

180 g golden caster sugar (you could reduce this if your oranges are really sweet)

Grated rind of 1 orange

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

6 tsp orange juice

280 g plain flour

3 tsp ground cinnamon

A pinch of salt

Method

1.    1. Cream the butter and 140 g of sugar along with the orange rind in a bowl.  Beat until light and fluffy.   Then beat in egg yolk along with half the orange juice.

2.     2. Sift together the flour and the pinch of salt. Slowly add this to the butter and sugar mixture, along with the remaining sugar and stir until it is thoroughly combined.  Shape the dough into a ball and wrap in clingfilm and chill for about 30 to 45 minutes.  The dough is a little bit fiddly to work with – just so you know!

3.      3. Take the dough out of the fridge, unwrap and lay it between two sheets of baking paper and roll into a square about 10 x 10 inches.

4.    4.   Brush the remaining orange juice and sprinkle with cinnamon.  I like cinnamon so I used 3 tsp.  If you prefer, you can reduce this.  Roll the dough up like a swiss roll, wrap in clingfilm and chill again for about 30 minutes.

5.    5. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius/Gas mark 5/375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line two baking trays with baking paper.

6.    6.  Take the roll out of the fridge and unwrap.  Using a sharp serated knife, cut into small discs.  Lay them on prepared baking sheets.  Ensure you leave some room as they will expand.  Bake for about 12 minutes until it is lightly browned on the edges.

7.      7.  Leave to cool on the sheets for 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack. 

     When I make these again, I think I will leave out the 'swiss roll' bit and just bung the cinnamon in with the dough - then shape into a log, chill and cut. I found it a bit annoying to use the 'swiss roll' technique as the dough gets quite sticky. So it might be worth considering!

I hope you enjoy these!