cookie #1: cardamom cookies

The first cookie recipe I'll share with you for Christmas is my favorite.  Cardamom cookies.  I make a lot of bar cookies for Christmas since they are so easy to make.  My mom started making these at Christmas when I was young, and we make them every year together.  They are buttery and crunchy, a bit spicy, and of course sweet!  They become a new favorite to pretty much everyone who tastes them.  Trust me.  You'll need:

your mom
10 x 15 pan
parchment paper
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 rounded tsp cardamom
1/4  tsp salt
1/3 cup chopped nuts (we used walnuts)

for frosting:
1 1/2 T butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 2 T milk

First, put your butter in a big bowl and soften it in the microwave.

Add your sugars to the softened butter.

Cream the butter and sugar with your mixer.

Now separate your egg, and keep your egg white in another little bowl for later. 

Throw the yolk in your mixture. 

 Cream in your egg with the vanilla or almond extract.  We're using almond here.

Be sure to have a helper nearby to hold the tablespoons.  Extra points if she has a nutella beard.

Put your 2 cups of flour into another bowl and add your salt and cardamom.

Stir the flour mixture together.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture while stirring or beating it together.

Spread the dough onto a pan lined with parchment paper.  Use your hands to smooth and pat it down.  If you use 3 year old hands, don't forget to wash them, or people won't eat your cookies.

Once it's all smoothed out, beat your egg white, and chop up your nuts if you didn't think ahead far enough to buy already chopped nuts.

Brush the dough with your beaten egg white.

Sprinkle on the nuts.

Bake at 275 degrees for an hour.  While you're waiting for it to bake, feel free to give broom rides around the kitchen! No comments about your mother-in-law on a broom, Brian.

When your hour is almost up, start making the frosting.  Melt the butter in a skillet.

You want your butter to get nice and brown.

Once it is brown, pour in the powdered sugar and stir.

Add in the vanilla extract, and add enough milk to bring the frosting to a drizzling consistency.

The cookies are finished when they are golden brown.

Pull them out and drizzle on the frosting.

Cut immediately, before it hardens too much.

Try not to eat the whole pan in one sitting.

Happy cookie baking!  I have more cookie recipes to share this month- probably all bar cookies.  And tomorrow I'll show you a great way to make a container to give away cookies as presents.