Crunchy Cardamom Cookies
These cardamom cookies are so yummy and a bit nostalgic for me. The first rendition of the recipe came after a trip to Italy with my husband (from more than 10 years ago). So these morsels take me back to roaming the streets of Rome and Florence. I love a biscotti and I’ve played around with so many flavor combinations – I haven’t found a bad one, just don’t make me pick a favorite.
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Crunchy Cardamom Cookies
Biscotti are crunchy cookies designed to be dipped in hot coffee. I can tell you from personal experience, they dip deliciously in hot and iced coffee. And tea. And even milk! It’s really just the liquid that softens them.
There are two parts to baking a biscotti recipe and if you skip the second bake (or drastically cut it down), you’ll have a much softer cookie (almost bread like) and it’s yummy too!!
I used to always have lemon biscotti in my freezer to enjoy with my coffee and it’s a habit I’ve fallen out of (for lack of time or and energy). But this is a great reminder that these crunchy cardamom cookies freeze very well.
Where do you get cardamom?
I think Cardamom is a sorely underestimated spice here in the US. It reminds people of cinnamon, but it really has it’s own identity and place. We just need to get more used to the flavor. I first fell in love with it in this cardamom cake recipe and then not long later in a cardamom bread with nutella on top!
Cardamom is an Indian spice, but it’s available in most grocery stores or you can buy it online. You want to make sure you get ground cardamom and not the ‘pods’ they come in.
The pods are like a protective shell round the cardamom seeds (which are then ground). Breaking open the cardamom pods requires a mortar and pestle along with quite a bit of patience!!
How to Chop Hazelnuts?
If you’ve ever tried to chop hazelnuts (or almonds) with your standard chopping knife like you do with pecans or walnuts, you know the feeling of getting nowhere and flinging nuts all over the kitchen!
My secret? If you’re having trouble chopping these nuts, carefully, use a serrated knife (yep, the big bread knife). The teeth sink easily into the nuts, preventing the flinging!
Since these cardamom cookies require cutting (with a serrated knife) midway through the baking process, you won’t be adding any more dishes to your sink either!
Crunchy vs Soft Cardamom Cookies
Ok. So biscotti is basically un-risen bread. Once it’s baked, you take it out of the oven, slice it and put it back in. I usually sneak one of the biscotti during the slicing period. It takes like a lightly sweet, dense bread.
The second bake is 25 minutes along – it’s how you get the crunchy consistency. To make a softer biscotti or, really, more of a cardamom cookie, simply don’t do the second bake, or just do it for 5-10 minutes. You can customize the crunchiness of your cookie.
Cardamom Recipes
Cardamom Cake
This Cardamom Cake was the first recipe I ever created with cardamom as the central flavor. It’s delicious, made with honey, and will be a favorite in no time. Serve with homemade whipped cream and enjoy!
Cardamom Latte
Similar to a dirty chai latte, this cardamom latte is a simplified version with just cardamom and honey for the flavor of this mily, espresso drink!
Pear Muffins
This delicious recipe for spiced pear muffins is easy and flavorful. Made with wonderful spices, cardamom included, you’ll want more than one!
More Biscotti Recipes
Want more biscotti in your life? I always do. Try these lemon biscotti, orange biscotti, and these cranberry orange biscotti!
And if you love cookies as much as we do, you’ll love these peanut butter granola cookies, muesli cookies, saffron shortbread, key lime cookies, and matcha cookies!
CARDAMOM COOKIES
Ingredients
- 2 Cups All Purpose flour
- ¾ Cup cornmeal
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoon cardamom
- 1 Cup sugar plus more for sprinkling on top
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¾ Cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and cardamom. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine sugar and eggs until thoroughly combined. Add in vanilla and then flour mixture. If dough doesn’t come together easily, add up to one tablespoon water. Stir in hazelnuts. Let dough stand five minutes.
- With moist hands, divide the dough in half. Form into two equal mounds (about one-inch high). With wet hands, pat the top of the mounds. Sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake for thirty minutes until lightly browned. Cool for five minutes.
- Cut mounds into ¾-inch diagonal slices. Arrange biscotti on their side on pan. Bake 20-25 minutes until cookies are golden brown.**
- Let cool completely.
Notes
Made this recipe?
I’d love to hear how it turned out. Leave a comment and rating below.
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I was craving a cookie with cardamom, which happens to be my favorite spice and this recipe fit the bill. I did make some modifications to the recipe based on taste and what I had available. I had on hand Bob’s Red Mill whole grain cornmeal and subbed pistachios for the hazelnuts called for in the recipe. I also added 1/4 tsp Fioiri di Sicilia in addition to vanilla paste extract. The combination of cardamom, citrus and pistachio just seemed right to me in the flavor profile. Except for those changes, I stayed true to the recipe which came together beautifully. I love the crunch of these biscotti and the lovely crumb thanks to the cornmeal. I’m curious as to why the author chose to call these “cookies” as they are a biscotti, meant to be dipped in coffee, tea or wine, so no need to add butter to the recipe. But perhaps the author was hoping to cast a wider net in calling these “cookies”. At any rate, she caught me in that net and I’m happy for having been caught and so is my Italian husband who loves these biscotti’s. This recipe is a keeper!
Hi Robin! I’m so glad you like the recipe. And, yes, these are absolutely biscotti, but the internet searches for “cookies” much more than biscotti, so I have to generalize it. Happy Baking!
I made these and it seems to me that some kind of liquid is missing….maybe melted butter or oil as it was very very dry. I ended up adding some melted butter. I doubled the recipe as I love cardamom….perhaps should have waited til the next batch. They tasted awesome though and I loved the texture created by the cornmeal
Hi Patricia! I’m so happy to find a fellow cardamom lover. It’s such an underappreciated spice.
Yes, these biscotti are VERY crunchy – perfect for dunking into a drink to soften up (but not disintegrate). Other biscotti recipes to have melted butter or oil, so you can certainly do just what you did for a softer cookie (that doesn’t require the dunking).