2nd December
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| Wonderful chocolate and cardamom cookies |
If you have been following this blog for a while you will know about my Christmas passion and the 7 different cookies for Christmas. Last December I baked and shared our 7 cookies for 2013, follow me this month and see which 7 we bake this year. Join us and start your own tradition and bake some of these Scandinavian Christmas favourites. If you are new to the blog and are just joining, welcome! I hope that you stay a while. I shall be posting every day through out December!
Follow the links to each of the 7 that we baked last year! Enjoy!
Pepper kake
Hasselnott meringues
Vaniljekranser
Krumkaker
Lussekatter
Brunekaker
Sandkaker
My daughter loves chocolate, she is her mother's daughter after all and despite being partly Norwegian she is not terribly keen on the mixed spices that accompany much of the Scandinavian Christmas cooking. I felt I should look further and find a cookie that incorporated chocolate, still with the beautiful taste of cardamom though! Have to help her to acquire the Scandi taste buds, don't I?!?!?
So, without further ado, may I present you with ...
Chocolate Cardamom biscuits
Makes about 30~40
You will need:
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| Adding the grated butter |
♥ 50g cocoa powder
♥ 1 tsp ground cardamom
♥ 1 tsp baking powder
♥ 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
♥ 1/2 tsp fine salt
♥ 150g unsalted butter
♥ 150g light brown muscovado sugar
♥ 1 medium egg
♥ 1 tsp vanilla extract
1. Mix flour, cocoa, cardamom, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large box, then
grate in the butter, mix until it resembles breadcrumbs. Either by hand or with a processor. I use the processor myself for speed.
2. Add sugar and mix it well.
3. Add in egg and vanilla, mixing well until the dough comes together.
4. Place dough on a long piece of cling film and shape into a very long sausage shape about 4~5 cm in diameter. Cover in cling film making sure no air reaches it.
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| Make the dough into a long sausage shape and cover in cling film |
5. Place the sausage dough in the fridge for a minimum of a couple of hours. you really want the
dough to be hard for the next stage. If you are in a real rush, you could place it in the freezer for about 20 minutes.
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| Leave the dough in the fridge for about 2 hours |
6. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius or 170 degrees Fahrenheit or Gas mark 5.
7. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
8. Remove dough from the fridge and with a sharp knife slice the sausage into slices
approximately 0.5~1 cm thick.
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| Slice the dough into medium slices |
9. Place cookies on the baking sheets with a couple of centimetres between each biscuit.
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| Place the cookies on tray with a couple of cm between each one |
10. Bake for 8-10 minutes BUT do not over cook them as you will loose the lovely chocolately taste of the cocoa. The cookies should rise ever so slightly and swell a tad. Cool them on a wire rack before demolishing them. They won't last long as everyone will be back for more!
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| Allow to cool before eating! |
NOTE: You do not have to slice and bake the entire mixture in one go. This dough will keep for a few days in the fridge if kept air tight OR can be frozen for 3-4 weeks. Just remember to take it out of the freezer the night before you want to use it. Easy to have cookie mixture on hand for the unexpected but welcome Christmas visitor!!
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| 2014 Christmas cookies number 1 of 7 |
♥ I hope you enjoy the first of this year's Christmas cookies,
let us know if you make any! ♥
They look delicious. And very similar to the ones that I make every year. Look: atelieroursonne.wordpress.com/2013/12/15/door-15-bread-and-butter/
ReplyDelete(I should have used cocoa powder instead of ground chocolate for a more even brown colour though)
And I will definitely put a pinch of christmassy spice in this year.
We also have to bake biscuits for Christmas, unfortunately it is more like a competition: The more variety the better housewife you are. (I cheat, same dough but different shape and different jam in the middle are cleeearly two totally different biscuits, isn't it.
As I mentioned before, you sound like my sort of lady! Love that you bake also, but it is a shame it becomes a competition because that adds pressure. Yes, that is definitely different types of biscuits. Will check out your recipe too. Lovely to have you here.
DeleteMmmmm, these sound so incredibly delicious! I fear that I should have baked something to take to work tomorrow, but they will have to wait until next week, but these are far too lovely sounding to take to work! I like the idea of the chocolate and spice together - a bit like the gingerbread syrup that I like to add to my hot chocolate at this time of year!! xx
ReplyDeleteChocolate and spice work very well together. They are quite moorish. But very easy to make. Hope you will like them. Let me know x
DeleteThey are totally delicious (thank you for my sample!). The spice is so subtle that Z liked it too- hurrah! The girls and I will be making some for sure this weekend for their grandparents.
ReplyDeleteDelighted to hear that. We think they are fab too and just a little out of the ordinary yet still very chocolately. Just remember do not over bake as they will loose chocolate taste. Enjoy x
DeleteWhere does one buy ground cardamon? I don't think I have ever used it...but like the idea very much!
ReplyDeleteThese are some of our favourites so it is worth finding cardamom. Indian shops are a good source or failing that you can make your own. Using about 12 GREEN cardamom pods , peel the outer shell off carefully to reveal tiny black pellet seeds inside. It is best to do this over a pestle and mortar to catch all the precious little seeds. Pound the seeds to a fine powder, the smell should be wafting delicately upwards, this smell really reminds me of Christmas baking, Scandinavian style. The powder can be stored in an air tight container for several months. Remember though it is imperative that you use GREEN cardamons and not the black ones, their flavour is completely different, more eucalyptus like and that is not what we are after!
DeleteI like the recept from your blog. I hope some day I will try one. But my To Do list is very big ;)
ReplyDeleteAt this time of year my to do list is also long! Maybe if you do not have time before Christmas you could make them after
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