Cardamom and Orange Butter Cookies

Would my Aunt Rose be upset about me changing her recipe for Orange Butter Cookies ever so slightly? I hope not. I've been thinking of ways to use that jar of cardamom ever since I spent a fortune on it last week. I decided I was going to make something Indian inspired last weekend, got my grocery list together for Melon Curry and Coconut Chicken Fingers, both of which you can see at my gal-pal's site, www.raisin-toast.com. I nearly croaked when I saw the price of that jar of Spice Islands cardamom. Damn, it was expensive! I bought it anyway. Now I understand it would have been better to buy the pods and grind it myself. Oh well, live and learn. I have a feeling, anyway, that if I put that in my recipe, you know, the pods and the grinding and all that, my friends and family would ask me if I've gone totally mad to think they would consider cracking pods open and grinding the contents by hand.

So, okay. I've got the ground cardamom, and I have added it to my dear Aunt Rose's old, very old, cookie recipe. They turned out awesome. Here's the recipe. Enjoy.

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Juice of 1 large orange (approximately 2 ounces)
3 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Heaping 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add orange juice and mix well. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cardamom. Add gradually to the butter mixture until everything is incorporated.

Refrigerate for at least an hour. You could make it at night and bake the next morning if you wanted to.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and set the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Just dust the baking sheet with flour. Roll big heaping teaspoons of cookie dough into a ball and place on the cookie sheet, 9 or 10 cookies at a time, don't crowd. Dust the bottom of a glass with flour and give the cookies a tap to slightly flatten. They'll turn out beautiful that way. You can just drop them from the spoon too if you don't want to roll them in a ball and flatten them. They'll be more irregularly shaped,  the picture shows the cookies both ways. You decide how you like them. Bake on the middle shelf for approximately 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom. They will still be light on top. Remove to a rack to cool. Makes about 3 dozen.

When cooled completely, make a mixture of a few spoonfuls of apricot preserves thinned with a few drops or so of orange juice. Brush this over the cooled cookies as a glaze. You can top this with finely crushed walnuts also. Or, make a simple chocolate glaze with confectioners sugar, cocoa and milk until drizzling consistency. These cookies can be frozen and decorated at the time you are going to serve them. They are equally delicious plain, and now even more exciting with the addition of cardamom!! (Of course, the original recipe did not call for cardamom, so if you just don't want to spring for the jar, make them without. Aunt Rose did.

One final thought about cardamom.... In an attempt to find ways to use my expensive spice, I'm putting a few good size dashes in my coffee grounds in the morning for coffee that tastes awesome. It's like chai coffee!! And I will use it again, I will. I will....

This recipe, along with over 120 pages of recipes, pictures and stories is part of my cookbook, "Singingirl Cooks!" available for purchase. Ask me about it.  Thanks!