What to do with a LOT of cinnamon?

Cafe Society
1

So my wife does this meal-swap thing where she makes 5 meals, saves one for us, freezes the other four, and swaps them with other wives in the group.

Recently she did one of the “breakfast” ones, and she made cinnamon rolls. The recipes in aggregate needed a pretty fair amount of cinnamon- like a third to a half cup.

So we bought a container at Sam’s Club, and now that she’s done, we have about 3/4 of it left.

What can we do with what looks like a cup and a half (or so) of middling quality ground cinnamon? I’m sure we’ll end up with a bunch of apple galettes, since apples are currently in season, and she makes a bad-ass version. We’ll probably end up using some of it to make her dad more cinnamon rolls around Xmas or Thanksgiving, but that still leaves us an absurd amount of cinnamon that we have to use over the next six months or so before it becomes sawdust.

Any ideas?

2

Take a small jar and mix cinnamon in with some sugar (I like Demerara). Sprinkle it on buttered toast for breakfast or tea.

Add some to your coffee, especially if you drink it with milk/cream and sugar (again, I like raw sugar with my coffee).

Remember that it’s essentially ground tree bark, so it won’t dissolve in the coffee. Use it sparingly.

3

It makes an interesting (but good) chili.

Ground beef, red kidney beans, celery, and onions with cinnamon, cumin, and chili powder. I’ll post the recipe when I can find it. (I’ve made it so many times I don’t follow it, just using what looks like the right amount of spices).

4

Yeah… Cincinnati chili (beanless) is great too. :o

5

Yea, pretty much the same as that, but I don’t use the cheese or spaghetti, like a lot of Cincinnati style chili.

6

Two words: cinnamon challenge.

7

Make ornaments to hang on your tree and give some to everyone you give gifts to this Christmas.

8

It won’t lose its flavor as fast if you keep it in the freezer.

You can add it to hot chocolate to make Mexican chocolate.

You can sprinkle it on butternut squash.

9

You can sprinkle it on vanilla ice cream, too.

10

Maybe I’m just a slobbering drunk but I didn’t find that hard at all.

11

Make applesauce. Once you make your own, you’ll never buy it again.

12

The life of spices is greatly underestimated. It’ll be fine for much longer than 6 months, unless you bought really, really low-quality cinnamon (in which case it’s probably not fine right now).

I wouldn’t worry about using it up quickly.

13

Winter pot pourri - take a teaspoon or so of cinnamon, some cloves and whatever else is in the spice drawer in that family and put it in a small pot on the stove with some water and let it simmer. I always have mandarin oranges around Christmas, so I toss the skins in, too. Makes the house smell nice, no chemicals, and then I toss it all into the compost when I’m done.

14

Make some more cinnamon buns and send them to Dopers?

15

It’s that “Tone’s” brand that they sell at Sam’s Club in 18 oz containers. It’s actually pretty fresh, based on its pungency. By “middling quality”, I meant more that it’s not called out as a specific sort (Tung Hing, Korintje, Saigon, Ceylon… yes, we do shop at Penzeys for spices), but rather is generic, and inexpensive enough to be sold for a little more than $5 per 18 oz container.

I’m definitely going to do the cinnamon sugar thing; my 4 year old son is on quite the cinnamon toast kick, and seemed to really enjoy the little bit of cinnamon and sugar I sprinkled on a sub-par pear that I gave him the other day.

16

TWSS.

17

Cinnamon and honey is one of my favorite ice cream toppings.

You can also use a tablespoon of cinnamon mixed with a tablespoon of cumin and some salt and pepper to season roast vegetables. I do it every 2nd or third time I make a roast chicken.

18

Sounds like a good base for mulled wine! :o

19

Maybe you should ask Unauthorized Cinnamon.

20

Like, Eureka, I want to mention making ornaments, too. Here’s another recipe (among many on the internet) if you want to give it a try.