Orange Cardamom Cookies

This is a variation on the childhood favorite – the Snickerdoodle.  I’ve also found it listed (in Christopher Kimball’s The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook) as “Snipdoodles,” which I think I like better, name-wise.

Since the start of school, I’ve been trying to several different batches of cookie dough, freezing portions of it and then baking whatever strikes my fancy any given week.

I made, among other things, a batch of Snickerdoodles (or Snipdoodles) recently, and my kids, Bill, and the kids from across the street all liked them very much.  There’s something really nice about a simple cookie rolled in cinnamon sugar.

So the other day I was thinking of the next batches of cookie dough to make, and I wanted something kind of plain, like the Snicker/Snip-doodles, but…different. 

I played around in my mind with flavor ideas, and then I happened to glance at the two oranges in a bowl on the dining room table.

Hmmm…orange.

So…orange…and what?  Cinnamon is too easy.  I thought of cloves – like when you stick whole cloves all over an orange?  Smells so good…but maybe a bit over the top for a simple cookie.  I scanned the other spices I have, and – aha!  Cardamom!  Perfect.

So here’s the recipe I came up with. 

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

finely grated zest of 2 small oranges

 

1/4 cup milk

3 T granulated sugar

1 tsp ground cardamom

Okay, here’s what you do:

Whisk the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt together in a bowl.   Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using a hand-held mixer) combine the butter and sugar until light and creamy. 

Add the orange zest and combine.

Add the eggs, vanilla, and the milk. 

The mixture may look curdled at this point, but don’t worry, it’ll be fine.  Add the combined dry ingredients and mix until just blended – don’t over mix.

Chill the dough for a couple of hours or overnight.  You can, if you want, make logs of the dough and wrap them in parchment, then store them in the freezer for several months.

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment.

Combine the 3 T of sugar and the ground cardamom in a small bowl.

If the dough is still in a bowl, use a spoon to scoop the dough – I used about a heaping teaspoon or so of dough per cookie – and roll it into a ball. 

Roll the ball of dough in the sugar/cardamom mixture and place on your cookie sheet.  (Julia is always happy to help.)

Repeat with the rest of the dough.  Leave an inch or two of space between each ball of dough – they will spread a bit when cooking, but not too much.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes.  You don’t want them to darken, so take them out when they’re just starting to turn golden around the edges.

Allow to cool a bit before eating.

We all really liked these.  In fact, I think, if I hadn’t put my foot down, the kids would have eaten them all instead of dinner. 

I’d say that’s a favorable review.