Cinnaswirl Cookies with Spiced Glaze

A friend of mine asked for a cinnamon swirl recipe that wasn't too fattening but didn't taste like sawdust.  A challenge for any learning cook such as myself.  But god do I love a challenge.  We all know that by changing a few teeny ingredients you can make a recipe lower in fat/calories, but we also know that changing things from an established recipe can end in disaster.  The best advice I ever heard was to treat cooking like a chemistry experiment.


My tester batches were strange, I had puffy swirls that refused to rise, I've had ones that ballooned, ones that burnt, and ones that crumbled apart.  If that doesn't give you the utmost confidence in this recipe, I don't know what will.  Then, Saturday, I think I got the mixture just right, and out of the oven came...cookies.


I tried again, and another batch of cookies came out...

COOKIES?!  I was after pastry, but what ever!

But then we all had one, and actually, they were the best batch so far.  The fact that they had risen made the end result airy, crumbly and crunchy.  So, not quite what my friend asked for, but I can guarantee that they are lovely, and around 120 cal per biscuit, (if my calculations are correct) not exactly the 300+ that you can get from a bakery swirl.


So here it is:  Cinnaswirl Cookies


Ingredients you will need, DOUGH:
1 1/2 oz light butter, cut into small cubes
8 oz strong plain flour
1 tablespoon wholemeal flour
10g fast action dried yeast
1 egg, beaten with a teaspoon vanilla essence
3fl oz warmed milk (not boiling)
squeeze of golden syrup
1 teaspoon salt


Ingredients you will need, FILLING:
3oz light butter, softened
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 oz light brown sugar
2 oz currants or sultanas

Ingredients you will need, GLAZE:

4 oz granulated sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup /corn syrup

2 tsp mixed spice

3fl oz warm water.

Sift the flour & salt into a bowl and stir in the yeast.  Rub in the chopped butter with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs and sticks together when pressed.  Add in the egg, golden syrup & milk and mix for a few minutes until it forms a dough.  Knead for 5 minutes until everything is soft & combined.  Roll into a ball, lightly grease with a little butter and leave to stand in a warm place for about an hour.  Like so:

Whilst that's rising, you can start on the filling.  Take the butter, cinnamon & sugar and cream together until everything is combined, there should be no lumps & it should be light & fluffy.  Cover it over and leave in a warm place.  Like so:

 One the dough has risen, punch it down lightly for about a minute to release the air. Then carefully roll it out into a rectangle about 20 cm long and 30cm wide.  Spread the filling you prepared earlier over the dough leaving about a inch border around the edges. Sprinkle over the currants or sultanas evenly.  Then roll the dough from one of the longer edges and press down the ends to seal it.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 / 200°C.  Now cut the roll into 18 slices and place them onto a greased baking sheet.  Cover them and let them stand for 30 minutes.  They should rise slightly.

Pop them in the oven for 25-30 minutes until they start to brown and crisp.  Whilst they are in the oven, pop all the ingredients for the glaze into a saucepan and cook on high until the sugar dissolves & the mixture starts to thicken.  You must constantly stir this mixture or it will burn incredibly fast!  It takes around 15 minutes to get to glaze consistency, if you don't have a sugar thermometer (you should, they're handy!) it's done once a drop of it turns to thread in a cold glass of water but is not able to be shaped.  If you do have a sugar thermometer, it needs to get to 223-235°F on the dot.

Once the cookies are done, remove them from the oven and drip the glaze over the top and leave to cool for about 10 minutes.  The glaze will turn cloudy as it cools.

Serve!  As usual, the feedback is appreciated, I'm loving the pictures you're sending!