I first discovered cinnamon chips eons ago, when I was paging through a King Arthur Flour catalog. Cinnamon is one of our favorite flavors, so I ordered some, of course. We had them in chocolate chip cookies and in scones and they were good, but nothing special. Now Hershey’s makes a cinnamon chip that is widely available, but it doesn’t have real cinnamon, only artificial flavoring. I have been searching (not very hard) for something else to put in baked goods to get those pockets of cinnamon flavor that I thought the chips would supply.
Just last week, Stephanie of Cupcake Project published a post on homemade pumpkin pie spice chips that were inspired by homemade cinnamon chips at Mind Over Batter. Little nuggets of sweet cinnamon that melt into whatever batter or dough you stir them into – just what I have been looking for. I used Cupcake Project’s recipe, substituting cinnamon for the pumpkin pie spice. Sugar, cinnamon, butter, spice of choice, corn syrup and vanilla are all that go into these. And they couldn’t be easier to make – mix them into a paste, spread them out on a baking sheet and bake. After they are baked you can either cut them into tiny squares or make tiny balls (or not so tiny, if you are me).
Make these. Get the kids involved, or if you don’t have kids, borrow some, or get a spouse or friend to make them with you. It is fun, and you will want the help if you are rolling balls. Mine got bigger and bigger as I went along. Just pass out some aprons if you are getting kids (or mess-prone adults) in on the process – my hands were very greasy when I got done.
Note – I baked mine just a bit too long, and the edges got crunchy. I just broke the crunchy parts into shards and used them right along with the rest of the chips. Check yours before the end of the suggested baking time to see if the edges are getting too hard and dark.
I used some of mine in scones. I’ll post the recipe sometime soon, when I get it perfected. It is almost there, but I need to do another practice run or two. Sigh – we have to eat more scones. The things we do around here for the blog. I am going to use the rest of the chips in place of some of the chips in chocolate chip cookies, or maybe in muffins or pancakes or tossed with the bread to give cinnamon French toast casserole another layer of flavor. What would you use them in?
The Cook's Life 
Sarah,
This looks fabulous! I’ve been trying to find cinnamon chips around here so I don’t have to order online (and pay for shipping!), so this is a great alternative. I looked at the other websites you reference, and one had the idea of using other spices to make chips, and ginger really caught my imagination. Thanks for posting, can’t wait to try it, especially with some of my good Penzey’s spices!
Karen
Thanks, not that I can take credit for the recipe, but glad I could point you in the right direction. Let me know how you like them!
Never heard of cinnamon chips but that sure does look terrific.
Thanks so, so much, Sarah! What a great idea…and something that will actually taste like CINNAMON! I don’t care for the commercially available chips, they smell, and taste waaay too artificial. And Karen’s suggestion of ginger! OOOOH! Ginger chips! Yippee-skippee!
Laura
I wish I could take credit, but other bloggers had the idea first. I just highlighted it. 🙂
Gotcha! Boy, though…this is SUCH a neat idea…I can think of SO many different spices/favors you could do this with…even those fruit powders/flavoring oils, things like that. Woohoo! My Mom recently ordered one of those NuWave oven thingies, and this will be really easy to do, in that. I’ll let you know how any ‘experiments’ turn out!
Thanks again,
Laura
Thanks, I think I’ll try this. Julie
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I am going to try this in an apple scone recipe I am doing tonight. I do have a question about it though. How long do these keep? Should I make just enough for my recipe or can these be stored in an air tight container or frozen? I am just thinking long-term since Autumn is upon us.
I agree with the fact that something home made tastes much better than the commercial stuff and the artificial flavoring is a total turn off. I am going to make these tonight and see how it all turns out. Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
I kept the leftovers in an airtight container for a couple of weeks. They got a little hard, and they stuck together a bit, but they softened right up when I baked with them. You could probably freeze them too, though I haven’t tried it with these. I do tend to chuck most things in the freezer for longer storage.
Let me know how they turned out!
Luckily I made a double batch scone recipe but the cinnamon chips turned out great! I brought about 2 dozen apple-cinnamon scones to work today and they were gone in about 15 minutes so I think they were a hit. I’ll try making some more cinnamon chips and putting them in an air tight container in the freezer and let them sit out for a bit before putting them in a recipe to firm them up a bit. This recipe is not only cheaper than the commercial versions but tastes a LOT better to.
Thanks for posting back with your results. Glad they worked out! Yes, they taste so much better than store cinnamon chips. I think I need to make another batch and bake something with them! I never did make chocolate chip cookies with half cinnamon chips. Sounds like a perfect weekend project.
Let me know how the chips freeze!
These cinnamon chips sound awesome but I couldn’t find the measurements for the ingredients. Also I see that you used butter in yours. Other recipes I’ve seen for these call for vegetable shortening. Which do you think is better? Your recipe is the best one I’ve seen so far. Thanks.
I didn’t include the recipe since I was using Cupcake Project’s recipe almost verbatim. If you follow the link in the post it will take you to the recipe. The only change I made was to use cinnamon instead of the pumpkin pie spice. Here is the link again to make it easy: http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2012/09/pumpkin-pie-spice-chips-perfect-for.html.
The chip mixture might spread less with shortening, but I prefer using butter. I haven’t tried them with shortening, so I think you should use whichever you prefer. Hope you get a chance to make them soon!
Thank you so much Sarah for your response. I will try these and I look forward to more from “The Cooks Life.” Glad I ran across it today, It’s great! Thanks again.
I see the pics but not the recipe?? Where can I find the ingredients??
Click on the links in the post to the original recipes for either pumpkin pie spice chips or cinnamon chips.