I grew up with these cookies. The unique flavor makes these cookies one of my all time favorite. Cardamom is an uncommon spice in many baked good, but it is the most common spice in Norwegian baking.
Norway consumes almost 30 times more cardamom per capita than the median country. It is commonly found in holiday foods and sweets like Krumkake. Krumkake is a sweet thin cookie rolled into a cone shape. Cardamom appears in a Norwegian cookbook in the 1500s with recipes nearly identical to those of the Moorish people. Due to the fact that Norway is located on the fringes of the continent, recipes, food culture, and spices do not change often. They tend to rely on historic and medieval culture rather than updating to current western food cultures.
Learn more about the history of Cardamom in Scandinavia here!
The sweet and savory flavoring is the perfect balance for a dessert. I remember eating these cookies growing up since they are also one of my mom’s favorite cookie and were a staple in my house. I created this recipe one one day when I was craving the flavor. I highly recommend trying this recipe to see if you prefer cardamom in sweet treats or savory dinners.
Let’s make our Cardamom Cookies!
Making these delicious cookies, you have to first soften 8 tablespoons of butter. This is so that the butter will cream better with the sugar, preventing lumps. Add the softened butter to your stand mixer (I prefer a kitchen aid, but any mixer will work). If you have to mix by hand, be prepared to get a work out. Add in the 3/4 cups of light brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar. In a mixer, on medium speed, cream butter and sugar for about 5 minutes to create a light color. By hand, this will take a lot longer.
While this is mixing, mix your dry ingredients (1 3/4 Cups All purpose flour, 2 Tbsp Dry non-fat milk powder, 1 1/4 tsp Kosher salt, 1/4 tsp Cinnamon, 1 tsp Cardamom, 1/2 tsp Baking powder, 1/4 tsp Baking soda) in a large bowl with a whisk or fork. It may not seem like a lot of cardamom for a cardamom cookie, but it is enough.
Preheat your oven to 375°F. I reposition my oven rack to be toward the middle so I get an even bake on my cookies.
Next, add the 1 egg and the extracts (1/2 tsp Vanilla extract, 1 tsp Almond extract, 1/4 tsp Orange extract) to the stand mixer and turn the speed back to medium for another 3 minutes. It should turn a glossy, light yellow color.
After the 3 minutes, turn the stand mixer to low and add 1/3 of the dry ingredient mixture. Mix for 10 seconds. Repeat twice and turn off the mixer as soon as the dry ingredients have been incorporated. Do not over mix.
Place your silicone baking mats (or parchment paper) on your baking tray. Create 1-1/2 to 2in golf balls with the dough and place them on the tray approximately 1-1/2 inches apart. If you have a 1-1/2in cookie scoop, use that.
Once the oven is preheated (DO NOT PUT THEM IN EARLY), place the tray inside and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and place cookies on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
ENJOY!
Cardamom Cookies
Equipment
- 2 baking trays
- 2 silicone baking mats May use parchment paper
- 1 cooling rack
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 8 Tbsp Unsalted butter Softened
- 3/4 Cup Light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 Cup White sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Almond extract
- 1/4 tsp Orange extract
Dry Ingredients
- 1 3/4 Cups All purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp Dry non-fat milk powder
- 1 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Cardamom
- 1/2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/4 tsp Baking soda
Instructions
- Begin by mixing (or creaming) your butter and sugars for 5 minutes. This should allow the mixer to combine and lighten in color.
- While this is mixing, put your dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix them together with a whisk or fork.
- Now add the egg and extracts to the butter and sugar and mix for another 3 minutes until it turns into a glossy light yellow color.
- Put the stand mixer on its lowest setting and add one third of your dry ingredients. Mix for ten seconds and repeat two more times. Turn off as soon as you stop seeing dry ingredients.
- Position your oven racks in the middle and preheat to 375°f.
- place your silicone baking mats or parchment paper on your baking tray. Start to portion your dough into 1 1/2 to 2 inch golf balls and line them up on your baking trays. If you have a cookie scoop then obviously just use that. There should be 12 on each tray.
- Once the oven is preheated, (DO NOT PUT THEM IN EARLY!) Place the trays in the oven and set a timer for 10 minutes.
- Remove trays from the oven and, using a spatula, move each cookie to cooling racks. Let cool for 10 minutes.
