wow them: cardamom sugar cookies three ways including Stacked-Cookie Tree Centerpieces

photo: leite's culinaria

Baking cookies for the Holidays is a family tradition I remember fondly from my own childhood that I have carried forward to continue with my own children. Here I am sharing our family recipe for Cardamom Sugar Cookies  & three ways to make them. It is simple, DELICIOUS, & easy to make. They can be as simple or ornate as you wish & will be tasty either way. These can be baked as simple drop cookies or rolled out & used with the cutters. If you have a set of different sized matching cutters, you might want to take advantage  & make Stacked Snowflake Cookie Trees with them too!

Stacked Cookie Trees make wonderful gifts or centerpieces for your table.
​Short stacks or tall, they always get the “Ooohh!” reaction!  I have made stacked cookie trees in the past with my star-shaped cutters, but I think the trees will be even more beautiful made with snowflake shaped cookies!

Couple tips before we start:
​If you are planning to roll out & cut shaped cookies, I highly suggest rolling your dough out BEFORE chilling it. This prevents cookie ‘spread’ when baking & will result in cleaner edges on your finished cookies. Use whichever icing recipes for decoration you wish. If you plan to create stacked trees with the cookies, you will need a Royal Icing to hold them. I am sharing a link to a GENIUS recipe [with video!] for making Royal Icing with meringue powder -- which will hold them AND is actually edible as well [without cracking a tooth LOL] Check out this Sally’s Baking Addiction post all about it!

I use our Buttercup and Cardamom baking extracts in my version.

small-batch baking extracts

Trees can be any size from short to towering, but I find they hold best & are less likely to lean drunkenly at about 11 cookies tall with a tiny cookie ‘topper.’ They make gorgeous, edible decorations for the table.
Finally, if you do not have the baking extracts I use, you can always use what you do have on hand. I like to use our cardamom extract so my cookies remain a pale canvas;  adding ground cardamom [or nutmeg or cinnamon] will add tiny dark specks to the finished cookies. Tweak your flavors to fit your tastes & family-- This should be fun, so have fun with it! 
​Okay, ​ Let’s do it:

Cardamom Sugar Cookies

2 ¼ cups all purpose baking flour 
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder 
½ teaspoon salt 
1 cup sugar 
1 cup vegetable oil 
2 large eggs 
½ tablespoon Buttercup baking extract [or vanilla] 
½ teaspoon cardamom extract [or 1 tsp ground cardamom]

Using our extract of cardamom gives us the flavor without tiny dark specks in the dough.

single note cardamom baking extract

buttercup baking extract

​Preheat oven to 350. Sift the flour, baking powder, & salt together. Mix the sugar & oil together. Add your eggs & baking extracts/spices to the sugar mixture, combining well. Slowly add in your flour mixture until completely incorporated & the dough comes together.

The bottom of these old glasses make beautiful cookies, no muss, no fuss!

For Drop Cookies:  Shape dough into balls, rolling each in a mixture of 2 TBS sugar + 1 tsp cardamom & place balls on lined cookie sheets, spacing 2” on all sides. Softly flatten each ball. I like to flatten ours with the bottom of drinking glasses I inherited from my mother; they have a pretty star shape that is just perfect for cookies. Some people use cookie presses, others simply flatten with the heel of their hands. Bake until just done 8-10 minutes.

Roll & Cut Cookies:
Cut your dough into 2 batches. Roll your dough out on baking liners or parchment to about ¼ ” thick. Chill rolled dough for one hour. Work with one batch at a time, keeping the other half of dough in the fridge until you're ready to cut it. Cut dough with cutters as desired, placing shapes onto baking trays with 1” between them. Dough scraps can be gathered, re-rolled & cut. Bake until just done 8-10 minutes.
​Allow to cool completely on racks before decorating as desired.

Stacked Cookie Trees:
​Once your cookies are cool, make up your Royal Icing [again I recommend this recipe.] Begin building your tree by stacking cookies, slightly offsetting each, beginning with the largest & working up to smallest. Place a teaspoon or so of Royal Icing in the centers between them, twisting each cookie slightly as you work your way up. Save one of your smallest cookies to ‘stand’ on top as the tree topper. Allow your tree to harden.
​Once it has set, you can continue decorating your tree however you desire with candies, non-pareils & icing or even just give it a dusting of confectioner's sugar ‘snow’

There you have it! I would love to see your pictures -- please share!
Wishing you a wonderful, SAFE Holiday season filled with joy & love.
STAY SAFE!