Cinnamon Squares

By Nigella Lawson

Cinnamon Squares
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
45 minutes, plus cooling
Rating
4(319)
Comments
Read comments

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.

Featured in: No-Roll Crusts Leave Little Room For Disappointment

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
    Subscribe

  • Print Options

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:16 squares

    For the Base

    • ½cup confectioners' sugar
    • 1½cups plus 1 tablespoon flour
    • 1teaspoon baking powder
    • 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • ½pound (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into small cubes

    For the Icing

    • 6tablespoons butter
    • 1tablespoon cane syrup like Lyle's Golden Syrup (or substitute dark corn syrup)
    • ½cup confectioners' sugar
    • 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
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.

Powered by
Cooking Newsletter illustration

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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
319 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

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.

eliza383

I don’t have a ton of experience with shortbread, and while this felt easy I wasn’t at all convinced I’d done it correctly. And yet, voila! They are delicious and lifted from the pan perfectly. A winner!

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.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

Advertisement

or to save this recipe.