Cardamom – Bead Yarn & Spatula

With the holiday’s just around the corner I have been going through some cookbooks and a few old magazines looking for cookie recipes to share with you during my Cookiepalooza week right after Thanksgiving. I was really hoping to create a few cookie recipes myself, but time is getting away from me and I am much better at creating cake recipes than cookie ones. In my search for recipes I flipped through an old Martha Stewart cookie cookbook and I came across a recipe for some interesting Madeleines… Orange Cardamom Madeleines. And I’ll admit cardamom is not the spice that everyone has in their pantry. It can be a bit pricey, but, it’s worth the money if you like the taste and a little goes a long way. The first time I bought it was to make Kheer, Indian Rice Pudding, and I have had it in my pantry ever since. Not the same bottle of course.

Initially when I made these I wasn’t planning on adding the orange glaze to them. I am not a big fan of glazes. Ultimately, I decided to glaze half of them and I learned that orange and cardamom go together very well. The unglazed cookies had a stronger cardamom flavor, which was fine with me, but the hint of orange from the glaze took them up a notch. My only complaint though was that the glaze was absorbed by the Madeleines as opposed to coating them. So, when you look at them you couldn’t really tell that they had a glaze, whereas the picture accompanying the recipe showed the Madeleines which a thick glaze similar to an iced cookie. Oh well… the important thing is that they were delicious!

Orange Cardamom Madeleines

Servings: 24
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Ingredients:

For the Madeleines:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the pans

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoons ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

For the Glaze:

3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon orange zest

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions:

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the honey and vanilla extract. Let cool for 10 minutes.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt. In a large bowl stir together the eggs and sugar. Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture until combined. Add the butter mixture and continue folding until combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Brush molds of Madeleine pan with the additional butter.

Transfer the batter to a piping bag and fill each crevice of the pan about halfway. Bake in the preheated oven for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the cookies are puffed and the edges are golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Unmold the cookies onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

To make the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar, orange zest, and orange juice in a medium bowl and stir together until the glaze is smooth and thick. Using a small pastry brush, coat the ridged sides of the Madeleines with the glaze. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.

Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Cookies cookbook

There are just some things you can’t resist ordering when you go to certain restaurants; you know you should try something new and exciting but those familiar comforts just always call your name. One of those things for me is a dessert that I always must have when I go to an Indian restaurant: Kheer, i.e. Indian Rice Pudding. It’s more or less like your traditional rice pudding, but, what sets it apart is the addition of cardamom and pistachios. I finally made this delicious treat myself recently when I realized that I had these two key ingredients on hand.

To begin, I combined a cup of cooked basmati rice with whole milk in a medium-sized saucepan and brought it to a boil. Following that I lowered the heat and simmered the rice and milk until the mixture began to thicken. Next I added in heavy cream, coconut milk, sugar and cardamom and cooked it on medium heat until the mixture began to thicken once again. I then removed the pan from the heat and stirred in pistachios.

I then transferred the mixture to a dish and placed a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface. After letting it cool for a few minutes I then placed it in the refrigerator.

Once it was cool I enjoyed a bowl of it and was in heaven. It tasted just like the Kheer I am used to having at my favorite Indian restaurants.

Indian Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked long grain or basmati rice

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/3 cup unsalted pistachios, chopped

Directions:

1. In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, combined the cooked rice and milk. Heat until the mixture begins to boil. Decrease the heat to low and cook at a simmer until the mixture begins to thicken, stirring frequently, approximately 5 minutes.

2. Increase the heat to medium, add the heavy cream, coconut milk, sugar and cardamom and continue to cook until the mixture just begins to thicken again, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Use a whisk to help prevent the cardamom from clumping.

3. Once the mixture begins to thicken, remove from the heat and stir in the pistachios. Transfer the mixture to a glass dish and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding. Serve chilled or at room temperature.