Make Orange Cardamom Cookies the new star of your cookie tray! Every year I strive to find my new *favorite* Christmas cookie and this year I decided to use a spice that is all too often overlooked: cardamom.
What is Cardamom?
If you have never had cardamom, you are missing out. It is made from the pods of seeds that come from the plants that belong to the ginger family. It has a light peppery flavor with hints of lemon and mint which means it pairs well with citrus of all kinds.
It’s flavor lends itself extremely well to both savory and sweet dishes such as curries and garam masala spice mixes as well as chai spice mixes and other desserts.
Two Types of Cardamom
There are two types of cardamom that grow in different regions of the world: green and black. Both are sold as whole pods (which contain the seeds), seeds, as well as ground.
For baking purposes and especially for cookies, ground is typically the best thing to buy.
There is actually a third, white cardamom, but it is just green that has been bleached.
Orange Cookies
I decided to use orange as it is abundant this time of year and blended with cardamom it is the perfect mix of sweet, spice, and everything nice. What more do you need from a slice and bake cookie?
Slice and bake Orange Cardamom Cookies are a fabulous idea for a cookie exchange idea or to keep in the freezer for unexpected visitors. Bright and just the right amount of sweet, they are the perfect thing to pair with a cup of tea or coffee.
Slice N Bake
We all love baking around the holiday season, but sometimes you are short on time which is where this variety of cookie excels. It is one of my absolute go-to’s for the simple fact that you can make it days ahead of time.
You can make the dough and wrap it up and leave it in the fridge or even pop it into the freezer. When guests are on their way, all you have to do, as the name suggests, is slice and bake. Voila, warm cookies with minimal effort.
Super simple, it is one of my hostess with the mostess tricks of the trade. Not only that, but the scent of these cookies will fill your kitchen with the most beautiful and warm smell. What a way to greet your guests during the holidays!
How to Make
ONE. Sift together the dry ingredients. Sifting seems like an unnecessary step, but don’t skip it. It will cut down on the amount of time you need to mix your dough and also evenly distribute the leaveners.
TWO. Beat butter well and then cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and light in color. Add egg through cardamom and mix well. Get them all good and mixed before you add the flour so you don’t have to overmix and create more gluten and add air, which leads to dry, frail cookies instead of soft ones.
THREE. Add flour mixture until just combined.
FOUR. Form cookie dough into a log about 12-14 inches long and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Dough will be very soft. My best advice is to pour it onto the plastic wrap along an edge and then wrap it up, forming the log as you go. It might have a lot of bumps and this is ok, as it starts to harden, you can roll it on the counter or another hard surface to make a perfect circle.
Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours but up to 5 days. If freezing, double wrap with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil.
FIVE. When ready to bake (thaw if frozen), preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut cookie dough into 1/4 inch disks and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Cookies will spread, so make sure they have some room.
SIX. Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned and puffy. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Oven temperatures and cooking times vary greatly.
Please start to watch them at the 9 minute mark so they don’t over cook. Centers will still look a little tacky, but edges will be light brown.
Storage & Freezing
Baked cookies need to be stored at room temperature in an airtight container. They will be best enjoyed within a week.
Cookies can also be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Tools:
- Stand Mixer- While this is an investment, I can guarantee you will use it more than you realize and will never regret the decision.
- Zester and Juicer– Another kitchen necessity! Whether it be a savory or sweet recipe, every house needs a way to zest and juice citrus. Also great for making cocktails!
More delicious dessert ideas!
- Lemon Cardamom Cake
- Peppermint Macarons
- Chocolate Bacon Saltine Toffee
- Christmas Cake Mix Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Almond Cream Cheese Cups
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Orange Cardamom Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter ,room temperature
- 1 egg
- zest of one orange
- 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 1 teaspoon black ground cardamom
Instructions
- Sift together flour through salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and light in color. Add egg through cardamom and mix well.
- Slowly, add flour mixture until fully combined.
- Form cookie dough into a log about 12-14 inches long and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Dough will be very soft. My best advice is to pour it onto the plastic wrap along an edge and then wrap it up, forming the log as you go. It might have a lot of bumps and this is ok, as it starts to harden, you can roll it on the counter or another hard surface to make a perfect circle.
- Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours but up to 5 days. If freezing, double wrap with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil.
- When ready to bake (thaw if frozen), preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut cookie dough into 1/4 inch disks and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Cookies will spread, so make sure they have some room.
- Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned and puffy. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Cooking times vary based on your oven, so watch them closely and remove when centers are tracky and shiny.
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or ratings.
Nutrition
Fine apart from recipe doesn’t state where to add the orange in, shame.
Hi Rebecca, actually step #2 clearly state to add “egg through cardamom” which would include orange zest and orange juice, hence the word THROUGH. So, nope, not a shame.
I made these cookies with gluten free flour and they were absolutely perfect. Just cook them about 1/2 the normal time. Thanks for a new favorite Christmas cookie recipe.
Thank you for the feedback!
The flavor of these cookies is delicious. I did end up with quite a soft dough and had to put it in the fridge before forming it into a log. The cookies came out like thin, crispy butter cookies (not like in the image). Any tips on what may be going wrong? The ingredients listed 2 Tb of orange juice but then didn’t list in in the instructions- should this not be added into the dough? Thanks!
Hi Susan, The cookies are pretty thin, it is a little difficult to to tell in the images. The orange juice is added in step #2, “add eggs through cardamom”, that includes the orange juice.
My only question would be about the butter- was it room temperture or did you melt it by chance? Butters can also have different water contents, using a good quality butter can provide less water and more butter fat, resulting in less loose doughs and batters. But if you need to chill before forming into a log, that works too. As long as you chilled for long enough before slicing and baking, you should be good.
I attempted making the orange cardamom cookies. I wanted a simple slice and bake cookie in addition to the several others this holiday. This recipe is complete and utter rubbish. You could never form the batter into a log as the recipe is written. I’ve added so much flour and I still can’t form a log. I’ve got an ewey gooey mess from what was supposed to be easy. You ought to be ashamed for calling this simple slice and bake.
H Donia, I am sorry it didn’t work out for you, but I make these all the time and I am NOT ashamed. Maybe your butter was too soft? Was it a humid day? There are a lot of reasons that doughs can go wrong, but calling me a liar isn’t a good one. I hope you have a festive and bright holiday season.
My favorite sweet treat for the Holidays is for sure frosted sugar cookies. They’re delicious and so much fun to decorate too! Thank-you for this generous chance. 🙂
I love to make pumpkin rolls!
Dark chocolate cheesecake is one of my favorites to bake during the holidays,
We love to make cookies and fudge! Yummy!
My favorite are my grandma’s fudge covered crescent cookies. But there have to be sugar cookies too!
I love making Mounds Bars!