Cinnamon sugar is a mixture of ground cinnamon and granulated sugar used as a spice to flavor foods such as Belgian waffles, Snickerdoodle cookies, tortillas, coffee cake, French toast, and churros. [1] [2] [3] It is also used to flavor apples, cereals, and other fruits. As McCormick describes cinnamon sugar, "it’s the comforting scent of Sunday morning cinnamon toast and mid-summer’s peach cobbler...the aroma of the holidays, with cinnamon cookies and spice cake." [4]
It is not known when the term "cinnamon sugar" first came about. Some books, like Bernard Fantus's "Candy Medication" in 1915, mention it. Fantus writes about "red cinnamon sugar" as one of the products created for medical purposes. [5] But others, like an 1891 book of vegetarian cooking, do not. The latter book, in describing a recipe for apple custard, describes how "a little cinnamon sugar can be shaken over the top" is the appropriate topping. [6] Apart from this, one of the earliest uses of the term "cinnamon sugar" is within the "book of cookery" used by Martha Washington and her descendants, purchased by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1892. In a recipe for stewing warden's pears, the spice mixture is directly mentioned: "Boyle them first in faire water, then pare & stew them between 2 dishes of cinnamon sugar and rose water, or the same seasoning you may put them in a pie and bake them." [7]
In 1846, Charles Elme Francatelli, a British cook of Italian descent, published a cookbook in which he described shaking "some cinnamon sugar" on the surface of "cherry bread" (a British bread), German "Kouglauff," a German tourte of apricots, and on a brown-bread soufflé. [8] 18 years later, in 1865, J.E. Tilton's cookbook talked about how the create the spice mixture, recommended that it be on eggs, and baked with as a possible replacement of "vanilla sticks." [9] By 1881 J.E. Thompson Gill's cookbook still recommended how the mix could be made, but recommended it be applied on pound cakes instead. [10] 17 years later, in 1898, a cooking encyclopedia would refer to the spice mixture when talking about cinnamon sticks and other desserts. [11] In 1907, Hotel Monthly published a cookbook that mentioned cinnamon sugar as a topping for French Baba, a type of cake. [12] This was followed by the National Baker writing, in 1913, about the sprinkling of this mixture on "Parisian Cake." [13]
During the 1920s and 1930s, the term "cinnamon sugar" was used in reference to cooking, primarily recommended as a garnish on desserts. [14] [15] While this spice mixture was mentioned in The New Zealand Journal of Agriculture in 1955, [16] it would primarily appear in U.S.-publications, like the Illinois Rural Electric News in 1959, [17] American Home in 1964, [18] and the American Sugar Crystal Company's Crystal-ized Facts in 1967. [19] In the 1970s and 1980s, the spice mixture was integrated into many cookbooks, and other publications, becoming a common topping for dessert dishes. [20] [21] [22] [23] By the early 1990s, cinnamon sugar within books about early childhood education and in a cookbook of the fraternity Beta Sigma Phi. [24] [25]
In the 21st century, while the term has remained as staple of cookbooks, mostly when it comes to desserts, [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] including vegan recipes. [31] [32]
This spice mixture has not only been used to flavor funnel cakes and other treats, but it has been mentioned in patents and as part of recipes. [33] [34] [35] [36] The latter is where many results of the term derive, as the term "cinnamon sugar" is often used in cookbooks. [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] This spice mixture has also been used in scientific studies about bean flour, a natural remedy of cinnamon sugar to "treat" dermatitis, and others, while being part of the promotional materials of companies like King Arthur Flour. [42] [43] [44] [45] There is currently a propellant developed for astronauts which has the moniker of "cinnamon sugar." [46] Poems have mentioned the spice mixture as well, like Nancy Gillespie Westerfield's 1976 work, which talks about how the main character toasted her bread with the spice mixture, reminding her of "sweet things" from her girlhood, or Mel Vavra's 2001 work, which poses the protagonist as "a Cinnamon-Sugar girl." [47] [48]
In the United States cinnamon and sugar are "often used to flavour cereals, bread-based dishes, and fruits, especially apples," while in the Middle East cinnamon is "often used in savory dishes of chicken and lamb" and in the preparation of chocolate in Mexico.[ citation needed ] In South Africa there is a famous dessert pastry called melktert which is "lightly flavoured with cinnamon sugar." [49]
Dessert is a course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as candy, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly savory to create desserts. In some parts of the world there is no tradition of a dessert course to conclude a meal.
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit, nuts, fruit preserves, brown sugar, sweetened vegetables, or with thicker fillings based on eggs and dairy. Savoury pies may be filled with meat, eggs and cheese or a mixture of meat and vegetables.
Dough is a thick, malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops. Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes yeast or other leavening agents, as well as ingredients such as fats or flavorings.
Cheesecake is a dessert made with a soft fresh cheese, eggs, and sugar. It may have a crust or base made from crushed cookies, graham crackers, pastry, or sometimes sponge cake. Cheesecake may be baked or unbaked, and is usually refrigerated.
Shortcake generally refers to a dessert with a crumbly scone-like texture. There are multiple variations of shortcake, most of which are served with fruit and cream. One of the most popular is strawberry shortcake, which is typically served with whipped cream. Other variations common in the UK are blackberry and clotted cream shortcake and lemon berry shortcake, which is served with lemon curd in place of cream.
Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as a ginger snap.
Apple cakes are cakes in which apples feature as a main flavour and ingredient. Such cakes incorporate apples in a variety of forms, including diced, pureed, or stewed, and can include common additions like raisins, nuts, and 'sweet' spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg. They are a common and popular dessert worldwide, thanks to millennia of apple cultivation in Asia and Europe, and their widespread introduction and propagation throughout the Americas during the Columbian Exchange and colonisation. As a result, apple desserts, including cakes, have a huge number of variations.
Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine is the typical and traditional fare of the Pennsylvania Dutch. According to one writer, "If you had to make a short list of regions in the United States where regional food is actually consumed on a daily basis, the land of the Pennsylvania Dutch—in and around Lancaster County, Pennsylvania—would be at or near the top of that list," mainly because the area is a cultural enclave of Pennsylvania Dutch culture.
Biscotti, known also as cantucci, are Italian almond biscuits that originated in the Tuscan city of Prato. They are twice-baked, oblong-shaped, dry, crunchy, and may be dipped in a drink, traditionally Vin Santo.
Apple crisp is a dessert made with a streusel topping. In the US, it is also called apple crumble, a word which refers to a different dessert in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Carrot cake is cake that contains carrots mixed into the batter.
Jumbles are simple butter cookies made with a basic recipe of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. They can be flavored with vanilla, anise, or caraway seed used for flavoring, or other flavoring can be used like almond. They were formerly often made in the form of rings or rolls.
Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during the Renaissance, possibly in Spain. The sponge cake is thought to be one of the first non-yeasted cakes, and the earliest attested sponge cake recipe in English is found in a book by the English poet Gervase Markham, The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman (1615). Still, the cake was much more like a cracker: thin and crispy. Sponge cakes became the cake recognised today when bakers started using beaten eggs as a rising agent in the mid-18th century. The Victorian creation of baking powder by English food manufacturer Alfred Bird in 1843 allowed the addition of butter to the traditional sponge recipe, resulting in the creation of the Victoria sponge. Cakes are available in many flavours and have many recipes as well. Sponge cakes have become snack cakes via the Twinkie.
Applesauce cake is a dessert cake prepared using apple sauce, flour and sugar as primary ingredients. Various spices are typically used, and it tends to be a moist cake. Several additional ingredients may also be used in its preparation, and it is sometimes prepared and served as a coffee cake. The cake dates back to early colonial times in the United States. National Applesauce Cake Day occurs annually on June 6 in the U.S.
A banana cake is a cake prepared using banana as a primary ingredient and typical cake ingredients. It can be prepared in various manners, including as a layer cake, as muffins and as cupcakes. Steamed banana cake is found in Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian and Vietnamese cuisine. In the Philippines, the term "banana cake" refers to banana bread introduced during the American colonial period of the Philippines.
Pie in American cuisine has roots in English cuisine and has evolved over centuries to adapt to American cultural tastes and ingredients. The creation of flaky pie crust shortened with lard is credited to American innovation.