- 72
Ingredients
- For cookies
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- For espresso and chocolate icings
- 1 teaspoon instant-espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 tablespoons milk (1 1/2 to 2)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted
Preparation
Step 1
1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom, cinnamon, and allspice in a bowl.
2. Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes in a stand mixer (preferably fitted with paddle attachment) or 4 minutes with a handheld.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, then mix in flour mixture until just combined.
4. Form dough into 2 (12-inch) logs (1 1/2 inches in diameter), each on its own sheet of plastic wrap. Use plastic wrap and your hands to roll, press, and square off sides of logs. Chill logs on a baking sheet until slightly firm, about 1 hour, then smooth logs with plastic wrap and flat side of a ruler to achieve straight sides. Chill logs on baking sheet until firm, about 1 hour.
5. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.
6. Cut enough scant 1/4-inch-thick slices from a log with a knife to fill 2 large ungreased baking sheets, arranging slices about 1 inch apart (chill remaining dough, wrapped in plastic wrap).
7. Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are golden, 10 to 12 minutes total. Cool on sheets 3 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely. Make more cookies with remaining dough on cooled baking sheets.
8. Ice cookies: Whisk together espresso powder, vanilla, and 1 1/2 tablespoons milk until espresso powder is dissolved, then add confectioners sugar and enough additional milk to make a thick but pourable icing. Spoon into a sealable bag and snip 1/8 inch off a bottom corner.
9. Spoon melted chocolate into another sealable bag and snip 1/8 inch off a bottom corner.
10. Pipe some espresso icing and chocolate over each cookie and let cookies stand on racks until icing sets, about 2 hours.
11. Dough logs can be chilled 5 days or frozen, wrapped in a double layer of plastic wrap, 1 month (thaw in refrigerator just until they can be sliced).
Notes: This is more of an adult cookie, not too sweet. I make the cookies exactly as the recipe prescribes; the square shape is easier to achieve by using a ruler to get the dough into the square log shape before chilling. I used both icings for the beautiful decorative effect.
I did double the spices, and made them pretty small and baked them for 10 minutes- until just barely brown on the edges (check them by 8 minutes or so). They were perfect. I see no reason to use the icing except for decoration purposes.
They are crisp and tender the first day, and get softer as the days go by, but the flavors mellow together more.