Make Your Own Cinnamon Chips for Baking

Thursday, December 23, 2010


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I have always loved the Cinnamon Streusal Muffin Mix from Betty Crocker.  What have I loved about it?  Those little bursts of cinnamon!  This past year I bought up all the cinnamon chips in our town when they arrived on the shelves for the holidays.  I thought that I would use these as a substitute to make muffins, scones, and a copycat version of Great Harvest Company's Cinnamon Burst bread. But Hershey's Cinnamon Baking Chips from the store are ok and not exactly what I was looking for. They are way too waxy!  They are also expensive.
A few days ago I ran across a thread on a message board with a recipe to make "cinnamon chips" to use in recipes.  Well, I thought I would give them a try.  What could it hurt?  I was amazed!  This was exactly what I was looking for!  I put these little chips in some muffins, and they were just like those in the Betty Crocker mix!  Here is the recipe.  I think you might be able to substitute the corn syrup with honey or a simple syrup cooked to soft ball stage (two parts sugar, one part water). This makes a lot of cinnamon chips...I made 2-3 batches of muffins with just this one batch of chips.


 Cinnamon Chips


Heat oven to 200F. Combine:

1/3 c granulated sugar
1 1/2 TB cinnamon
1 TB solid all-vegetable shortening
1 TB light corn syrup

Mix with fork until uniform and crumbly.
Spread on foil-lined baking sheet and bake until melted and bubbly. 35 minutes.
Cool completely, then break into small pieces.

Makes 1 cup (approx)

Enjoy some cinnamon-y goodness!

NOTE: The type of cinnamon chips that this recipe makes are not like the Hershey's cinnamon chips that are waxy and melt.  These chips are more suitable for baking in muffins and bread and not for melting to make candies and the like.  I apologize if my first description of them wasn't clear.




23 comments:

calling foul said...

Thanks these look great! Now I'm tempted to try chocolate too made with cocoa powder.Hmmm

Anonymous said...

Just checking - 200F, not 200C?

Debbie said...

Yes, 200 degrees Fahrenheit

Lisa Darden said...

I LOVE YOU right now!!!! I have been looking for cinnamon chips everywhere... now I will make my own and enjoy my snickerdoodle bread!!! Thank you!!!!

princesslaura said...

I was so excited to find this substitution since we can't get cinnamon chips in stores in So. California. I've seen them in the stores in Iowa, but never here. Anyway, for whatever reason this was a huge fail. I have no idea what went wrong but it was just a mass of cinnamon & sugar, congealed together - but in the worst way. I continued ahead with my recipe (trying to make chex mix churros (http://zitzmanfam.blogspot.com/2012/03/cinnamon-churro-chex-mix.html) - and to sub this recipe for melted chips didn't make the grade.

Malena said...

I am so excited!!!! I found a recipe for churro chex mix that I am dying to try and can't find cinnamon chips anywhere! My pregnant self can't get off the craving of trying these either. I am definitely going to give this a whirl! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

The recipe you were trying to use these chips for relies on the melting of the candy in the store bought chips. I had success with that recipe by melting white chocolate chips and studding the mix with cinnamon.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this- cinnamon chips have not arrived in Saudi Arabia yet!

Anonymous said...

thank you, thank you...I live in Mexico and for sure these chips are NO WHERE to be found....so I will surely use this recipe to put in my Apple Cinnamon Scones...thanks!

Kathryn said...

Are these supposed to be crunchy hard or more soft like? I made them today and baked them until they were melted and bubbly. Then let them cool. When I broke them into pieces, they were like little pieces of rock candy. Is that how they are supposed to be or are they supposed to be more soft?

Debbie said...

Yes, they may turn out hard, but they aren't rock hard once you bake them in recipes.

Sue said...

Hi Debbie! Not sure if you are following this post still, but I'm wondering if you have ever tried to make Lemon Chips? I'm trying to duplicate Lemon Coolers and most of the chips that people have innovated are lemon in white chocolate, which isn't the effect I want. King Arthur Flour has lemon bits but they seem a bit $$$ for only 8 oz.

Debbie said...

Sue- I have never made lemon chips! I am wondering if maybe you could take like True Lemon and use that instead of the cinnamon.

http://www.amazon.com/True-Lemon-Crystallized-Fruit-Wedge/dp/B002NSE684/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1362620473&sr=8-2&keywords=true+lemon

Sue B said...

Thanks for the recipe. I'm looking forward to trying it out. I did locate the cinnamon chips in my town, but looking at the ingredients, these look much healthier, especially since I'll use non-hydrogenated shortening and whey low in place of sugar. I was just wondering, how do you store the leftovers, and how long do they keep?

Debbie said...

Sue- I have never really stored them. I use them the day of. Would be interesting to hear from you if they store well if that is what you decide to do.

Anonymous said...

I saw your post searching for a link to try to have a friend coming over to Bangkok where I now work bring me some cinnamon chips. Can't get anyone to ship here due to the hot weather. I am so excited and plan to make them this weekend. Thanks.

WHIT said...

Do you think these would work well in pancakes? My concern is that they don't cook as long as breads or other baked goods and so they might remain too hard. What do you think?

Debbie said...

Yes, I think they would work fine in pancakes.

Janice Esther Tulk said...

I tried making these tonight with honey because I don't have corn syrup and they turned out great!

Julie* said...

I buy up all the Hershey Cinnamon Chips when they come out for the holidays to make my Cinnamon Chip Biscotti. Would these work in place of the soft morsels?

Debbie said...

These would work, but they are different in their consistency. I would give them a try to see if you are ok with the difference.

Anonymous said...

Do you think using butter instead of shortening would work. I've used that substitution in other recipes.

Debbie said...

It might, but I am not really sure. I actually rarely use shortening except for maybe this recipe. I prefer butter. However, I don't know if the chips would set up correctly with butter.