Orange & Cardamom Xmas Cookies
Spiced. Soft. Sweet (Did I mention f**king gorgeous?) and unequivocally Xmas-y.
The most amazing thing about them is the texture. Thanks to whipping a lot of air into the butter, when baked they become crumbly and soft. They remind me very much of Mexican Mazapan in texture (If you know you know).
I know I call for a lot more spices other than Cardamom, but you’ll see why I named them the way I did. The cardamom does something special. It stands out and it makes everything perfumed. The rest of the spices here are delicious and make for a warm, intense cookie.
The part where you can take the most liberties here, is with decorating. This is the first and probably last time I call for something in my recipe that is there simply just for looks, but I think Xmas cookies should be beautiful and intentional and (let’s face it…) Superfluous.
I mean you’re not eating these for your health, if you know what I mean.
I like going with simple gold and silver colors. When casually dropped on top of the glaze it kind of reminds me of snow, but Xmas beauty is in the eyes of the Cookie Beholder… Or is it the Cookie Maker? I’ll let you decide that as well.
ingredients (Makes 20 Cookies):
For the Cookies
1, 1/2 stick of unsalted butter (Room temperature!)
1/4 cups (40g) light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cups (60g) white, granulated sugar
1/2 tbsp vainilla extract
1 large egg (Room temperature!)
2, 1/4 cups (320g) all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tbsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground Cardamom
1/4 tsp ground Ginger
1 small pinch of ground cloves
Zest of 2 Oranges
For the Glaze
2 cups icing / powdered sugar
1/4 tsp ground Cardamom
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 small pinch ground Ginger
1 small pinch Cinnamon
5 tbsp water
Golden sugar flakes
Silver sprinkling sugar pearls
instructions:
In a medium bowl, combine your butter cut into cubes, brown sugar, white sugar & vanilla extract. Using a hand mixer cream these ingredients together, stopping every minute or so to scrape the bowl and combining it with a spatula. After 6 to 8 minutes of this, the mixture should look a lot paler in color and almost doubled in size. This step is super important for the final texture of your cookie so be patient!
Add your egg and beat with the mixer once again until it looks fully incorporated.
Add your flour, baking powder, salt & orange zest into the whipped butter and using a spatula start mixing everything. It’s going to look dry, that’s ok. You’ll do the final mixing with your hands. Once the mixture looks sandy enough, turn it into a clean work surface and with your hands kneed it until it comes together.
Roll out the dough with your hands and form it into a log, about 35cm long and 7cm in diameter
Cover the log in plastic wrap and place in the fridge. You should let it rest 2 hrs minimum, but can go up to 4 days in the fridge.
When ready, preheat your oven to 420F.
Remove the log from the fridge, uncover the plastic and slice it cross-wise into 20 cookies. Each will be roughly 1cm in width.
Place in the oven in the middle wrack and let bake for 14 to 20 minutes. The best visual queue is when the very top edges of the cookies start looking a bit golden, but please know, this isn’t a cookie that expands, puffs or changes that much in color at all so you want to be observant, let smell be your best guide and usually around the 16 minute mark remove and run a cake tester if you’re unsure. As usual, cookies right out of the oven will feel soft and underdone, but remember, they harden and crisp up when resting!
In a bowl, combine your powdered sugar, salt, spices and water and mix well until a very thick glace forms. Taste it, the cardamom should be perfumy and unmistakably present.
Let your cookies cool on a wire wrack for 15 to 20 minutes.
When cool to the touch, dip the top side of your cookies in the glaze, and before letting the glace sit too long, sprinkle your decorations as well as some flaky salt on top. Leave to rest, covered outside the fridge. Cookies will last 4 - 5 days on the counter.
