The delightful gooey cinnamon squares from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook won the voting contest as this week's "idea poll" recipe. I'm late posting about them, because leave it to me to promise the internet I would have something posted by Wednesday evening, and then come down with a cold and be sick in bed by 5pm on said Wednesday. It seems a little ironic that I've gone ages without being sick and even avoided catching colds from the multitude of people who had them this winter, only to come down with one now that I set a deadline for myself. Anyhow, back to these gooey cinnamon squares...
Every single recipe I've ever made from Smitten Kitchen has turned out beautifully. In fact, the success of Deb's recipes in my kitchen was a contributing factor to why I didn't start a blog earlier. My reasoning was, since Deb's recipes are so perfect (her instructions are clear, her writing style is cozy, her food is delicious, her photography is gorgeous), why would I bother? Well, the answer to why is here, and my blog gives me an excellent opportunity to highlight Deb's cookbook as one that will undoubtedly earn its place on my bookshelves.
Gooey cinnamon squares drew my attention for two reasons. Firstly, because Deb describes them as being a bit like a snickerdoodle in bar form, and I love soft snickerdoodles. Secondly, I have a friend who hates lemon bars because he grew up in St. Louis and thus he expects all things that look like lemon bars to actually be gooey cake. Lemon bars aren't gooey cake, and so he hates them for getting his hopes up. I'd never heard of gooey cake before listening to his rant against lemon bars, but apparently it's kind of a big deal in the St. Louis area. Like some of the best cakes, gooey cake was born out of a kitchen mix-up, thrift, and a baker's curiosity about how the mistake would taste. It turns out that if you bake a thin buttery cake layer covered by a sugary, buttery, less cake-y layer, you wind up with a melt-in-your-mouth cake topped by a crackly caramelized sugar crust. Obviously, gooey cake was a hit and it's now a bakery staple in the Midwest.
Happily, I was able to time testing this recipe with a visit to said St. Louis-raised friend and he told me these gooey cinnamon squares are even better than the gooey cake from St. Louis bakeries. He wasn't the only fan - I brought these to work and they were quickly devoured. These are rich and buttery, with a caramelized sugar-cinnamon crackle top; Deb's recipe is a mash-up of snickerdoodle and gooey butter cake perfection. The recipe yields a substantial number of cookie bars, so these are perfect for bringing to large events like potlucks, picnics, dinner parties, brunches, work, and bake sales. They're also perfect for rainy days, long walks on the beach, random cookie cravings, and any excuse I can think of to bake these more often. 
Gooey cinnamon squares are quite easy to make and take just 30 minutes to prepare. First you make a cookie base, which is essentially a soft sugar cookie dough. Cream together your butter and sugar, add egg and milk/cream until combined, then mix in the dry ingredients. This cookie base is then spread out in a 9-by-13 inch cake pan. I found it somewhat difficult to spread out the cookie base in the pan. The dough sticks to the spatula, clumps together, and lifts the parchment paper with itself as you try to move it around. I settled for a mostly even layer, and gave up on filling in the edges entirely. In retrospect, I expect it would be easier to dollop the cookie base onto the parchment paper in small clumps, including at the edges, and then spread it out into one even layer from there. I found a butter knife to be the best tool for spreading the dough, rather than the offset spatula I started with.
Next, you make the gooey layer by again creaming butter and sugar (and salt) together until fluffy. Then you add an egg and mix until incorporated. Finally, you alternate adding in flour and a whisked-together mixture of cream, vanilla, and corn syrup. This is dolloped over the cookie base, then the whole thing is sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. The different ratios of butter:flour:sugar:egg:milk in the two layers yields a final product with two distinct layers: the bottom layer is cake-like, while the middle layer is the sweet, rich, buttery, "gooey" part of gooey cake, and the crackly top is similar to the lid of a crème brûlée. The whole thing is baked for about 35 minutes in my old oven, but took only 25 minutes in my new oven. Don't overbake these, otherwise the gooey layer will bake completely and you'll wind up with a cohesive fluffy cookie bar (which isn't bad, but it's not nearly as good). These need to rest at least 1, but preferably 3, hours before serving.
Leftovers will keep tightly-wrapped at room temperature for 3 days or they could be slice and frozen in a single layer for up to 3 months.
Gooey Cinnamon Squares
Ingredients
Cookie Base
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons milk*
- 2 tablespoons cream*
Gooey Layer
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
- ¼ cup cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
Assembly
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9-by-13-inch cake pan with parchment paper, allowing ends to hang over by 2 inches. Coat with butter or nonstick spray. Set aside.
Cookie Base
- Stir together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the egg, cream, and milk, beat until combined.
- Stir in flour mixture until just incorporated.
- Dollop the dough into the prepared pan, ensuring you get some near the edges. Use a butter knife even out the dough dollops into a flat base surface, then set aside.
Gooey Layer:
- Whisk together the corn syrup, cream, and vanilla in a bowl and set aside.
- Cream butter, sugar, and salt until fluffy.
- Add the egg and beat until combined.
- Add the flour and corn syrup mixture alternately, mixing each time until all ingredients are incorporated.
- Dollop over the cookie base and spread into an even layer.
Assembly
- Mix together the sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle evenly over the gooey layer.
- Bake until edges have set but center is still jiggly and gooey, about 25-35 minutes, depending on your oven. (They took 33 minutes in my old oven, 25 minutes in my new oven.)
- Let cool completely, about 2 hours.
- Lift from pan using the parchment; cut into 1-inch squares.
- Store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
Original recipe calls for whole milk, but I only had nonfat milk and cream. I used a half-and-half mixture of the two for the base and all cream for the gooey layer. It turned out quite well, but feel free to adapt back.
