Nutmeg Cardamom Meltaways

These Nutmeg Cardamom Meltaways are sweet, a little spicy and melt in your mouth good.

I made these a couple of weeks ago and was going to wait another week or so to post theme but I couldn’t wait anymore.  Know why?  Because you will want to add these to your Christmas cookie swap menu.

And you see all that powdered sugar?  Don’t skip it.  It’s fun to get your fingers messy and get that powdered sugar ring around your mouth.  Isn’t it?  These nutmeg cardamom meltaways will bring out the kid in all of us even though they look and taste like a grown up cookie.  Yeah, the kiddos will love ‘em too.

This recipe is a take off of my Brown Butter Shortbread cookies (Ghraybeh).  Another great cookie for your Christmas cookie swap.

I used pretty much the same recipe except I added ground almonds and the spices to this one.  The ground almonds give this cookie a little texture which is not needed in the shortbread version.  I measured 3 tablespoons almonds and ground them in my coffee grinder to get the amount needed for this recipe.  I cleaned the coffee grinder, ground the almonds, then cleaned the almond flavor out of it.

Nutmeg Cardamom Meltaways

Recipe by Allspice and NutmegCourse: Uncategorized

Servingsservings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

18

minutes

Calorieskcal

Makes about 4 dozen. Can be easily halved. The prep time noted includes the time it takes to roll them out.

Ingredients

• 1 cup browned butter

• 2½ cups powdered sugar, divided

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 cups flour

• 3 tablespoons almonds, ground

• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

• ½ teaspoon cardamom

Directions

• Render the butter in a medium saucepan on medium-low until the butter is a golden brown. You’ll be able to smell the nutty fragrance at this point. Remove from the heat and cool about 5 minutes.
• Pour 1½ cups of the powdered sugar into a large bowl and add the butter. Blend with a hand mixer on low mix until it’s combined and the sugar is dissolved.
• In a bowl combine the flour, ground almonds and spices.
• Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture mixing with a spoon until is combined. No need to use the hand mixer for this step.
• Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking pan. Mine was lined with a silicone sheet.
• Bake at 325 for about 18 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned.
• Cool on wire racks.
• Cover in powdered sugar once completely cooled.
• Enjoy!