Recipe: Spicy Cardamom Crisps

It’s time for another recipe! First, the recipe. Then, me blathering onward about my occasionally questionable culinary capabilities and the memories this particular treat holds for me.

• The Ingredients
  • 1 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup softened butter
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
  • 1 tablespoon water (H2O in Granny Comic’s handwriting)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 cups flour (all purpose)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons cardamom
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • sliced almonds for topping
• The Way of Preparing
  1. Oven to 375°, Yield is 7 1/2 dozen
  2. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add egg, corn syrup, water, & vanilla. Mix well.
  3. Add flour, soda, cardamom & cinnamon; mix well.
  4. Divide dough into thirds; roll into half inch thick square and wrap each square in plastic wrap. Chill for 1-2 hours.
  5. Roll out chilled dough on lightly floured surface into a 12 by 10 inch rectangle. Using a pastry cutter (pizza cutter, I promise it’s fine), cut into 2 inch squares.
  6. Cut each square across diagonally.
  7. Lay out cookies on ungreased cookie sheet 1″ apart. Press three sliced almonds into center of each cookie.
  8. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until light brown.
  9. Cool cookies completely on a wire rack.
     
• Notes
  • This can also be made as lemon crisps, substituting the cardamom for a tablespoon of lemon zest and adding 1 teaspoon of lemon extract.
  • The longer you chill the dough, the better. I’ve let it go for three hours and overnight before.
  • Apple pie seasoning instead of cardamom, and a piece of dried apple instead of almonds make these great apple crisps.

Memories

Granny Comic made these once for me and I swear that I ate half a dozen of them before I had even realized it! The handwriting is from her book of confections that I inherited because I was cleaning her house for her with a cousin.