Cardamom Cookies

[shanmonster]

I wanted to bake today, but I wanted to try something completely different. So I went peeking around the internet and found a recipe for cardamom cookies. I accidentally put a bit too much cardamom in, but it wasn't disastrous; it was just strong. So next time, I'll ease up a little.

Cardamom has a gorgeous scent, and even the uncooked dough had a wonderful fragrance.

Here's the recipe, as adapted from Craig Claiborne's Cardamom Cookies:

• 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
  
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
  
• 1/2 cup softened butter
  
• 3/4 tsp ground cardamom
  
• 1 tsp baking soda
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 1 cup demerara sugar
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
  

• Heat oven to 350F.
  
• Sift flour and cream of tartar together into a medium bowl.
  
• In a large bowl, cream butter, cardamom, baking soda and salt.
  
• Add sugar and beat until well combined.
  
• Beat in egg and vanilla.
  
• Gradually stir in flour mixture.
  
• Shape dough into 1 inch balls and flatten them slightly with the palm of your hand onto a parchment lined baking sheet. They will spread a bit, but not too much, as they bake.
  
• Bake for 10 minutes, until cookies are a light, golden brown. Let them rest on the baking sheet for several minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
  

My balls are always bigger than what's called for in recipes. Heh.... So I ended up with about a dozen and a half nice-sized cookies instead of those 45 mini biscuits.

The demerara sugar I used was the organic version, which has a dry texture, like the raw sugar packets you might find at a Starbucks or some such shop, and not the wetter texture like a regular brown sugar. This gives the cookies a bit of a sandy texture, which is quite nice. I'm willing to bet a wetter sugar would produce a squishier cookie.

Here's a picture of how they turned out:

Comments

[ltmurnau.livejournal.com]

I have an ancient box of Gillett's in the cupboard. I'm going to try these this weekend!