What to use instead of cinnamon
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Warm sweet spice through a batter, dough or topping
Cinnamaldehyde reads as sweetness, so it lets you carry less sugar. The quantity is small and dry enough that it never affects structure.
Pumpkin pie spiceRan out
1 tsp per 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Mostly cinnamon already, plus ginger and clove. The closest single-jar answer.
Ground allspiceRan out
1/2 tsp per 1 tsp cinnamon
Clove-heavy and a little medicinal at full strength, which is why you use half.
Ground nutmegRan out
1/2 tsp per 1 tsp cinnamon
Rounder and more custard-like. Loses the sweet-hot edge that makes a snickerdoodle taste like one.
Ground cardamomRan out
1/2 tsp per 1 tsp cinnamon
Floral and resinous. Right in a Scandinavian bun, odd in an apple pie.
What doesn't work: Cinnamon extract or oil poured in by the spoon. It is many times stronger than the ground spice and carries no bulk, so you get a hot chemical burn and a streusel that never dries out.
Whole stick simmered in a liquid and pulled out
The stick gives up its oils slowly and comes out at the end, so the liquid gets the perfume without grit or cloudiness.
Ground cinnamon in a tea ball or muslinRan out
1/2 tsp per 3-inch stick
Stronger and much faster, and it will still cloud the liquid a shade. Pull it after 15 min.
Cassia bark chipsRan out
1 tbsp chips per 3-inch stick
Harsher and more medicinal, and it gives everything up in half the time.
Star aniseRan out
1 pod per stick
Liquorice rather than cinnamon. Works in a red-braised pork, wrong in rice pudding.
What doesn't work: Cinnamon sugar from the shaker. Most of the jar is sugar, so by the time there is enough cinnamon in the pot you have sweetened a braise past rescuing.
Supermarket cinnamon is usually cassia, which is bolder and hotter. If you swap in Ceylon, use about a third more or the dish tastes bare.