Iraqi Cardamom Cookies

Our February destination over at My Kitchen My World is Iraq and I made these delicious cookies as my Iraqi dish. I found the recipe here at food.com, they are called Hadgi Badah.

Iraqi Cardamom Cookies (Hadgi Badah)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 1⁄3; cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups ground blanched almonds (about 10 oz.)
rose water (optional) or orange blossom water (optional)
6 dozen whole almonds (okay, the original recipe says it makes 72 cookies and that must be if you make them really small, I made them with about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of dough and got 24 cookies, so only needed 24 whole almonds)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking sheets with a light coating of cooking spray, oil or butter. I lined my sheet with aluminum foil and sprayed it with baking spray.

Sift together the flour, cardamom, salt, and baking powder.

Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs until light and creamy. Stir in the flour mixture, then the ground almonds. I ground my almonds in a food processor and used regular whole almonds.

Pinch off a small piece of dough and hand form into 1-inch balls, moistening your hands with rose water or orange blossom water, if desired. I sprayed my hands with baking spray to make the shaping easier.

Place on the prepared baking sheets and flatten slightly. Press a whole almond into the center of each cookie. I just brushed the tops lightly with the rose water and orange blossom water, I did 12 rose, 6 orange blossom, and 6 plain -- they were all delicious the waters added more of a scent than flavor.

Bake until lightly browned about 12 minutes. I had to bake mine for 14 minutes and used an insulated baking sheet. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

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These were delicious, especially if you are an almond fan. The cardamom is noticeable if you are "tasting" for it, but it is a pretty light flavor so I would double the cardamom for a real cardamom flavor punch if that is what you are going for.

I made these with my four year old who had fun putting the almonds on. These were really easy cookies to make. They were an after school snack for my older two and everyone loved these! Picky husband hasn't had one yet but I bet he will like them too. They are somewhat soft and chewy and have a delicious flavor.

I had to share this picture because it really makes me smile, such a goof ball my youngest is! Be sure to check out My Kitchen My World to see what other Iraqi dishes people picked to try, and feel free to join us on our culinary world tour :) -- our March destination is Finland!