It’s officially December and I’m officially frozen in Maine. It’s been a long time since I’ve lived in the snow - about 8 years since Chicago - and even though I’m much more prepared than before (better shoes, better jackets), I am always cold! I don’t know if my freshman 15 helped me stay warmer when I was in Chicago, but I must say, I don’t remember losing feeling in my toes and having frozen legs as much as I do these days. Regardless, Maine is very pretty and cozy covered in snow, and I’m adamant to continue my daily walks even if it takes me double the time than it normally would.
With Christmas being a few weeks away, I wanted to give another cookie option that would be great for the holiday. Every Christmas, I bake 3-4 different cookies from my blog, wrap them up nicely in a cute bag, and hand them out as gifts to friends and family. It’s a tradition of mine that I look forward to every year since I think the best gift is one that is homemade or DIY. Last year, I made: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cakes, Ginger Molasses Cookies, and Chocolate Chunk and Pistachio Cookies. Picking a variety of cookies that are unlike one another makes the cookie bag more exciting for the recipient and allows them to try cookies that they might have never had before.
One cookie that I might be adding to the gift bag this year is today’s recipe of Oatmeal Cardamom Hazelnut Cookies. I cannot take credit for the invention of this flavor combination since I actually got the idea from local Maine bakery, Night Moves. Besides being my favorite Bob Seger song, Night Moves is one of my favorite places to get an amazing loaf of bread as well as some of the tastiest cookies (their chocolate chip cookies are the best in the area, period). My love for this bakery, which is located about 30 minutes away in Biddeford, is definitely shared with many other people, and it was actually just named by Food and Wine Magazine as one of the Top 10 Best Bakeries in the Country. It is here that I tried their Double Oat + Hazelnut + Cardamom Cookie, and obviously it was insanely delicious. So I tried my best to recreate it at home with a few differences (Night Moves’ version is gluten free and has two kinds of oats, whereas mine has flour and only old-fashioned rolled oats). But to me, the stars of the cookie is the combo of buttery, crunchy hazelnuts and my favorite spice, cardamom.
I’ve mentioned this before, but ever since I tried the Cardamom Bun from another local bakery in Portland, Belleville, I’ve been on a huge cardamom kick. If you’re unfamiliar with the spice, it’s very prominent in the Middle East, North Africa and Scandinavia and is actually the second most expensive spice in the world, with saffron being number one. There are three different kinds of cardamom - green, black and white - but green cardamom is the most popular and best for baked goods, with its citrus-y and herbal flavor profile. I find that it works perfectly in carrot and coffee cakes, apple tarts, and desserts that feature pumpkin pureé. Honestly, it’s hard to find a baked good that cardamom wouldn’t work in.
Making these cookies is very straightforward, with the only nuisance of needing the butter and egg to be at room temperature. I initially wrote the recipe to have you bake off the cookies immediately (aka, no chilling of the dough), but upon testing the cookies after two hours of chilling, the cookies were so much chewier and better! So I strongly recommend chilling the dough for at least an hour.
Need more Christmas cookie options besides the ones I listed above? Here are 5 more great recipes on my blog:
Brown Butter, Pecan + Milk Chocolate Cookies - very decadent chocolate chip cookies
Grapefruit White Chocolate Cookies - perfect since citrus is in season now
Chewy Funfetti Sugar Cookies - just switch out the rainbow sprinkles for red and green ones!
Olive Oil Brownie Cookies w/ Hazelnuts Nuts - these are some of my fav cookies, with or without the nuts
Salted Toffee + Brown Sugar Cookies - always a fan favorite, and a great non-chocolate option
Oatmeal Cardamom Hazelnut Cookies
Yields 12-14 large cookies
Recipe adapted from Broma Bakery
Ingredients
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (light or dark)
1 large egg, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
Directions
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, oats, cardamom, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt with a whisk. Set aside.
Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl if using a hand mixer), cream the butter and both sugars together for about three minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix again until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
All at once, add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer and mix on low for about 10 seconds before increasing the speed to medium. Mix until just combined. Fold in the hazelnuts with a spatula. Chill the dough for at least one hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Using a large cookie scoop or spoons, portion out 3 tbsp. of dough per cookie and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Bake 6 cookies at a time since these are larger.
Bake for 11-12 minutes, or until the sides of the cookies are a light brown color. Allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Enjoy!