Cinnamon Jumbles with Icing: Perfect for a Tea Party
Sneak Preview: Cinnamon Jumbles (aka Jubilee Jumbles) with Browned Butter Icing is a modern rendition of an old-fashioned soft cinnamon cookie with a cake-light texture. You’ll love the frosting.
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What if you could walk into your grandmother’s house right now and go to her cookie jar? What would you hope to find?
I always looked for these Cinnamon Jumbles. Oh, how I wish I could walk into my Grandma’s kitchen right now and grab a couple. These cookies taste similar to hers, but they don’t look like hers did.
She dropped big blobs of dough on the cookie sheet. The lumps tended to grow together as they baked. So she cut them into squares. They were rather ugly–but still delicious.
Grandma wrote her recipe on the back inside cover of one of her cookbooks. It looks like she called them “Jubilee Jumbles.” I found a similar recipe in a Betty Crocker Cookie Book entitled “Cinnamon Jumbles.”
Five Reasons Why You Will Treasure These Cookies
- These cookies are soft like teacakes.
- Who doesn’t love a touch of cinnamon?
- Frosting makes any cookie better.
- Brown butter frosting takes these cookies over the top.
- This old-fashioned recipe has been updated with substitutions for shortening and evaporated milk. They taste even better, in my opinion.
Try them for yourself. Frosted Cinnamon Jubilee Jumbles go down r-e-a-l easy.
Happy Bakers Speak Up
“I actually made these cookies… and they turned out GREAT!!!!!! I was scared about browning the butter, but it was so simple! My kids love them, and their friends at school love them…apparently they share homemade cookies from their lunchboxes.” — DER
.
How Are These Soft Cinnamon Cookies Different from Snickerdoodles?
Cinnamon is the star ingredient in both Snickerdoodles and Cinnamon Jumbles. However, the differences are significant.
- Snickerdoodles are chewy and crispy, especially when warm. They tend to flatten out as they cool. Cinnamon Jubilee Jumbles are cake-like, soft, and tender and hold their shape like a little teacake.
- My Cinnamon Jumbles always have icing, in this case, Browned Butter Icing. Not everybody frosts these cookies, but I highly recommend it. The frosting dresses them up and makes them a bit sweeter.
- Traditional Snickerdoodles don’t have icing. They don’t need it since you roll them in a cinnamon-sugar mixture before baking.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- FLOUR: Substitute bleached all-purpose flour for unbleached flour in a one-to-one ratio.
- BUTTER: The original recipe in Betty Crocker Cooky Book called for hydrogenated shortening, as in Crisco. Since many people don’t want to use it, real butter works just as well and tastes better. I don’t recommend using butter substitutes.
- BUTTERMILK: If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, try one of these substitutions.
- Use plain, unflavored yogurt (2% or whole milk). Add milk until it is the consistency of buttermilk and measure as you would buttermilk.
- A well-known substitution for buttermilk is one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice added to enough milk to measure 1 cup. Stir and let it stand for a few minutes before adding it to the recipe.
- Do you have sour cream in your fridge? You have everything you need to make a buttermilk substitute! You can swap out buttermilk for a mixture of equal parts sour cream and water, whisked together until smooth. —Foodess.com
- SUGAR: My preference is 100% granulated white sugar. As you can see in Grandma’s recipe, she used part brown sugar and part white sugar. Using brown sugar will make a darker-colored cookie and increase the moisture. Not a bad thing.
Variations
Valentine’s Day Cookies
Sprinkle the wet icing with colored sugar: Red or pink for Valentine’s Day or Christmas, green for St. Patrick’s, and orange and black for Halloween.
Another way to add variety is by using different flavors, such as chocolate or plain white powdered sugar icing. Try adding food coloring to white icing to match your party theme.
Eggnog Cookies
Substitute eggnog for the yogurt or buttermilk. Instead of baking soda, use one teaspoon of baking powder. When making the icing, use eggnog in place of the cream. In addition to the cinnamon already specified in the recipe, add 1/8-1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg.
Other variations
Variations abound on the internet. Take a look: Applesauce Jumbles, Coconut, Butterscotch, Orange Cream, and Chocolate Cream Jumbles. Some people add chocolate chips, dried fruit, or nuts.
How To Make Cinnamon Jubilee Jumbles
How To Make Brown Butter Icing
Parting thoughts: Did your grandmother make these cookies in some form or another? Have you ever tried them? If so, please tell me what you think in the comments below.
More Recipes for Frosted Cookie Lovers
Help at Your Fingertips: For questions or suggestions, email Paula at saladinajar.com. If you need help, I’m happy to troubleshoot via email (faster than leaving a comment). Attach pictures and as many details as possible for the best advice.
Simple Cinnamon Jubilee Jumbles with Brown Butter Icing
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Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- ½ cup (114 g) unsalted butter
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large (50 g) egg
- ¾ cup (170 g) buttermilk or unflavored yogurt thinned with milk to the consistency of buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose unbleached flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Browned Butter Icing
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Cream 1/2 cup (114 g) unsalted butter, 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar, and 1 large (50 g) egg.
- Stir in 3/4 cup (170 g) buttermilk and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
- Blend in 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose unbleached flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Combine until you can’t see any flour.
- Chill the dough in the freezer for about 30 minutes or 1-2 hours in the refrigerator.
- Preheat oven to 400˚F (200˚C).
- Use an ice cream dipper to drop 1 tablespoon of dough onto a lightly greased baking sheet, or use parchment paper or Silpat to cover the baking sheet.
- Bake at 400˚F (200˚C) for 8-10 minutes. When barely cool, ice with Browned Butter icing.
Brown Butter Icing:
- Melt 1/2 cup (114 g) unsalted butter (do not substitute margarine) in a small skillet using low heat on the stove till golden brown. Be careful not to burn. (If any solids turn black, start over.) Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- Start out by adding about 1 tablespoon of milk into the butter. Stir in 1½ cups powdered sugar and beat till smooth. Add milk as you go in very small increments until it will spread easily but not so thin that it drips. Because icing becomes thick as it cools, stir in a small amount of extra milk if necessary to make icing spreadable. If you get it too thin, let it sit for a while or add more powdered sugar.
- Leftover icing is good on graham crackers or animal cookies.
Nutrition
All images and text ©️ Paula Rhodes for Salad in a Jar.com
Paula Rhodes, owner
As a retired home economist, I created Saladinajar.com to share my belief that you don’t have to be a chef to find joy in creating homemade food worth sharing. Bread machines (used in an unconventional way), homemade yogurt, and quick microwave recipes are my specialty.