I really like baking but with my work schedule, I don’t have much time during the weekday evenings to do much. I wanted to welcome several colleagues who were coming into town this week with some sweets. I typically will bake something…  so at 10pm Monday night – I took this on.

First of all, I used the typical tollhouse cookie recipe (here is one online version by Very Best Baking). What is great about this recipe is that it is tried and true … Always a crowd pleaser. And gives us all a chance to reminisce of childhood.

That said – I couldn’t just leave the recipe be. I wanted an interesting and tasty ingredient. Recently, I went to the Dutch Country Market in Laurel, MD. Among all the spices I loaded up on (… So you know, the spices come in round plastic container – wide enough to hand pinch spices as needed.  so great.), I saw these cinnamon drops on the shelf calling my name.

So, in lieu of the typical chocolate chips in the tollhouse recipe, I used two cups of the cinnamon drops. In order to make these crunchy cookies, I baked them directly on a dark metal pan. My favorite are the non-stick Le Creuset square pans. The cookies come right off after baking. So easy.  Doesn’t the scoop below look so delicious?  I want to eat it.

There is something about simplicity that makes several dishes so enjoyable. The cinnamon drops melted into the cookies giving them a lovely aroma and a taste of spice. The cookie melted in my mouth. Needless to say, I made some colleagues pretty happy with a simple twist to a classic recipe.

Crunch. Melt. Smile.