SAFFRON & CARDAMOM SUGAR COOKIE Recipe
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Category: |
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Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 4 c. (575 g) all-purpose flour
1tsp. baking powder
1tsp. ground cardamom
1tsp. saffron essence (optional) or 1/2 tsp saffron threads*
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. kosher salt
1c. butter, softened
1 3/4 c. (350 g) granulated sugar
1/4 c. agave syrup
2 large eggs
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Directions: |
Directions:Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and cardamom into medium bowl and whisk to combine.
Add butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Scrape the bowl down
Add agave syrup, saffron essence and vanilla. Mix on low speed until blended.
Add eggs, one at a time, mix at low speed until blended
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix on low speed until everything incorporated and dough starts to pull away from the side, about 30-60 seconds. Dough should be soft and somewhat sticky, but not too sticky to handle.
Halve the dough and shape into 1” rectangle. Tightly wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour. Roll out dough to about 1/4” and chill sheets until firm. Cut into desired shapes on parchment lined baking sheets.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool completely. Decorate as desired
* To make saffron essence, combine 1 tsp of saffron threads with 1 tblsp unflavored vodka at least 180 proof (I use everclear). May be used immediately but color and favor will intensify if it sits for a couple of days.
* This recipe was modified from Sweet Ambs Orange, Vanilla, & Cardamom Cookie |
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Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: When I was about eight years old, my mother gave me a book about Christmas traditions around the world. I loved reading about the Christmas traditions in other countries, but my most favorite one by far, was Santa Lucia Day on December 13th. There are many stories associated with Lucia, a young Italian girl, martyred in the third century (just ask me and I’ll tell you). But in a small village in Sweden, it is said that there was a famine, and the villagers were starving. But on December 13th (at that time the date of the winter solstice and the feast day of St Lucia), a boat appeared in the harbor of this village. At the prow of the ship was a young girl with a halo of lights around her head and in the boat was food for the starving villagers.
Today, Santa Lucia Day is celebrated in Sweden and Norway every year on December 13th. Saffron buns and ginger cookies are baked. In the dark early morning the oldest girl in the household, dressed in a white dress with a red sash and a crown of candles in her head, wakes the household with coffee and saffron buns, welcoming the coming return of light.
In modern times schools celebrate with Santa Lucia processions, accompanied by her attendants and star boys. Now I really wanted to do this. However my mother negated the idea, noting that we were not Swedish, she wasn’t going to make saffron buns (Christmas cookies were enough) and a crown with candles was a fire hazard, especially on the head of an eight year old child.
So I gave up (for the time being). But every year on December 13th, I would set out a small figure of Santa Lucia in her honor. In 1999, I attended a beautiful service of Lessons and Carols at Trinity English Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne where I was enamored by a Santa Lucia procession at the end of the service. That settled it. Game on! I found a crown (with battery-operated candles), a white choir robe, and a red sash, and processed the halls of the of the hospital I was working in, and served coffee and saffron buns to patients and staff. Every year I plan an open house, where over the years children, grandchildren, and now grateful nieces and nephews process through the house singing. My childhood dream has been fulfilled.
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