Dorie's Sugar Cookies got Cardomized!

Cardomized sounds a little scary. But you know what I mean right? It's when I take a perfectly good recipe and have the audacity of sprinkling cardamom all over it. I can't help it. I have a cardamom addiction! 

When I was looking to test out basic sugar cookie recipes, I decided to start with Dorie's and I was not disappointed. These are not too sweet, so they are the perfect blank canvas to paint all your colourful icing (awesome fail-proof  recipe coming soon!) dreams, being sandwiched between chocolate ganache, ducle de leche or nutella, you can add chopped nuts, zest, extracts, chocolate chips, shredded coconut, dried fruits....or cardomized and sprinkled with a little cardamom sugar. 

I made these for that poor little teddy. He deserves it after being gnawed at, drooled over, tossed around and in other ways completely manhandled by my little monkey. I was going through the little one's stuff to put away things he's outgrown or no longer uses- onsies, tiny t-shirts, that pretty pastel blanket from his God Mom and that blue one I started knitting as soon as I knew I was expecting a winter baby, looking up basic knitting stitches on youtube video tutorials! That's when this little guy looked up at me sadly and I though he is probably the most loved yet most ill treated teddy ever, and deserved some cookies, though the greedy fellow ate them all himself! Really!

After I ate  the teddy ate an obscene amount of buttery, cardamomy cookie dough,  I chilled and rolled the dough out in a large zip lock bag and this made it exponentially easier to roll and cut them using my favourite cookie cutter, though the slice and bake method where you roll the dough into a long thin log and slice off rounds to bake, is even easier. Since this dough freezes well and you don't even have to thaw it to bake, It's great to keep a few logs in the freezer for whenever the cookie craving hits and in minutes you can have freshly baked cookie awesomeness!

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Magpie's Recipes Cardamom Sugar Cookies

Recipe Source: They brilliant Dorie Greenspan from here 

Total time taken ( excluding time to chill): 25 mins Servings: Makes about 50 cookies 

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour ( I used unbleached All purpose flour) 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature ( if you are using salted butter, just skip the salt mentioned above) 
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cardamom seeds powdered (my addition, not part of original recipe, you can add the spice of your choice) 
• Sugar or sugar mixed with a pinch of cardamom powder, for dusting (optional)

Method:

• Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together in a small bowl and mix with a spoon or whisk.
• Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for a minute or so, until smooth. 
• Beat in the sugar and continue to beat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and pale. 
• Add the egg and yolk and beat for another minute or two; beat in the vanilla. 
• Reduce the mixer speed to low and steadily add the flour mixture, mixing only until it has been incorporated.
• If you overmix after the flour has been added the cookies may become hard so stop the mixer before all the flour is thoroughly blended into the dough and finish the job with a rubber spatula or lightly with your fingers just until the dough is soft, silky and squishy
• Turn the dough out onto a counter and divide it in half. If you want to make roll-out cookies, shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic ( I put the discs in a large gallon sized zip lock bag- much easier than dealing with sticky cling wrap) 
• If you don't want to mess around with cookie cutters and want to make easy slice-and-bake cookies, shape each half into a log or chubby sausage shape which Dorie makes about 2 inches in diameter ( you can make the log thinner for smaller cookies, if so you may want to reduce the baking time) 
• Whether you're going to roll or slice the dough, it must be chilled for at least 2 hours. (Well wrapped, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)
• Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
• If you are making roll-out cookies, working with one packet of dough at a time, roll out the dough between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper ( I rolled them out in the zip lock bag after cutting open two of the sides) to a thickness of 1/4 inch, lifting the plastic or paper and turning the dough over often so that it rolls evenly. 
• Lift off the top sheet of plastic or paper and cut out the cookies — I like a 2-inch round cookie cutter for these. Pull away the excess dough, saving the scraps for rerolling, and carefully lift the rounds onto the baking sheets with a spatula, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cookies. 
• (This is a soft dough and you might have trouble peeling away the excess or lifting the cutouts; if so, cover the dough, chill it for about 15 minutes and try again.) 
• After you've rolled and cut the second packet of dough, you can form the scraps into a disk, then chill, roll, cut and bake.
• If you are making slice-and-bake cookies, use a sharp thin knife to slice the dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, and place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches of space between the cookies.
• Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheet at the midpoint. The cookies should feel firm, but they should not brown much, if at all, and just have barely golden edges.
• Remove the pan from the oven and dust the cookies with sugar or cinnamon sugar, if you'd like. Let them rest for 1 minute before carefully lifting them onto a rack to cool to room temperature.
• Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.
• Storing: The cookies will keep at room temperature in a tin for up to 1 week. Wrapped well, they can be frozen for up to 2 months so you have a stash in your freezer to keep for cookie emergencies :) 

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I had rolled some quite thin and those became crisp and snappy. The ones that were rolled a little thicker puffed slightly and were softer we liked those better. I think the cardamom definitely sets them apart from regular sugar cookies and would like to try a little lemon or orange zest mixed in next time. I also recently made these with a fabulous glaze icing that I will post here soon!


Here are the cake suggestions that came in from for my brithday cake-a thon where I ask you for ideas to bake my own birthday cake that's coming soon!


Divya Kudua fellow chocoholic said: "The Perfect birthday cake for me has to be chocolate!"

Jar Dee Ling confectioner, baker, idea collaborator (who I am going to start a bakery with as soon as she moves to California) suggested a vertical layer cake that I am beyond excited to discover.Thanks J!

Vimitha Anand said..


"Fabulous flavorful cake... I would suggest a Chocolate truffle cake.." 

Vimitha, you know me well girl! 

Do you have a super cool cake in mind? Leave a comment and let me know please!