These Are the Spiced, Buttery Shortbread Cookies I Bake Yr After Yr

These rose- and cardamom-scented shortbread cookies are aromatic and gently floral, with a young, buttery crumb and restrained sweetness. A small quantity of rose syrup provides the cookies their pale pink coloration, whereas rosewater and freshly floor cardamom add aroma and depth with out overpowering the shortbread’s richness.

I developed these cookies throughout my annual December baking marathon. On the time, I used to be working my Indian catering firm, Un-Curry, and needed to create a cookie that showcased Indian flavors in a well-known kind. Shortbread, with its easy base of butter, sugar, and flour, provided a impartial backdrop for spice.

Cardamom, generally utilized in Indian sweets, was a simple alternative, whereas rose entered the recipe by means of reminiscence. I’ve all the time cherished the perfume of roses, a keenness that goes again to Indian weddings I attended as a baby. Once you arrived at a marriage venue, the hosts would greet you by putting a dot of vermilion in your brow, providing a jasmine gajra to adorn your hair, and sprinkling candy rosewater from a silver gulabdani. That rosewater, calmly misted over visitors as a welcome, lingered on the pores and skin and within the air lengthy after the celebration ended.

Constructing the Dough

I grind the cardamom seeds finely, both in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle, which brings out their citrusy, floral heat. Freshly floor cardamom has probably the most vivid aroma, although good-quality pre-ground cardamom works properly, too.

After these dry elements are mixed, butter and powdered sugar are crushed collectively simply till mild and fluffy. Utilizing powdered sugar relatively than granulated sugar helps the dough come collectively easily and retains the crumb tender. As soon as the butter combination is aerated, the dry elements are added together with rose syrup and rosewater, and blended solely till a tender, cohesive dough kinds and no dry flour stays. 

Rooh Afza and Calvert’s are two manufacturers of rose syrup generally discovered at Center Jap and South Asian markets. The syrup gives sweetness and rose taste and likewise provides the dough its pale pink coloration, whereas rosewater contributes aroma with out sweetness or coloration. Used collectively, the 2 create a balanced rose taste that is current however restrained relatively than perfumey.

The dough is split into parts and formed into logs utilizing parchment paper and a bench scraper, which helps create evenly sized cookies with clear edges. Chilling the logs permits the butter to re-solidify, making certain the dough slices cleanly later. At this stage, the dough may be refrigerated for as much as one week or wrapped tightly and frozen for as much as two months, making the cookies simple to bake in your schedule.

Baking the Cookies

As soon as chilled, the dough logs are briefly rested at room temperature in order that they’re agency however sliceable. Slicing the dough simply shy of a half-inch thick permits the cookies to carry their form whereas staying delicate. They’re spaced carefully on the baking sheet, because the dough spreads solely minimally.

The cookies bake till set and calmly golden on the edges and bottoms. Rotating the pans midway by means of ensures even coloring, and pulling them whereas they’re nonetheless barely pale retains the crumb tender relatively than dry, with the cookies persevering with to agency up as they cool.

For a extra playful format, the dough may also be rolled and reduce into shapes as soon as chilled; rolling between sheets of parchment retains the dough neat and prevents sticking.

This recipe yields a beneficiant quantity, and since the dough may be formed into logs after which refrigerated for as much as every week or frozen for longer storage, it is easy to bake the cookies in batches, making them ultimate for sharing or gifting.

As soon as baked, the cookies are tender and buttery, with a fragile crumb that holds collectively cleanly whenever you chunk into it. The rose and cardamom come by means of gently, including aroma with out overwhelming the shortbread, making the cookies simple to snack on, simple to share, and price baking repeatedly.