Cinnamon Spelt Tea Biscuits

I enjoy attending events during the Holidays and baking special treats. I brought these Cinnamon Tea Biscuits and some Lavender and Orange Biscotti to a Christmas Tea and they were a big hit. However, I think these biscuits would be a nice treat anytime not just during the Holidays.

These crunchy biscuits are sort of an updated version of old-fashioned English tea biscuits. They’re not the fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth Southern biscuits that I grew up eating. However, I must say I really like them. They’re not too sweet or rich. The combination of cinnamon and butter makes the perfect accompaniment for tea or coffee. They taste great warm or room temperature.

These biscuits are also fun to make. I made my version with Spelt. They are rolled out and folded over similar to how we folded the Pocketbook Rolls last month, but those rolls were round and these are square. Those were fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth rolls. These biscuit rolls crunch in your mouth, but the crunch gives them substance. They are very enjoyable.

Cinnamon Spelt Tea Biscuits

Makes: About 1 dozen 3” biscuits or 20 smaller biscuits

Adapted from: Biscuit Bliss: 101 Foolproof Recipes for Fresh and Fluffy Biscuits in Just Minutes by James Villas

Ingredients:

1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups white Spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled butter, cut into bits
2/3 cup almond milk
additional butter for topping

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with spray oil and put it aside. Mix the cinnamon and brown sugar together on a plate and set it aside.

2) Whisk together the rest of the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt, in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter bits and cut them in the flour with a pastry cutter. Mix until the mixture is mealy.

3) Add the milk and stir the mixture just until a soft dough forms.

4) Transfer the dough to a lightly-floured surface and knead 3 to 4 times.

5) Roll out the dough to about 1/3-inch thick and cut out 3-inch squares. I decided that 3 inch squares were a little too big so I cut the squares in half.

6) Fold the squares in half, then press the top into the prepared sugar-cinnamon mixture. Arrange the squares on the prepared baking sheet. Generously sprinkle the tops of the squares with more cinnamon sugar and dot each square with a little bit of butter.

7) Bake the biscuits on the center rack of the oven until they are glazed, about 15 minutes. Serve them hot or at room temperature.