Soft and moist biscuits with a warm cinnamon flavours, these Cinnamon Biscuits are really easy to make and you can go all out with the decorations or just keep them simple with some icing. To make them a little more indulgent, dip them in some dark chocolate. When your kitchen smells of cinnamon, then you know that the Christmas baking has begun. These are perfect any time of year though!
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These cinnamon biscuits are the real deal. Buttery, sugary little bites of heaven. I haven't made any lighter changes to them, as I fully believe that sometimes you just need the real thing and Christmas is one of those times.
These spiced biscuits have just enough cinnamon to give them flavour, without being overpowering. They are a soft biscuit, so they don't have any crunch, but we love that about them.
Why not make up a big batch of these and put them in pretty bags with ribbon and give them as a gift? Homemade edible gifts are lovely at Christmas time. Looking for more ways to use cinnamon? Why not try our quick Cinnamon Stewed Apples, simple Cinnamon Roasted Almonds, delicious Cinnamon Coffee or our chewy Cinnamon Flapjacks?
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Why You Will Love Them
- Delicious Christmas cookie - Anything with cinnamon just screams Christmas and these are perfect for baking during the festive season. They make lovely homemade gifts too.
- Adaptable - You can easily adjust the spices used, and also how they are decorated. More on that below!
- An amazing smell - The smell of these when cooking is amazing. Who needs an air freshener when you have this! You are going to want to eat these as soon as they come out of the oven, but let them cool first.
Ingredients and Substitutions
A full ingredients list, along with US Customary and Metric measurements, can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Flour - We used plain flour (all purpose flour) for this. If all you have is self-raising flour, then you can use that and leave out the baking powder.
- Baking powder - This is a chemical leavening agent that help the mixture to rise when baked.
- Cinnamon - This star of the biscuits. This recipe is heavy on the cinnamon, which is how we like it. You can reduce the amount if you are not a huge fan of cinnamon.
- Ginger - This adds a little spice to the biscuits. You could just use cinnamon though if you prefer.
- Sugar - We used brown sugar instead of granulated, because it makes the biscuits darker and also it is naturally moist, so it stops you ending up with a dry biscuit.
- Butter - Unsalted butter is our preferred butter.
- Egg - These help to provide the texture and height to the biscuits. We used medium eggs - a different size will change the recipe and consistency.
- Vanilla - This adds a lovely warmth to the biscuits. Use a good quality vanilla extract, rather than essence, as you will get the most natural flavour.
More ingredient substitutions and variations can be found in the recipe card.
Step by step
Prep: Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C(fan)/350°F/Gas 4.
- Step one: Put the butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl (a). Beat together until smooth (b).
- Step two: Add the egg and vanilla and mix (a). Sieve in the flour and baking powder add the cinnamon and ginger (b).
- Step three: Mix together (a) and form a ball of dough (b).
- Step four: Transfer to a floured surface (a) and roll out to about 0.5cm/0.25 inch thick (b).
- Step five: Cut into shapes (a) and put on a lined baking tray (b).
- Step six: Cook for 12-15 minutes. Cool on a baking tray and decorate as you like.
Decoration
We used traditional Christmas cookie cutter shapes for these, but really they could be any shape you like. You could just have circles, or you could let the kids cut them with Santa and snowman cutters and then decorate them. You could just leave these biscuits as they are, but I think some icing sugar (powdered sugar) makes them look much more festive!
You could actually ice them too. Why not use an orange icing, as orange and cinnamon go so well together and they just scream Christmas. Instead of mixing water in to icing sugar, mix in a little fresh orange juice. It's a game changer when it comes to Christmas biscuit icing
Why not go all out and decorate them and then give them as gifts! Get some nice see-through gift bags and add the biscuits and then tie them up with pretty ribbon. Why not add one of our Hot Chocolate Spoons to go with it?
Serving Suggestions
Biscuits and a hot drink are the perfect afternoon pick me and we have lots of choice for you. Why not try one of these:
- Slow Cooker Hot Chocolate
- Mulled Apple Juice
- Pumpkin Spiced Latte
- Christmas Snowman Hot Chocolate
- Cinnamon Mocha
- Vegan Eggnog
- Chai Tea Latte
Extra Tips
- Although it might be tempting to eat these straight from the oven, let them cool first because they will still be very soft when they come out. They will harden as they cool.
- Take these biscuits to the next level by making some orange icing. Mix a little fresh orange juice in to icing sugar and stir until the right consistency and drizzle over the biscuits. You could even put some cinnamon in them for a cinnamon orange icing. YUM!
- We used cinnamon and ground ginger in these biscuits, but feel free to change the amounts depending on which one you prefer. You could also use nutmeg.
- Make these biscuits a little more indulgent by dipping half of each biscuit in to some dark chocolate.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe makes 20 biscuits, but that depends on how thin you roll out the dough and and the size of your cookie cutters. So you might end up with more or less. You could make lots of mini biscuits with smaller cookie cutters, and they would look really cute. That might be better for a Christmas party.
We found that 13 minutes was the perfect amount of time for this recipe. Whilst they might not look cooked, as they will still be soft when the cooking time is up, if you bake them any longer they will be dry. Every oven is different though, so yours might need less time, or they might need a minute longer.
You can store these at room temperature in an air tight container for up to 3 days. They do start going a bit soft after 2 days though.
Yes, you can freeze these before they are cooked. If you have made a big batch and know you won't be able to eat them all, then freeze some and bake the rest. Put them on a baking tray in the freezer for 2 hours. Once they have become hard, you can transfer them to a freezer bag and keep in the freezer for up to a month. You can then put them on a baking tray frozen, and cook them for 10 minutes longer than the cooking time.
More Biscuit Recipes
If you've tried this cinnamon biscuits recipe, let us know how you got on in the comments below.
Tag us in your creations on Instagram @hungryhealthyhappy - Use the hashtag #hungryhealthyhappy too.
Recipe
Cinnamon Biscuits
Ingredients
- 100 g (0.5 cups) of Light brown sugar
- 125 g (0.5 cups) of Butter
- 300 g (2.5 cups) of Plain flour
- 2 teaspoon of Baking powder
- 2 teaspoon of Ground cinnamon
- 0.5 teaspoon of Ground ginger
- 1 Egg
- 0.5 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C(fan)/350°F/Gas 4.
- Beat together 100 g of Light brown sugar and 125 g of Butter until smooth.
- Add 1 Egg and 0.5 tsp of Vanilla extract and mix. Sieve in 300 g of Plain flour and 2 tsp of Baking powder and add 2 tsp of Ground cinnamon and 0.5 tsp of Ground ginger.
- Mix together to form a ball of dough.
- Transfer to a floured surface and roll out to about 0.5cm/0.25 inch thick.
- Cut into shapes and put on a lined baking tray.
- Cook for 12-15 minutes. Cool on a baking tray and decorate as you like.
Recipe Tips
- Although it might be tempting to eat these straight from the oven, let them cool first because they will still be very soft when they come out. They will harden as they cool.
- Take these biscuits to the next level by making some orange icing. Mix a little fresh orange juice in to icing sugar and stir until the right consistency and drizzle over the biscuits. You could even put some cinnamon in them for a cinnamon orange icing. YUM!
- We used cinnamon and ground ginger in these biscuits, but feel free to change the amounts depending on which one you prefer. You could also use nutmeg.
- Make these biscuits a little more indulgent by dipping half of each biscuit in to some dark chocolate.
Nutritional Information
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The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
As all appliances vary, cooking times are a guide. Please note that by changing the serving size, the cooking time may also need to be altered.
Liz says
I thought I followed the recipe very carefully and yet the dough was very dry… I even tried to add a little bit more butter, but it didn’t seem to help. It never came together. What am I doing wrong?
HWykes says
These are absolutely delicious! I didn't have any ginger so used a little bit more cinnamon, and topped them with a little drizzle of icing. I can't believe how quick and easy these are to make, will definitely be making again! Thanks for a great recipe!
Dannii Martin says
Extra cinnamon is never a bad thing - thanks for letting us know your adaption. I am glad you enjoyed them.
raquel roberts says
Hi there,
Is there anyway making this gluten free?
I'm not a baker at all- so any advise would be great.
Thanks
Dannii Martin says
I haven't tried it myself, but you should just be able to do a like for like swap with gluten free flour.
Jessica Stroup says
SO good! These may be my kiddos new favorite cookie!
Danielle Wolter says
Just perfect for the holidays! I just love cookies with cinnamon.
Charlotte says
Myself an my 12 year old daughter made these together we added some cinnamon icing sugar. Lovely will make more soon.
sonia says
Cinnamon cookies we always make at Christmas time.
They are really good
Mandy Applegate says
These cinnamon biscuits are SO good, my whole family love them.
Amanda Wren-Grimwood says
I've been looking for more Christmas baking idea and I love the idea of making the orange icing!
MJ says
These cookies are so easy to make, and so delicious! Can't wait to wrap some up for friends to the holidays!
Jess says
I love that these are just different enough than a regular sugar cookie that we can cut out and enjoy!
Sue says
We're adding this cookie to our holiday collection this year ~ and definitely trying the orange icing!
Keri says
These cinnamon biscuits were so tasty. Thank you for another great recipe.