Cardamom Cookies

With both whole and ground cardamom in the dough, these cardamom cookies are sweet, floral, and have just the right balance of cardamom. This is a shortbread-style cookie with a very buttery texture.

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How This Recipe Works

There aren't very many nicer things to bake than a good slice-and-bake cookie, and these cardamom cookies are a great easy bake that pack a lot of flavour into a small cookie. The combination of both ground and whole cardamom seeds means that you get the gentle aroma of cardamom throughout plus that real punchiness that the whole seeds bring.

It can be a bit tricky to get the balance right with cardamom, so I handed these cookies out to everyone I know and they got rave reviews across the board. The orange zest adds a little bit of freshness that pairs well with the slightly smokey, aromatic cardamom, making this into a really special cookie.

This dough needs to be chilled before slicing and baking - it's very high in butter - so plan in advance for that. It can be made and refrigerated up to 24 hours before baking. I developed and tested this recipe for the collective, based on Sophie's Earl Grey shortbread.

Ingredients You'll Need and Why

This is a relatively simple shortbread recipe, with added cardamom and a little orange zest. Since you're not using many ingredients it's worth choosing good butter and real vanilla. These are my notes from recipe testing, and you can find the full recipe below with complete measurements and instructions.

• Butter: use a decent, real butter for this recipe, no margarine or dairy-free substitutions. It needs to be at room temperature before starting. This recipe as written uses salted butter. If you only have unsalted butter, add a half-teaspoon of sea salt to the cookie dough.
• Icing sugar: also called powdered or confectioner's sugar, this is integral to the recipe and can't be substituted with granulated sugar.
• Flour: this should be all-purpose white flour. We find cake flour makes shortbread too crumbly and delicate.
• Cardamom: since you need both ground and whole seeds, you'll probably need to buy whole cardamom pods and take the seeds out to use in this recipe. If you have a mortar and pestle, all the better, and you can freshly grind the amount needed in addition to the whole seeds. Some places will also sell whole seeds out of the pod and those can be used too, but buying cardamom pods and doing that extra bit of work will have the best results thanks to the freshness of the spice.
• Orange zest: this can be omitted if you prefer. The zest adds a fresh note that improves the overall flavour of the cookie and adds another note of complexity that's very nice.
• Raw sugar: this is optional, and used for rolling the logs of cookie dough in before slicing. It's mostly decorative and can be omitted if you prefer.

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.

How to Make Cardamom Shortbread

This is a standard shortbread recipe, where the butter is creamed first, then the remaining ingredients are added. You must use room temperature butter. If your butter is cold, microwave it in 10-second increments until it's just starting to soften. If the butter is too soft the cookies will be greasy.

Step 1: beat the butter on high speed to cream. It should be fluffy and lighter in colour. This takes four to five minutes with electric beaters but can be done by hand if needed.

Step 2: beat in the ground cardamom, orange zest, and vanilla, then the sugar, starting on low speed and increasing once it starts to incorporate (this is to avoid a sugar cloud). Beat in the flour and whole cardamom on low speed until just combined.

Step 3: shape the dough into a rough ball with your hands, gently kneading briefly just to bring the dough together. Be sure not to over-work at this point.

Step 4: divide the dough in half and shape into two logs. I always use parchment paper for this (and then bake on the same paper) but you can also use beeswax wrap or plastic.

Step 5: chill the dough logs for at least four hours, or up to 24 hours. This is the most important step in the recipe! The dough must be chilled through before slicing and baking and it's better to refrigerate longer rather than trying to rush it.

Step 6: slice the logs into small cookies, about 24 for each log. If you'd like to keep them more perfectly round, roll the log a quarter turn after every slice.

Step 7: place the cookies onto a lined baking sheet, being sure to leave some space between each. They will spread a little in the oven. If your baking sheets are small, you might need to use more than two.

Step 8: bake until the cookies are just barely golden around the edges. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets before removing to cool fully on a wire rack. The cookies can be iced once fully chilled if you like (try a simple icing sugar and orange juice icing). You can also use these cookies as the base for flower cookies.

Expert Tips for the Best Cookies

• Stick to the amounts: shortbread is tried-and-tested, and any messing around with the amounts of ingredients will result in cookies that don't turn out as they should. Keep the butter, flour, and sugar amounts exactly as written (and use weights if you want them to be perfect).
• Don't skip the chill: there is so much butter in these cookies that if they're not chilled first, they'll spread into one giant cookie in the oven - never mind that they'll be completely impossible to shape and cut without chilling.
• Use quick hands: the less you work the dough, the better. Over-handling will result in tough cookies. A light touch is best for short, snappy shortbread that melts in the mouth.
• Mix with both the wet and the dry: adding some of the cardamom in with the butter and some in with the flour adds two different elements to the cookies, because fat carries flavour differently. Like the added orange zest and using the two types of cardamom, it makes the cookies more complex and interesting.

More Cookie Recipes

If you make this Earl Grey Cookies recipe or any other cookie recipes on the Baked Collective, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more baking, follow along on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.