Valentine Cinnamon Heart Cookies

Not all great cookies are soft and chewy.  Valentine Cinnamon Heart Cookies are thin and crispy with a soft, sweet center. And, they’re packed full of everyone’s favourite cinnamon candy!

VALENTINE CINNAMON HEART COOKIES

I think most of us have a love/hate relationship with cinnamon hearts.  When I was younger, I didn’t like them much at all. I thought they were too spicy and hot.  I guess over the years, my mouth has become more accustomed to hot and spicy flavours. In my adult years, I quite enjoy a cinnamon heart or two every once in a while.

I’ve always known these little confections to be called cinnamon hearts. However, it seems that most people know them as red hots.  I thought red hots were the jellybean type candy that tasted like cinnamon.  I can’t keep it all straight anymore, Dear Reader!

DO YOU CALL THEM CINNAMON HEARTS OR RED HOTS?

But, according to Old Time Candy.com, they’re both the same thing!  The site states that, “Red Hots are small hot cinnamon flavored candies that are sometimes called cinnamon imperials.”  I stand corrected, I guess.

Well, the point of all of this is that no matter what you call them, they are a hard candy that has an intense cinnamon flavour.  They offer a great deal of cinnamon flavour to these Valentine Cinnamon Heart Cookies. No ground cinnamon or cinnamon extract needed!

SOFT AND CHEWY OR FIRM AND CRISPY?

Now, these might look like any old cookie, but I think they’re rather special.  You see, unlike most cookies, these are firm – hard – crispy!  I love a soft and chewy cookie just as much as the next guy. But, in some cases, a soft and chewy cookie will just not do!

I think it would be unfair to the cinnamon heart to surround it with a soft and chewy cookie dough.  It might also be a little risky to the one eating the cookie!  Imagine if you bit into the cookie and it was all soft and chewy. And, then you bit down hard on a cinnamon heart!  Hello dentist; goodbye money!

HOW TO CRUSH CINNAMON HEARTS

Okay, let’s talk about crushing these cinnamon hearts.  Let me tell you, Dear Reader, these things are not easy to crush.  I was so tempted to use my food processor to crush them. But, the last time I crushed hard candy in a food processor – even on pulse! – the candy became pulverized too quickly.

I tried the candy using the Ziploc bag approach.  I pushed the air out of the bag and sealed it.  Then, I laid the bag flat on a cutting board and proceeded to beat the hell out of it with a wooden rolling pin.  Sounds like a great way to get your aggression out, doesn’t it?  Well, Dear Reader, it ain’t!

These candy will easily puncture a Ziploc bag. Before you know it, there’s little shards of cinnamon red hearts all over your counter top and the floor.  After so much frustration, John.e suggested I use our pestle and mortar.  It worked ridiculously well!  I was able to add a few candies at a time and tap them individually.  I ended up with cinnamon heart candy halves and quarters rather than cinnamon heart candy dust.  Score!

Maybe your food processor is better than mine.  Or, maybe you use a better quality Ziploc bag.  Who knows!?  Just break up the cinnamon hearts and try your best not to crush them into too many small pieces.  When all was said and done, I had a quarter cup full. I tossed it into the cookie dough – candy dust and all!

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