Friday, December 2, 2011

Cardamom Crescents become Cardamom Cookies due to laziness; delicious taste unaffected

Updated on Dec. 21, 2023

When I bake, I forget about the fancy stuff.
   Generally, I avoid anything that calls for piping icing or cookie dough, I’m not keen on layer cakes, and I don’t usually decorate beyond spreading on required glaze or icing.
   I also have little patience for making things tiny and delicate and properly shaped, which is why my Cardamom Crescents (click for the recipe) from the December 2011 issue of Bon Appetit magazine were served as Cardamom Cookies.
   The recipe calls for bending pieces of dough into crescent shapes, which I grew tired of very quickly and instead shaped the pieces into small circles before baking.
   Luckily taste is not affected by shape. Cardamom Cookies, as I shall henceforth call them, are delicious.
   The ground cardamom gives these fragrant, shortbread-like cookies an extra somethin’-somethin’. People will eat them and know there is cinnamon present, but wonder about the extra dash of deliciousness. Let 'em know it’s cardamom!
   The cookies receive a generous coating of powdered sugar (also known as confectioner’s sugar or icing sugar), which add some extra flavor and make them look nice and wintery.
   Needless to say, these are lovely cookies to serve during the holidays, and are certainly family-friendly.
   They’re very easy to make.
   Powdered sugar and pecans are combined in a processor and pulsed until a coarse meal forms.
   Butter and vanilla are beaten together until creamy, then the nut mixture and a mixture of cardamom, cinnamon and kosher salt are added and blended well. A soft dough will form; transfer to a work surface and knead into a ball.
   To shape each cookie, a tablespoon of dough is formed into a ball, rolled into a log, then gently bent into a crescent shape (or be lazy like me and gently pat the top of a piece of dough into a circle).
   After baking, the warm cookies are rolled gently in powdered sugar to coat, then transferred to a wire rack to cool.

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