50 | 52 Cardamom Biscotti

Christmas is just around the corner. 

(I know, I know, #takeadeepbreath...)

I have to admit that with sunny days, blue skies, and around 14°C (57°F) outside temperature, I find it very hard to get into the Christmas spirit.

(Not that I'm complaining about this awesome weather! No, I'm really not. But it's not very christmassy for this part of the world.)

So anyway - I mostly blame it on the great weather that I haven't baked any Christmas cookies yet.
So let's start with some Biscotti that are not entirely christmassy. Alright?

 

Cardamom Biscotti

From Martha Stewart

160 g (1 1/4 cups) flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

(1 cup) almonds, blanched and ground

1/2 teaspoon cardamom, ground

150 g (3/4 cup) sugar

2 eggs, plus 1 egg white for brushing

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

• Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).
• Combine flour, baking powder, and pinch of salt in a bowl. Add almonds, cardamom, and the sugar (minus 2 tablespoons). Whisk eggs and vanilla together and add to dry ingredients. Knead together with your hands until well combined.
• Transfer dough onto baking sheet with parchment paper, roll into a log of about 22cm / 9in length. Flatten top a bit and bake for about 30 minutes.
• Whisk egg white a bit, then brush log with it. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake for another 15 minutes.
• Let cool for 10 minutes. Cut into 0.5cm/0.25in thick slices and lay them out flat on the baking sheet. Bake for another 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

 

My modifications:

None. (Except for using ground cardamom and not grinding it myself.)

The taste:

Good, like biscotti. Very subtle cardamom flavor (but maybe it will come through more after a couple of days.)

What is your favorite cookie that's not so christmassy?

45 | 52 Apple Cardamom Cake

My mom gave me some apples from her garden.
I thought it was only fair to bake them into something delicious. 

And so I did - thanks to this recipe and its very perfect combination of apples, cardamom, and cake.

So snuggle up with a cup of tea and a slice of this goodness and enjoy autumn!

Apple Cardamom Cake

From United States of Cake by Roy Fares (via DN.se)

For the filling:

2 apples, peeled, cored & diced

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 tablespoons sugar

For the cake:

450 g (3 1/3 cups) flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons cardamom

250 g (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) butter, room temperature

380 g (1 3/4 cups) sugar 

4 eggs

1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

250 ml (1 cup) milk

• In a small bowl, combine apple pieces with cinnamon and sugar. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F).
• Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cardamom.
• Beat butter for about 3 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla. Whisk until light and fluffy.
• Add one egg at a time, mix well after each addition. 
• Add flour mix and milk alternatingly.
• Fill half of a prepared bundt cake mold with batter. Sprinkle with apples. Repeat and top with remaining batter.
• Bake for 55-60 minutes. Let cool and dust with powdered sugar, if you wish.

My modifications:

None.

The taste:

Warm, simple, autumnal, flavorful, comforting, honest, moist, delicious.

Do you like cardamom? Any cardamom recipes you would like to share?

50.2/52 Cardamom Cookies with Rock Candy Sugar / Kardamomkekse mit Kandis

If you read my last post you might wonder what my 'classics' are, the cookies I make every Christmas including this year:

Basler Brunsli (chocolate cookie from Basel, Switzerland)

Vanillekipferl (vanilla crescents)

Witwenküsse ('widow kisses' - merinuges with chocolate and almonds)

Feenspitzen ('fairy tips' - the best EVER! cookie with Toffifee candy with meringue...)

Lebkuchen (the German classic, no need for translation I think)

Zimtsterne (cinnamon stars)

Then there are some 'infrequent-classics' that I don't make every year but every 2 to 3 years. Of those I made this year:

Kokosberge (coconut mountains)

You can see (almost) all cookies I made this year in this post.

And one of the new recipes this year:

Cardamom Cookies with Rock Candy Sugar / Kardamomkekse mit Kandis

Adapted from some magazin that I unfortunately don't remember. And it doesn't say on this one page that I ripped out. If anyone knows, please comment. Thanks!

75 g (1/3 cup or 5 tablespoons) butter, room temperature

50 g (1/4 cup) sugar

1 knife point lemon zest

1 egg

110 g (1 cup) flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

80 g (2.8 oz) brown rock candy/sugar

vanilla sugar

• Beat butter with sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Add egg and continue to beat. Quickly work in flour and cardamom. 
• Grind rock candy/sugar coarsely (works best in a mortar), fold into the dough. Cool dough for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F) (180°C (350°F) convection).
• Make small balls and put onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave enough room between the balls. 
• Bake for about 12 minutes until golden brown. Roll in vanilla sugar when still warm.

My modifications:

None. Except for the recipe just saying 'flour' without the measurement. I just guessed/tried.

The taste:

Very good. I'm still a little undecided about the rock candy/sugar though. I hope you have good teeth as they make the cookies quite crunchy... Could be one of those 'infrequent-classics' but I'm not quite sure yet.

What are your 'classics' to bake every Christmas?