Curry & Cardamom Cookies

Quite a while back I was looking for a cookie recipe that included curry.

I don't know why. But I had to find one.

Well... a quick Google search quickly pointed me to these Curry & Cardamom Cookies in the recipe section of The Spice House.

It's a recipe from a book called An Unthymely Death and Other Garden Mysteries: A Treasury of Stories, Herbal Lore, Recipes and Crafts by Susan Wittig Albert.

I've heard there are lots of great recipes in her novels. I might have to pick one up!

Great! I found a recipe that was exactly what I was looking for.

Fast forward almost a year... and I finally got around to making them!

Ericka and I had a spice cookie baking day a couple weeks ago and this was one of the cookies we made.



Curry & Cardamom Cookies
1 C butter
2 C brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sweet curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 cup pecans, chopped

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

Whisk dry ingredients together. Add to creamed mixture, a third at a time. Stir in nuts.

Divide dough into four rolls and wrap each in waxed paper. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (may also be frozen).

Slice into 1/4-inch slices and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in preheated 350F oven until golden brown, 12-14 minutes. Let cookies cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet, then remove to a rack to cool thoroughly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cream butter, sugar, eggs & vanilla.


Whisk together dry ingredients


Add dry ingredients to wet, a little at a time until well combined.


I totally forgot the nuts.

Divide dough into four even parts.

Form into rolls, wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours.


When you're ready to bake... unwrap...


Slice into 1/4 inch slices.


And bake 12 - 14 minutes.

That's 12 minutes in my slightly hot oven.



Jon didn't like these cookies at all. But he Jon doesn't like any kind of spice cookie. I liked them a lot. But they are a crisp cookie and I prefer cookies a little chewier.

I brought them to work and the guys at work liked them. I doubt they ate a whole tray of them just to be nice. (contrary to what Jon thinks)

I also sent some up to Erin and Andrew's house. I 'think' they liked them. Andrew said it tasted like a cookie that fell into Indian food. So I guess that's good if you like Indian food and not so good if you don't!

Ericka and Drew liked them too.



So if you're looking for something a little different, definitely give these cookies a try!

Masala Chai

I LOVE Chai.

I order it often when I'm out. But I'm going to guess that it's not usually made from beautiful whole spices.



I decided I wanted to make it at home.

Chai is made from four things.

• Tea
• Milk
• Spices
• Sweetener

Tea...

What kind to use? My regular everyday tea, for iced tea, is just plain old Lipton, which I love. But I think this calls for some nice strong Indian black tea leaves.

So I consulted some friends who work for Teavana. I let them know I wanted a strong tea to stand up to all of the spices. They suggested Assam.

Assam it is!

Milk...

Most of the recipes I looked at called for whole milk. I always order a non-fat Chai, but this was an experiment, so I decided to go with the flow and used whole milk.

Spices...

This was the most versatile part! There were a tons of different spices. Two seemed to be in almost every recipe. Cardamom and Cloves. YUM!
I ended up choosing Cardamom, Cloves, Allspice, Star Anise, Cinnamon and Fresh Ginger.

Sweetener...

I just used honey. =)

Ready!

So I gathered my spices.


2 Cinnamon Sticks
1 almost whole Star Anise
about a dozen whole Cloves
8 or so Allspice Berries
3 Green Cardamom Pods
about an inch and a half of sliced Ginger Root.

Add that to a cup of water and bring to a boil.


Let is steep for 20 minutes.


I tried to kinda crush some of the spiced with the handle of a wooden spoon... but they really weren't having it.

After steeping... add 5 cups of whole milk and bring that to a boil.


Time for the tea.


Add tea leaves.


Steep for 10 minutes.




Add honey.


Strain out spices & tea leaves.










That's it!


Plus we added cinnamon sticks to our mugs.

So for a first try, this came out really good.

Jon & Ericka had never had Chai and both really liked it.

Ericka and I agreed that next time definitely NOT whole milk. WAY too thick and creamy. Who would ever think that thick & creamy would be a bad thing? While it wasn't really bad, it just had too much of a mouth coating thing going on, know what I mean?

Also, it could have been hotter and spicier and stronger.

So next time, I'd add more spices in general and up the ratio of Cardamom a little while I was at it.

I'd also add a little more tea.

Instead of steeping the tea off the heat, after the last boil, I think I'd just turn the fire down to low to keep it hotter and maybe make it a little stronger.

Do you make Chai at home?

I'd love to hear how you do it!