Cinnamon Butter Cookies

I have just finished baking 2 dozens cinnamon butter cookies, better known as raivas in Portugal. A specialty of the Beira Litoral region of Portugal, these crunchy cookies are easy and fun to make with these five basic ingredients:

ingredients for cinnamon butter cookies
All purpose flour 2 cups
Cinnamon 1 tsp
Unsalted butter, softened ¼ cup or ½ stick
Sugar ½ cup
Eggs 3 large

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

    Adding egg, one at a time, to start a dough for raivas

  • Mix flour and cinnamon together and set aside.

  • Cream softened butter and sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Then add eggs, one at a time. Blend it in well after each addition.


    Ready to add flour to form a dough for raivas

  • Fold in the flour mixture using a spatula. Then knead the dough on a slightly floured surface by folding it over on itself until it is smooth.


    Shaping cinnamon butter cookies
  • Divide dough into 24 pieces of approximately equal weight. Work with one piece of dough and keep the others under a piece of plastic to prevent moisture loss.


  • Cooling raivas on wire racks
    Roll each piece into a rope about 20-inches long and form a circle. After placing the circle on a prepared cookie sheet, push its sides in toward the center in an irregular pattern.


  • cinnamon butter cookies or raivas
    Bake until they are slightly puffed with a deep golden color and firm to touch. It should take about 12 – 15 minutes depending on your oven. If the heat of your oven is strong at the bottom, you may want to stack 2 cookie sheets together.


  • Transfer the entire parchment paper with cinnamon butter cookies on it to wire racks to cool. Store these crunchy raivas in an airtight container.

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