--- Appreciate the glory of a sticky bun filled with butter, sugar and cinnamon in Beautiful Baking with Juliet Sear, Mondays 7.30 pm on SBS Food and then on SBS On Demand. Catch her cinnamon rolls in episode 4 on August 24 ---
The sweet-spice combo of sugar and cinnamon is always winner, whether it's the sweet sugary crystals clinging to a warm doughnut, a dusting of spiced sugar on top of a cake, or a rich, sticky cinnamon-sugar caramel inside a cinnamon bun.
You're already imagining licking your fingers, aren't you? Here are nine of our fave recipes that bring together these two essential baking ingredients.
Cinnamon sugar churros
Tossed in cinnamon sugar while still warm, these Spanish doughnuts are served with a rich, bitter-sweet chocolate sauce.
Crème Catalan with cinnamon churros
Double the cinnamon-sugar joy with this one: here, the cinnamon sugar doughnuts are dipped in crème Catalan (similar to a creme brulee) which also boasts sugar and cinnamon among its ingredients.
Fried cinnamon ice-cream
Multiple layers of cinnamon sugar and cornflake crumbs coat these Mexican deep-fried ice-cream balls. Drizzled with honey and served with hot they are a festival of a hot shell, cold centre and crunchy golden crust.
Danish apple cake (Æblekage)
This wonderful cake is made with repeated layers of buttercake batter, apple and cinnamon sugar. Serve it at room temperature or warm, for dessert, with thick cream or ice-cream.
Doughnuts with cinnamon sugar (bomboloni)
These Italian doughnuts are made with milk, egg and butter enriched dough; the hot cooked doughnuts are rolled in cinnamon sugar. "Make sure you make more than you think you’ll need as they disappear very quickly," says Jade Amenta, and you can see why!
Vegan warm Spanish doughnuts
Doughnuts for those who are dairy-free! Served these indulgent doughnuts stuffed with quince paste, or with a rich dairy-free chocolate pate. Dusted with cinnamon sugar, they're a winner either way.
Finnish cinnamon rolls (korvapuusti)
A filling of butter, sugar and cinnamon is wrapped up in a cardamom-spiced yeast dough to create these Nordic scrolls.
Cinnamon buns, take 2
The shaping is a little easier for these cinnamon rolls, which star in Beautiful Baking with Juliet Sear. The sweet buttery yeasted dough buns are baked in a tray, nestled together, and the butter, cinnamon and sugar filling ("lots of butter, so I can really load it up with the cinnamon sugar!" says Sear) forms a sticky toffee inside, and on the bottom of, the buns. You'll be licking your fingers as you eat these!
Spiced maple nuts and seeds
There's a lot more than just cinnamon and sugar going on here, but we had to include them because they are so insanely good. The nuts and seeds and held together in gloriously sweet-spicy clusters, redolent with cinnamon, nutmeg, chilli, brown sugar, maple syrup, butter and sea salt.
Grilled pineapple with cinnamon sugar and mint
A buttery brown sugar, salt and cinnamon syrup is brushed onto pineapple wedges, which are then grilled to create a hot, sweet tropical dessert. And if you'd like the try the same idea with a bit a kick, try this grilled chilli and cinnamon pineapple.
It's not that common in Western cooking to mix sweet and savoury but the soft texture and mild flavour of eggplant makes it surprisingly good for a sweet-savoury mashup.
