Rose water and cardamon sugar cookies

Diary of a cookie addict

Age 0 -1: Didn’t know about cookies. Mostly feast on my mom’s milk.

Age 1- 5: Saw cookies for the first time in cartoon (Burmese people don’t eat or make cookies). They just looked like brown circular things. Wondered why western kids love them. Honestly, cookies looked and still look disgusting in cartoons. My favorite dessert was pure sugar straight from a sugar bag (yea, I was macho like that even as a kid).

Age 5 – 12: First saw the life-like image of cookies on a rusted Danish cookie tin, which was repurposed to our family first aid kit. I drank insane amount of sodas (like 3-4 cans a day) during these years to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Age 12 – 15: No additional experience with cookies. The cookie tin got rustier.

Age 16-year-and-about-6-month-old: Moved to United States for college. Saw chocolate chip cookies to in real life for the first time in my school-dining hall.  The look still was not impressive – reminded me of dehydrated lumpy tumors. But, a friend persuaded me to try those exotic ‘delicacies’. I microwaved a few for 10 seconds, as he suggested, and took a small bite of one of them. My teeth sank into the crusty-yet-yielding exterior, then quickly into scorching hot gooey center.  My tongue, and roof of my mouth burned like hell as the hot chocolate bits stack everywhere in my oral mucosa, but my reptilian pleasure center, and my taste buds refused to spit out a new something, so marvelously delicious. It was a singular moment, where pain and pleasure were equally balanced, and I was left with yearning, and desire for second bites, third bites, and so on, until I obliterated everything on my plate.

Age 17 – 18: A cookie addict in denial.  Ate about 4 cookies a day. Got fat.

Age 18 - 20: Took a gym class. My fitness level deemed to be “below average” by my coach, followed by another quick-yet-strong phase of denial. Gave up cookies. Lost weight. Became pretty (well, I think), but miserable without cookies.

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Age 20 - Current: Cookies came back into my life. Limit myself to two a week, but may go up to four a week when there is an exam coming up.  Well, fuck it. Fine, I eat four a week very regularly. But, at least, I am very picky now. The cookie has to be thin, yet the center has to be chewy. I’d better be getting paid if I am eating big crunchy cookies. The flavor has to be multi-dimensional. If all a cookie can be were sweet, sweet, sweet, I would rather be eating sugar, like when I was five years old. I want depth. I want spices. I want uncertainty that smacks in my face.

These rose water and cardamom sugar cookies are everything I have envisioned a perfect cookie should be and more. The combination of rose water and cardamom, when in perfect amount, adds the most glamorous aroma, that reminds me of the times I went wondering alone in the grand spice bazaar in Istanbul. But, my favorite part about these cookies has to be how addictively chewy they are. As you chew, the flavor of the spices deepened, and all you can do was quietly and gently say to yourself, “f*k two-cookies-a-week rule.”

To order your own customizable rolling pins, go to www.inmywood.com, and use the promo code “limeandcilantro” for 10 % off.

To order these customizable rolling pins, go to www.inmywood.com, and use the promo code “limeandcilantro” for 10 % off. 

Makes: about 3 dozens

Ingredients

2 sticks of butter, softened

2 cups of granulated sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 ¾ cup of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of rose water

2 teaspoons of cardamom powder

Instructions

Using a stand mixer with a pedal attachment, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This process is called creaming. Then, add in the egg and vanilla and beat for another 2-3 minutes, until the mixture is fluffy. This cream mixture is already delicious on its own – you can spread it on hot toast for breakfast. Heavenly.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt together. Add these dry ingredients to the cream mixture, and finally add in cardamon and rose water. 

Mix gently in your mixture until everything come together to form damp sand-like consistency.

Now, there are two ways to go about from here. The first method is quick and easy, where you don’t need to make patterned cookies. In this case, you just roll divide the dough into half, roll each into a-2-inch-diameter rod, cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm (for about 2 hours). To bake, heat the oven to 375°F. Unwrap the dough, slice about ¼ inch thick, and bake on a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or silicone mat.

The second method is perfect for holidays when you want to make beautiful patterns with your cookie. For this purpose, divide the mixture into two equal balls, cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm (about 2 hours).

To bake, heat the oven to 375°F. Unwarp the cookie dough balls, and leave them to soften in the room temperature, about 15 minutes. What you want is the dough to be warm enough to be pliable but still cold that it does not disintegrate. Roll with a roller pin until the dough is about ¼ inch thick. Use your favorite cookie cutter to cut out, and bake on a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or silicone mat.

Bake until the edges are starting to brown and the centers are set, about 6-8 minutes. I feel the need to warn you that the cookie will be super soft, and almost under done when you take them out of the oven. This is the way it should be. Let them cool down in the baking sheet for about 1 minute, and then transfer to cooling racks and continue cooling for about 10 minutes. But, I tend to give in after 5.

You can keep in air-tight container for a day or two. Alternatively, you can freeze them in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.

Disclaimer : This post is sponsored by www.inmywood.com.To get your customized rolling pins, go to their website, and use the promo code “limeandcilantro”, for 10% off.

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Rose water and cardamon sugar cookie

by Soe Thein November-16-2016

Rose water and cardamon add a touch of festivity and exoticness to these chewy cookies  

Ingredients

• 2 sticks or 8 oz. or 220g Softened unsalted butter
• 2 cups Granulated sugar
• 1 Egg
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups or 343.75 g All-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Rose water
• 2 teaspoons Cardamon

Instructions

Using a stand mixer with a pedal attachment, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This process is called creaming. Then, add in the egg and vanilla and beat for another 2-3 minutes, until the mixture is fluffy. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt together. Add these dry ingredients to the cream mixture, and finally add in cardamon and rose water. Mix gently in your mixture until everything come together to form damp sand-like consistency.Now, there are two ways to go about from here. The first method is quick and easy, where you don’t need to make patterned cookies. In this case, you just roll divide the dough into half, roll each into a-2-inch-diameter rod, cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm (for about 2 hours). To bake, heat the oven to 375°F. Unwrap the dough, slice about ¼ inch thick, and bake on a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or silicone mat.The second method is perfect for holidays when you want to make beautiful patterns with your cookie. For this purpose, divide the mixture into two equal balls, cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm (about 2 hours).To bake, heat the oven to 375°F. Unwarp the cookie dough balls, and leave them to soften in the room temperature, about 15 minutes. What you want is the dough to be warm enough to be pliable but still cold that it does not disintegrate. Roll with a roller pin until the dough is about ¼ inch thick. Use your favorite cookie cutter to cut out, and bake on a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or silicone mat.Bake until the edges are starting to brown and the centers are set, about 6-8 minutes. I feel the need to warn you that the cookies will be super soft, and almost under done when you take them out of the oven. This is the way it should be. Let them cool down in the baking sheet for about 1 minute, and then transfer to cooling racks and continue cooling for about 10 minutes. But, I tend to give in after 5.You can keep in air-tight container for a day or two. Alternatively, you can freeze them in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 8 mins Total time: 23 mins Yield: 3-4 dozens

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