These cardamom cookies are one part exotic flavors and one part comfort food. Infused with pistachios, they're perfect for dunking in milk and fancy enough to serve at high tea.
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What is cardamom?
Cardamom is a spice made from the seeds of a particular family of plants, native to India.
In fact, India was the world's largest producer of cardamom until the late 20th century, when it's growing popularity led other countries to increase production.
Cardamom has a unique flavor and aroma that is hard to describe. It has a bit of citrus flavor - like lemon or orange - combined with an earthy, woodsy quality.
The distinctive flavor complements both savory dishes, like traditional curries, and sweet desserts - like these cardamom cookies!
Making Cardamom Cookies
As with the chai shortbread cookies I shared a while ago, these cookies are wonderfully fragrant, thanks to the addition of lemon zest and cardamom.
And I think, in addition to their beautiful buttery taste, it's the scent of lemon and cardamom that makes them so good that it's difficult to stop at one.
This recipe is very simple, as far as cookie recipe go. The only real secret here is to use high quality ingredients!
The cardamom itself is the most critical ingredient to get right. When I'm able, I like to buy mine at a local Indian grocer. I find I get the best prices there and I can count on it being really flavorful and aromatic.
I've also had good luck with the Simply Organic brand spices.
Whichever brand you choose, be sure to check the date. Spices truly do lose flavor over time - so this is not the time to dig out that expired bottle from the back of your pantry.
If you can't smell the cardamom anymore - it's not going to taste very good in your cookies.
The other important ingredient here is the pistachios! Most grocery stores carry pistachios these days.
Personally, I like to buy the pre-shelled kind. It saves me a ton of time, and saves my fingers from the pain of peeling all those nuts!
Just a note, if you are going to make these cookies, and you should, the fragrance and full flavor isn't fully realized until the day after baking.
They really need a day for the cardamom and lemon zest have time to really infuse their heady aroma. Alternately you could make the dough a day ahead and refrigerate it overnight before baking.
To dunk, or not to dunk, your cardamom cookies?
Are you a dunker?
Dunking or dipping cookies, or biscuits as my Australian friends call them, is something many of us love.
In fact, mention dunking among a group of friends and it's likely to raise debate over the best ways to dunk, and the best drink to dunk your cookies in.
For me that is without doubt a cup of tea. For my hubby it's coffee, and for others it might be milk, or even an ice cold glass of coke. (Eck!)
While dunking a cookie in coke isn't something I'm likely to try anytime soon, did you know there is scientific proof that dunking actually makes cookies taste better?
A while ago I came across this article, where the one and only inquisitive Heston Blumenthal set out to prove, scientifically whether or not dunking really does impact flavor. And it does! We were right all along.
So next time you're looking for something sweet to dunk- why not give these buttery, crumbly and fragrant pistachio and cardamom cookies a try?
More Recipes
If you love these cardamom cookies, be sure to check out these other desserts featuring cardamom:
- Blood Orange Madeleines with Pistachio and Cardamom
- Pear, Chocolate & Cardamom Cake
- Caramelised Orange and Cardamom upside-down cake
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 230 g butter, room temperature, 2 sticks
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup confectioner's sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, heaped
- zest of half a lemon
- ½ cup pistachios, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Add the flour salt, confectioner's sugar, lemon zest, cardamon and butter to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until a dough forms.
- Add the pistachios and pulse again until combined.
- Remove from the food processor and roll into a log of roughly 6cm (2½ inches) in diameter and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight to allow the cardamon and lemon zest to fully infuse.
- Preheat oven to 190 celsius (375 Fahrenheit) and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Slice the dough into 24 cookies and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges begin to golden.
- Cool on the baking tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Hannah says
Oooh these look fantastic for dunking! I personally think shortbread is the best for dunking as it seems to soak up all the flavours better. But you can't beat tim tam slamming 🙂
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says
Jennifer, these are perfect cookies. I love pistachios and I'm very fond of cardamom too.
Sarah | The Sugar Hit says
Shortbread cookies are the IDEAL cookie for dunking - the ultimate. And these look gorgeous.
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
Oh I'd dunk these in coffee! Beautiful shortbread.
Rosa says
Lovely cookies and gorgeous flavor combination! I'm sure they are quite addictive.Cheers,Rosa
thelittleloaf says
I'm not a dunker as I have a weird thing about soggy food (odd, I know!) but I do love a good biscuit and these subtly spiced biscuits look divine.
Claire @ Claire K Creations says
Does using them as an edible ice-cream scoop count as dunking? That's my first choice!
Tess Singh says
Hi, am making these as part of Diwali celebrations (cardamom and pistachio big indian flavours!). I usually make shortbread with some cornflour - would that work in this recipe, or totally not necessary? And I would SO dunk these in tea!
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Hi Tess, 🙂 I usually add cornflour to shortbread as well, and while it does give shortbread more of a melt in the mouth texture, however I didn't think it was necessary. It depends on how you like your shortbread though 😀 Let me know how they turn out!
Tess Singh says
These are my new go-to Shortbread recipe! Yum yum yummo! I unfortunately could not get a hold of any pistachios, so made the slight adjustment to pecan and chai spice, but following your exact recipe otherwise. Big Hit. Thanks, Jennifer 🙂
K.C says
Hi Jennifer, what is the conversion from cup to grams for flour? Thank you. Can't wait to try this recipe.
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
I have a handy conversion chart here. 150g of flour is roughly 1 cup of flour. There is also a handy flour conversion calculator at Traditional Oven which is worth bookmarking. I hope that helps. 🙂
K.C says
Thank you! I had the ingredients ready and had started to make the cookies when I posted the question from Australia. Went online and found a conversion which called for 125 g of flour per cup before I got your reply. I added saffron with the dough. Cookies were too soft to handle but hardened up in a day. Beautiful, both in colour and flavour! Need to make another batch soon. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Linda O’Leary says
I bake at least a dozen kind of cookies every Christmas. My repertoire includes at least 25 kinds of cookies and I change up what I bake from year to year. This is my favorite of all my recipes. These are easy to make, very elegant in appearance, and fabulously delicious! I bought cardamom pods, toasted them in a skillet, and ground them pods and all ( Cook’s Illustrated did taste test and grinding whole pods, not just seeds, barely made a difference in flavor). Glad to have stumbled upon this recipe!
Nicole says
I'm so glad you like it! Very interesting on the pods vs seeds - good to know!
Linda says
Made the dough on Friday, froze it overnight, defrosted in the frig and baked off. Got 36 delicious shortbread cookies to go on my Chanukah.cookie platter. Everyone loved them! Easy to make in the food processor, will make more dough tomorrow for a party on Monday. Thanks for posting this recipe.
Nicole says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Cari Combs says
Had these at a friend’s house and they were fantastic! She said they were easy to make. I’ll be whipping up a batch myself soon!
Nicole says
Thank you - so glad you enjoyed them!
Jen D says
I love how easy this recipe is, especially mixing it, yet elegant presentation and flavour. I don't love lemon zest in general so I found it a bit too much for my personal taste. I tried zesting 3/4 of a lime the next time and that was perfect for me. Thanks for sharing this excellent recipe!
Jill Austin says
I did not have a food processor, so I used a hand mixer and had to add a little water to hold it together. I followed all other directions and had to bake the cookies almost 20 mins, but they were perfect. Is the mixer the reason they took longer to bake? They were absolutely delicious and I will make them again!
Kim Goldfeder Clarke says
These are one of my favorite new cookie recipes, and I make them often! Just curious: If I wanted to make them Vegan, what would you recommend substituting for the butter? I know it’s a tall ask, but just thought I’d throw it out there. Thanks again for this delicious recipe!
Andy says
These were really simple to make and super tasty. Orange goes nicely instead of lemon if you prefer that. But be sure to use good cardamom or you won't taste it in the cookie.