By Beth Sollars (Singingirl Cooks!)
A couple of weeks ago when I bought that really expensive jar of cardamom for the Indian Inspired Dinner, I vowed to find ways to use it. After reading a little about this exotic spice and the ways in which it makes baked goods so delicious and curries so fabulous and coffee so spicy tasting, I started not to feel so bad that I had put my Pug's favorite treats on the back burner for this jar of cardamom. Just Kidding!!! I'll have people calling the Pug Rescue Society for saying that. Since I had made my Aunt Rose's cookie recipe in the past, I knew that with just a touch of cardamom, it would send them over the top awesome. So, on with the recipe for Cardamom and Orange Butter Cookies, and I just know Aunt Rose won't mind that I renamed them. If, however, you don't have cardamom, don't want to spring for the jar, or the cardamom pods and grind it yourself, then make these cookies without the cardamom. Aunt Rose did.
Here is the quick recipe, but below the quick recipe is the step-by-step with pics!
QUICK RECIPE:
CARDAMOM AND ORANGE BUTTER COOKIESA.K.A. AUNT ROSE’S ORANGE BUTTER COOKIES
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Juice of 1 large orange (approx. 2 1/2 ounces)
3 cups of flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
A big 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add orange juice and mix well.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom. Add gradually to the butter mixture until everything is incorporated.
Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350° and set the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Just dust the baking sheet with flour. Spoon heaping teaspoons of cookie dough onto the baking sheet, making each as much the same size as possible. Or, if you have a handy mini-scoop for cookie dough, use that, which would make them all perfectly equal in size. Don’t crowd, 9 or 10 at a time. Bake on the middle shelf for fifteen minutes or just until golden brown on the bottoms. Remove to a rack to cool.
When cooled completely, make a mixture of a few spoonfuls of apricot preserves thinned with a few drops of orange juice. Brush this over the cookies as a glaze. You can mix in some finely chopped walnuts also. Or make a simple chocolate glaze with confectioners sugar, cocoa and milk until drizzling consistency. These cookies can be frozen and decorated at the time you are going to serve them. They are equally delicious plain.
STEP-BY-STEP:
Begin by preheating the oven to bake at 350° and setting your oven rack in the middle of the oven. Now, dust your cookie sheet with flour, no need to grease it or coat with cooking spray.
Spoon heaping teaspoons of cookie dough onto the baking sheet, making each as much the same size as possible. Or, if you have a handy mini-scoop for cookie dough, use that, which would make them all perfectly equal in size. Don’t crowd, 9 or 10 at a time.
Dust the bottom of a glass with flour and tap the cookies to flatten slightly. You don't have to flatten it out, just a tap. Or, you can just drop the dough from a spoon if you like.
Bake these on the middle shelf of your oven at 350 degrees for somewhere between 13 and 15 minutes. Don't overbake.
When the cookies are cool, decorate the tops with the apricot glaze and finely chopped nuts. Or (not shown) make a simple chocolate glaze with confectioners sugar, cocoa and milk until drizzling consistency.
This is how the bottoms should look, nicely browned, and the tops will still be light.
You can decorate now and consume every last one of them, or you can freeze them undecorated and finish them at the time you serve.
Don't these just look good enough to eat??? I don't think my dear Aunt Rose would have minded at all that I added cardamom to this recipe.
So Yummy ...
So good!
Now go bake some delicious cookies for you and your family!
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