Christmas Sparkling Cinnamon Shortbreads Recipe

Sparkling Cinnamon Shortbreads; a perfect little bite of Christmas flavours, in a buttery shortbread, with hardly any effort! 

Recipe courtesy of the wonderful Kelly Cletheroe of Maverick Baking.

One of the best parts of the festive season is how many extra chocolates, biscuits and treats we all have lying around.

We tend to see more of family and friends at this time of year than any other, and that’s as good an excuse as any to have extra delicious food in the house. Homemade treats are no exception, especially when they involve minimal effort.

A great new yuletide spin on a classic British biscuit; these Sparkling Cinnamon Shortbreads are a perfect little nibble to have ready for parties, gatherings or just for your family to snack on in front of some good Winter telly. They are perfectly bite sized and unbelievably easy to make.

Buttery, melt in the mouth shortbreads, laced with seasonal cinnamon and dusted in a sparkling sugar coating. Everyone will love these little biscuits, from greedy Granddads to picky little kids. You can even whip up the dough up to 3 days before you need to bake them, perfect for when you’re short on time!

Serve these up on some cute little Partyrama Christmas plates, with some glittering tinsel and plenty of novelty confetti, and you’ll be ready for a festive fiesta!

To make these delicious Sparkling Cinnamon Shortbreads, simply follow the recipe below.

Ingredients:

• 150 grams plain flour
• 75 grams soft dark or light brown sugar
• 100 grams soft unsalted butter
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• Handful of caster sugar (for decoration)

Instructions:

1.  Mix all the ingredients, except the caster sugar, together until a dough begins to form a clump. You can use a bowl and spoon or a food processor for this.

2. Tip the mixture out onto a clean surface and knead gently for about 30 seconds until a smooth dough forms.

3. Use a sharp knife to slice the dough ball into two even parts.

4. Take the first half and roll it into a cylinder, about 3cm / 1¼ inches in diameter. Make sure the ends are flat.

5. Do exactly the same with the other half of the dough.

6. Roll the cylinders up in pieces of clingfilm, twisting the clingfilm at the ends, like a Christmas cracker.

7. Pop the rolls of dough into the fridge to chill for about 45 minutes to firm up.

8. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4.

9. Remove the chilled dough cylinders from the fridge and unwrap them from the clingfilm.

10. Slice them into even slices, at around 1cm or ½ inch thick.

11. Arrange the shortbread rounds on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Don’t worry too much about spacing them out as they shouldn’t spread while baking.

12. Bake in the oven for 15–20 minutes. They may look or feel under-baked but they will firm up as they cool!

13. Remove from the oven once baked.

14. Shower the shortbreads in caster sugar while still warm to evenly coat them in a sugary sparkle.

15. Allow the shortbreads to cool before eating.

16. Enjoy!