Iraqi Cardamom Cookies (Hadgi Badah)

justcallmetoni's Note:

Found this recipe while looking for an Iraqi chicken and potatoes dish requested in the NA/ME forum. (From chicken to cookies, yes my mind wanders.) Saw this and thought it would be a great addition to 'Zaar for all my cardamom loving friends. The original recipe is from "The World of Jewish Cooking." Posting for some future ZWT.

• Total Time: 42 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 72

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups ground blanched almonds (about 10 oz.)
• rose water (optional) or orange blossom water (optional)
• 6 dozen whole almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking sheets with a light coating of cooking spray, oil or butter. (Looks like parchment paper would also work well with these cookies.).
2. Sift together the flour, cardamom, salt, and baking powder.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs until light and creamy. Stir in the flour mixture, then the ground almonds.
4. Pinch off a small piece of dough and hand form into 1-inch balls, moistening your hands with rose water or orange blossom water, if desired. Place on the prepared baking sheets and flatten slightly. Press a whole almond into the center of each cookie.
5. Bake until lightly browned about 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
6. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Reviews

[Pikake21]

I used this recipe as one of my Christmas cookies this year...the taste is SO good! The hint of cardamom (and rose water) is perfect together. Only thing, is this--my batter was quite runny, so I ended up adding another 1/2 cup of flour. Also, I doubled the batch, and by no means are there 72 servings worth per batch. Since they were a little on the runny side, I spooned them with an ice cream scoop and sprinkled a little bit of rose water on each. Thanks for posting this tasty recipe--I'll definitely be making it again!

[evelyn/athens]

I only made up a small batch of this delicious cookie as I'm trying to cook more by cooking less (if that makes any sense). The cardamom flavour came through very mildly, but I'm wondering if that might not be due to the scaling feature. Anyway, keep that in mind. I used orange blossom water. This being Greece, I do have access to very fresh and pungent rose water and orange flower water (my pharmacist makes both up fresh when in bloom) and the orange flower taste was the most dominant, in a lovely, oriental way.

[Cookgirl]

The recipe was cut down to two dozen and then the dough was cut in half: one half sprinkled with rose water and the other with orange blossom water. Not overly sweet and the perfect cookie for coffee dunking. I know, I dunked a ton of these babies in espresso! I should have, as Evelyn suggested perhaps increased the cardamom a little even though the recipe was scaled. Part of the cookie making marathon this Holiday season and it was a fun one! Thanks, toni!