I am about to say something that many of you will consider blasphemous: I don’t love chocolate.
There’s nothing wrong with chocolate. I like it fine, but it’s just not a flavor that gets me excited. I’ll eat (and enjoy) the occasional chocolate chip cookie or square of dark chocolate, but I can’t make it through a whole brownie. My sister will likely faint when I say this, but my least favorite dessert in the world is flourless chocolate cake. And don’t even get me started on fudge. Yuck!
To be fair, I’m not much of a sweets person. I prefer my “naughty” calories in an extra scoop of pasta, another glass of wine, or a hunk of good cheese. But if I am going in for something sweet, my first choice will always be something spiced. I’d rather eat an oatmeal raisin cookie perfumed with cinnamon, a slice of pumpkin bread, or a few gingersnaps than a decadent chocolate number.
I bake with chocolate because other people love it. And I love other people and making them happy. When I bake just for me, however, these cookies are my go-to. Simple, easy, loaded with warm spices. Plus, they keep for a week or two in a Ziploc bag, so I can eat one when I feel like it without a sugar overload (if my husband doesn’t get to them first!).
These cookies are great on their own, but they’re also spectacular paired this banana-pistachio ice cream for an exotic yet familiar dessert that will excite even the staunchest of chocolate supporters.
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cardamom, more for sprinkling
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 6 tablespoons very soft butter
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 large egg
- Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon in a medium bowl; set aside. Whisk oil, butter, and sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Whisk in molasses, then egg. Stir in dry ingredients.
- Form dough into 2-tablespoon portions and set cookies about 2 ½ inches apart on a silpat- or parchment-lined 18- by 12-inch rimmed baking sheet. (Figure about 8 cookies per sheet). Bake until puffed slightly, golden brown around the edges, and starting to crackle about 10 minutes if baking 1 sheet and about 12 minutes for 2 sheets. Don’t over bake! (If you’re baking 2 sheets at a time, switch positions after 7 or 8 minutes.)
- As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, sprinkle a little ground cardamom on top of each one. Allow cookies to cool on the sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cooled cookies can be stored in an air-tight container for up to a week.
These cookies’ flavor and texture are spot-on, Sharon. They’re crisp and chewy, but unlike a lot of cookies they retain that crisp-chewy texture for days. These are the perfect accompaniment with my daily afternoon cup of tea.
I love cookie recipes that make 1 or 2 dozen, so I know it won’t take long to make them, and cardamom is one of my favorit spices.
I am not a huge fan of sweet desserts or tons of chocolate either. These cookies were incredibly aromatic and made my house smell amazing all day:) I didn’t have everything you called for and made a few adjustments: I swapped out the vegetable oil and used 5Tb of coconut oil instead. You didn’t mention which kind of sugar to use, so i opted for a cup of packed light brown. I used 2 heaping TB of minced fresh ginger instead of powdered. dark molasses shy of 1/4 cup so the cookies didn’t get too bitter. added candied ginger pieces. and mixed a Demerara sugar with the cardamom for sprinkling on top at the end! Amazing!
I made these almost exactly as posted, but my sugar was a little coarse so the initial mix of oil, butter and sugar didn’t exactly get “smooth”. They still came out perfectly, though! I like the idea of adding fresh ginger, since my ground ginger was pretty old and I doubt that it added much flavor. I ground all my cardamom fresh, though, so it definitely made up for any flavor deficit! Brought these to a party and they were heavily lauded. I can’t wait to make them for my family. Thank you for a recipe that will go into my favorites archive :).
These are my new favorite cookies! I can’t get enough of cardamom, so thank you for sharing this recipe. Have a yummy day. ?
These are good but desperately needed cloves and were far too salty. So reduce to 1/4 tsp salt and add 1/4 tsp cloves.
Gorgeous! Wonderful with hot tea or a glass of milk. I followed your recipe as written, but added an extra 1/2 tsp of cardamom to bump up that flavor a bit (next time I’ll try a full tsp add’l). We adore cardamom so were not afraid of a bigger kick and I was specifically looking to make a cookie that was ‘cardamom-forward’. Mine cracked nicely, a little crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The bake time is pretty accurate. My cookies were ready in roughly 11 min each tray.
I thought the 1/2 tsp salt was fine (not too salty) but I do like the idea another reviewer has to add ground clove. I may do that if making these for the masses (one person in our household doesn’t like clove). Will be holding on to this recipe. LOVE.