I absolutely love A Whisper of Cardamom Pistachio-Cardamom Shortbread but they are terribly fragile. A double recipe calls for 8 cardamom pods, I’ve been using 12. (I remove the seeds and grind in an electric coffee grinder I use for spices.)
60 g (2 ¼ oz) shelled pistachios
½ cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
¼ cup castor sugar, plus more for dusting (Baker’s extra fine sugar)
4 Green Cardamom pods, seeds ground (I used 6)
55 g (1/3 cup) rice flour
115 g (4 oz) All-purpose flour
Pinch of Fine Sea Salt
Today I tried the cardamom shortbread in Samin Nosrat’s new cookbook: Good Things.
Laurie Ellen’s Cardamom Shortbread Good Things, Samin Nosrat
2 ¾ (370 g) all-purpose flour (weigh the flour)
½ teaspoon baking powder
16 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp (2 Sticks)
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon + ½ teaspoon freshly ground cardamom DIVIDED
Note: I needed 60 cardamom pods to get this amount)
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 large egg, lightly whisked
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
¼ cup granulated sugar
I weighed the flour (needed more than the cup measurement). In order to get 1 Tablespoon
plus 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground cardamom seeds, I had to use 60 pods!!!
I had too many cookies for just 2 pans, had to use a 3rd, mine took 21 minutes instead of 16 - 19.
The dough is thick and I liked the way it handled when I sliced the chilled logs.
I’m surprised that I prefer the taste of the previous recipe (which is very surprising considering how much more cardamom is involved in Nosrat’s recipe) but really appreciate that these are not fragile, in fact, have a bit of a crunch.
Usually, the first time I try a recipe, I follow it. Maybe next time I’ll try to add some ground pistachios to the recipe and compare.
I thought the recipe was written very clearly.
Oops … looks like I wasn’t ready for October yet!
