Cinnamon-Candy Cookies

Halloween. Chloe wants to be Ina Garten. INA GARTEN. The Barefoot Contessa. The woman who cooks in a Hampton kitchen with ocean views and says "how easy is that" after making something that is not easy at all. Chloe's costume: a blue denim shirt, pearls, and a cookbook held to her chest. She said: "Ina makes food look effortless. That's the hardest thing in cooking — making hard things look easy." She's eleven. She's philosophizing about the presentation of effort. The girl is beyond me. The girl has been beyond me since the poached eggs.

Jayden: firefighter. Year seven. I've stopped counting. The counting was my last act of hope that the phase would end. The phase has ended the concept of phasing. It's permanent. It's identity. The firefighter IS Jayden. The costume is Jayden. The helmet is Jayden. I accept. I submit. The firefighter wins.

Elijah: a CHEF. A CHEF. He wants to be a CHEF for Halloween. He said: "Like Mama. Like Coco." Like Mama. Like Coco (his word for Chloe). The three-year-old wants to be the people he sees every day making food. The costume: a white apron (mine, tied three times around his small body), a chef's hat (paper, handmade by Chloe), and a wooden spoon. He carried the wooden spoon trick-or-treating and pointed it at people like a wand. The chef-wand. The spoon that transforms ingredients into food and strangers into family. The boy dressed as the women in his life. The boy looked up and saw: mothers and sisters who cook. And he said: that. I want to be THAT.

Trick-or-treating at the restaurant — Sarah's Table handed out candy AND cornbread bites (samples, free, because Halloween at a restaurant should include the restaurant's food and the food is the treat and the treat is the thing they'll remember). Jayden in his helmet, Chloe in her denim and pearls, and Elijah in his apron with his spoon-wand. Three Mitchell children in the doorway of their mother's restaurant on Halloween, giving away cornbread to strangers. The image. The snapshot. The thing I'd frame if I could frame the feeling of: this is it. This is everything I worked for. Not the money. Not the reviews. This. Three kids in costumes, giving food to people, in a place I built. This.

That Halloween image — Elijah with his spoon-wand, Chloe in her pearls, Jayden in his helmet, all three of them handing cornbread to strangers in my doorway — stayed with me for days after. I kept thinking about what makes food a real treat, and the answer I kept landing on was: warmth, and a little sweetness, and something that smells like a memory the second it hits the air. These Cinnamon-Candy Cookies are what I made the week after Halloween, for no occasion other than that feeling. They’re small, they’re shareable, and the cinnamon heat lingers just long enough to make you want another one — which, I think, is exactly what Ina would call effortless.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for rolling
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup Red Hots cinnamon candies, roughly crushed
1/4 cup cinnamon chips (optional, for extra spice)

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Heat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, stir together the 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon; set aside for rolling.
Mix dry ingredients. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugars. In a large bowl, beat softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla extract, mixing until fully incorporated and smooth.
Combine. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until no dry streaks remain. Fold in the crushed Red Hots and cinnamon chips (if using) with a wooden spoon.
Shape and roll. Scoop dough into 1 1/2-tablespoon balls. Roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until evenly coated. Place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Bake. Bake for 9–11 minutes, until the edges are set and the tops are just beginning to crackle. Do not overbake — the centers should look slightly underdone when you pull them out.
Cool. Let cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. The Red Hots will harden into little candy pockets as they cool.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cinnamon-Candy Cookies — The Treat They’ll Always Remember