Secret Ingredient: Cardamom

I love Works for Me Wednesdays! My tip for everyone today is for the kitchen - learn to use cardamom in you baking & cooking. Cardamom can be used as a substitute for cinnamon, although use less because it is stronger. Cardamom also goes very well with cinnamon, like in this recipe for Viking Cookies below, from the author of the Hannah Swensen culinary mystery series. I usually make a few modifications though. They are very sweet, even for me, so I cut each of the sugars by 1/4 cup. I use half white & half semi-sweet chocolate chips - this cuts the sweetness a little too. Viking cookies are also great with a handful of coconut thrown in.

If you love cookies & you love Nie Nie (who doesn't) - click over to Landra Lynn's blog. She is hosting a cookie auction on Monday, Sept. 22nd. You can bake some or buy some.

I also love a sprinkle of cardamom on top of my powdered hot chocolate mix, before I add the water. Check out some recipes featuring cardamom from Allrecipes. After the cookie recipe I added some excerpts about cardamom.

Viking Cookies
Joanne Fluke @ Murder She Baked

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2 cups butter, melted
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom (nutmeg will also work, but cardalmom is better!)
4 1/2 cups flour
3 cups white chocolate chips
3 cups quick oats

Melt the butter and let it cool. Mix in the white and brown sugars. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, eggs, vanilla, and spices. Make sure it's all mixed in thoroughly.
Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing after each addition. Then add the chocolate chips and stir thoroughly. Add the oatmeal and mix. the dough will be quite stiff.
Drop by teaspoons onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 11-13 minutes.
Yield, 6-10 dozen cookies, depending on size.



Confessions of a Cardamom Addict - a food blog with some fun cardamom recipes on the sidebar

McCormick Enspicelopedia - check out the bottom of McCormick's page for a link to more recipes. Cardamom is used in Danish pastries, Saudi Arabian, North African, Asian, and Indian cooking and in spice blends such as garam masala, curry powder, and berbere. Throughout the Arab world, Cardamom is one of the most popular spices, with Cardamom coffee being a symbol of hospitality and prestige. The spice is also very popular in the Scandinavian countries where it is used more extensively than cinnamon.

Wikipedia - Cardamom has a strong, unique taste, with an intensely aromatic fragrance. Black cardamom has a distinctly more astringent aroma, though not bitter, with a coolness similar to mint, though with a different aroma. It is a common ingredient in Indian cooking, and is often used in baking in Nordic countries, such as in the Finnish sweet-bread pulla. It is one of the most expensive spices by weight, and little is needed to impart the flavor.

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