Some people say that cinnamon is a holiday spice but I disagree with that. In our house cinnamon is an every-day-spice and used in various recipes all around the year. These sweet cinnamon rusks are highly addictive so be sure to make a big amount of them while you are at it!
This recipe is inspired by a picture of some cinnamon cookies I saw in one of my mother’s cookbooks many years ago. That recipe contained butter, egg and perhaps also milk. It can be a challenge to veganize recipes without it affecting the flavor to much but in this particular case I had never even tried the original version. First I copied the recipe from my memory, without really knowing all the ingredients and the correct amounts. That resulted in some very delicious and crisp cinnamon rusks, instead of cinnamon cookies, which was more than fine because I loved them!
After being staple food in my pantry for a few years, I wanted to veganize the recipe for the rusks. I have tried a few different combinations to replace the egg and butter in it and I have finally found the perfect combination that doesn’t change the flavor nor the texture. Replacing the butter for oil, instead of margarine, was a given although it meant adjusting the amounts a little. The egg was a bit trickier without complicating it to much and without using ingredients that were hard to find. I decided to try soy cream together with a small amount of vinegar and that was it! Sometimes you just know. Soy products, just like eggs, contains lecithin which is an emulsifier and because of this has great baking properties. You may replace egg, with different soy products, in many dishes and get great result. I added vinegar for better volume. Vinegar makes the rusks rise better, just like eggs would, so the combination of soy cream and vinegar is true winner!
Sweet Cinnamon Rusks
- 1 2/3 dl cup caster sugar
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil (for example coconut or canola oil)
- 2/3 dl soy cream
- 4 dl wheat flour
- 1 millilitre vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- a big pinch of pure vanilla powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- pinch of salt
Garnish
- 1 tbsp cinnamon powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
Method:
- Whisk together the sugar and soy cream. Add the vegetable oil and vinegar and keep whisking until everything is blended.
- Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and add it to the wet mix. Form a dough and wrap it in cling film, then leave it inside the fridge for 30 minutes.
- While you are waiting, heat the oven to 175°C and mix the ingredients for the garnish in a small bowl.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and shape small balls that you roll in the sugar-cinnamon mix until they are completely coated in sugar and cinnamon. Place the balls on a baking tray dressed in baking paper and bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven, until the rusks are golden brown. Turn off the heat and open the oven to let some of the heat out for a minute then close it again. Leave the rusks inside the oven, until it cools, for a more crisp texture.
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