Tag: flour

Nutmeg Cardamom Sugar Cookies: Grandma’s Famous Sugar and Spice Recipe

Posted on by M.
baked nutmeg cardamom sugar cookies decorated with flood icing and tiny sugar holly leaves, berries, lights and candy canes.

These Nutmeg Cardamom Sugar Cookies are a heartfelt nod to the comforting phrase ‘sugar and spice,’ capturing the essence of a grandmother’s kitchen. But this recipe elevates the classic with a purpose: the ‘sugar’ is rich brown sugar for a deep, molasses-like sweetness, and the ‘spice’ is a sophisticated blend of citrusy-warm cardamom and sweet, woody nutmeg.

The result is a cookie that is both nostalgically soft and chewy and wonderfully unique. Creaming the butter and brown sugar creates a perfectly tender texture, while the warm, aromatic spices will make your kitchen smell incredible. This is more than a simple sugar cookie—it’s a memorable baking experience that transforms simple ingredients into something extraordinary.

The Magic Behind the Cookies: Brown Sugar & Spices

A friend of mine shared a family recipe with me when I was young, but I have added my own twists along the way. The original was simply called Grandma’s Sugar Cookies. One of the changes I’ve made is to rename the recipe to reference the ingredients that I think make it stand out from the crowd! This recipe isn’t just for your run of the mill, easily broken, sugary shortbread cookies.

  • The sophisticated spice blend of cardamom and nutmeg adds a layer of flavor that sets them apart.
  • Using brown sugar creates a deeper flavor and chewier texture.
  • Little fingers can help make these cookies without the dough constantly disintegrating!

Why These Nutmeg Cardamom Sugar Cookies are Perfect for Baking with Kids

Unbaked cutouts of nutmeg cardamom sugar cookies on a baking tray

This recipe isn’t just about incredible flavor—it’s about creating a joyful, stress-free baking experience for the whole family. If you’ve ever felt the frustration of sugar cookies, waiting to be decorated, snapping in a little hand, this recipe is for you.

The dough is much more forgiving and less fragile than traditional roll-out sugar cookies, making it easier for small hands to help with rolling and cutting them out. The baked cookies themselves are also sturdier; they have a soft-yet-strong structure that can withstand enthusiastic decorating (and eating!) without crumbling.

As you parents of neurodivergent children may know, some of our kiddos may find the unexpected breakage of a cookie deeply upsetting. It can derail the entire process and indeed, the whole day. Here, the focus can stay on the fun, not the frustration.

Easy Decorating for All Ages:

  • The Bonus: Because these cookies are ‘not too sweet,’ they balance perfectly with any icing, preventing a sugar overload.
  • Before Baking: Let kids press colored sprinkles or coarse sugar onto simple round cutouts for a simple, no-fuss shape and finish.
  • After Baking: Their sturdy surface makes them an ideal canvas for royal icing, flood icing, or even a quick piping of my famous Swiss Buttercream.

The Secret is in the Spice: Nutmeg and Cardamom

nutmeg cardamom sugar cookie decorated with piped plain swiss buttercream and topped with colored sugar

These delicious cookies have become a holiday staple for me. Move over, gingerbread and sugar cookies! These delicately spiced nutmeg cardamom cookies are infused with the warm, aromatic, and subtly exotic flavors of holiday baking. They are a sophisticated treat that will become your new holiday favorite too!

These delicious cookies deliver all the fun of cutout sugar cookies with a hint of spice at the same time. They are a little less breakable than your standard sugar cookie. They pair well with all the usual icings, plus my Swiss Buttercream, as shown above! You can also sprinkle the cookies with colored sugar before baking for a crystalized crunch that requires no further decoration or icing.

All in all, this is my go-to recipe during the holidays, no matter how simple or fancy I would like to be with my baking. They can be elevated to fancy-work-party status or take on the role of plain mid-morning snacks for those of us with a palate for beige – whichever you please!

Grandma's delicious cookies with green, red and yellow royal icing and sugar decor.

Grandma's Sugar and Spice Cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 c. brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 c. sugar
  • 3/4 c. shortening
  • 3/4 c. butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 c. milk
  • 2 t. baking powder
  • 1 t. nutmeg
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1 t. cardamom
  • 6-7 c. flour
  • 1 t. baking soda
  • 1 t. water
  • 1 t. vanilla

Instructions

  1. Cream sugars and fats.
  2. Add eggs and mix well, scraping sides.
  3. Sift together baking powder and spices.
  4. Mix into creamed mixture.
  5. Add milk and mix, scraping sides.
  6. Dissolve baking soda in the water and vanilla and mix well.
  7. Here is where you divide the dough if you are making half chocolate.
  8. Add flour, one cup at a time, just until the dough comes together.
  9. Dough should be soft but not sticky.
  10. On a floured surface, roll out to 3/8″ thickness. Cut out cookies in shapes or rounds.
  11. Bake on greased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes at 375*.
  12. Don’t overbake these!
  13. They will be a very light brown.
  14. If overcooked, they will become dry and crumbly.
© A Kitchen of Herbs
Category: Dessert

If you really enjoyed this recipe yourself, please let me know! Did your kids love these as much as mine does? I’d love to hear from you. 🙂

Another one of my favorite treats which I make every year, are the Yuletide Toffee Squares. Often, I’m literally the only one eating them, but they are so delicious that I just pace myself and finish off the entire pan by New Year’s. Don’t judge me until you’ve tried them yourself!

Perfect Oatmeal Cookies: The Ultimate Family Recipe

Posted on by M.

In my family, perfect oatmeal cookies are the ultimate.

Humble as they may be, the texture and flavor of oatmeal cookies are hard to beat! We’ve had a recipe in the family for decades that used to produce such a delicacy, but when we moved back to the States after many years baking them abroad, something shifted and the finished product was not as we remembered it.

For at least ten years now, I’ve gone back and forth. Sometimes I would almost convince myself that my memories were just super nostalgic and not realistic. At other moments I’d double down and tweak the recipe over and over.

I just needed to understand the science.

I’ve scoured the internet for variations to compare, searched for the original recipe that ours was based on, learned more about the idiosyncrasies of baking soda and baking powder and the texture difference of using butter or shortening over oil and more. 

I could write about these cookies for longer than you’d care to read; in fact, I’ve probably almost lost most of you already.

This recipe was a holy grail.

Then it wasn’t and now, I believe I have once again restored it.

We’re all welcome.

The key to this recipe is really all about your choices.

Which fats you use and how long you cream them with the sugar in the first step can make or break this recipe.

You will also notice that we use baking soda together with buttermilk, because baking powder in an oatmeal cookie, aside from being sacrilege in my mind, produces a ‘puffy’ result. I do not like soft or puffy oatmeal cookies. Cake-like textures belong in cake, in my opinion.

Farm Style Oatmeal Cookies

Farm Style Oatmeal Cookies

Yield: 24
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 22 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 c. + 2 T. brown sugar
  • 3/4 c. oil
  • 1/4 c. shortening
  • 1/2 c. buttermilk (or sour milk)
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 4 c. oatmeal
  • 1 3/4 c. flour
  • 1 t. soda
  • 3/4 t. salt
  • 1/4 c. chocolate chips (optional)
  • 1/4 c. raisins (optional)

Instructions

  1. Cream sugar, oil and shortening together on medium speed until light and fluffy. This is a key point! It might not seem like you need to cream it much because of the oil, but run the mixer at least 2-3 minutes. Trust me.
  2. Add buttermilk and vanilla and mix well.
  3. Mix in soda and salt, combining well.
  4. Add oatmeal and mix in.
  5. Finally, mix in the flour. You may want to sift your flour if it is very lumpy, otherwise it should be fine to dump it straight in.
  6. If you want to add raisins or chocolate chips, mix them in now.
  7. Preheat oven to 375*.
  8. Form 1 inch balls and place on ungreased baking sheet. I confess, I line mine with parchment to keep the pan clean, though.
  9. Dip the bottom of a glass in water and flatten each cookie. Smash it once really well in the middle to flatten it, then dip the glass again and round the edges to flatten them as well.
  10. These cookies won't spread past the flattened edge, so feel free to fill the tray. I usually put about 8 per sheet.
  11. Bake until golden brown and crisp. The longer you bake them, the longer they'll last, but the crunchier they will be...
  12. Transfer cookies to cooling rack and cool completely.
  13. Store in an airtight container up to a week.
© A Kitchen of Herbs
Category: Dessert

Easy Old Fashioned Apple Pie with Lemon and Vanilla

Posted on by M.

I grew up making this old fashioned apple pie recipe.

In school I was introduced to the cooked fruit method. This recipe is now a hybrid of both. The lemon juice keeps the apples from browning (if you are prepping ahead) and also adds to the depth of flavor. Vanilla just belongs in everything.

If you don’t have pie crust already, I recommend whipping up a batch of Double Crust Pastry now so that it will be easy to roll out by the time you are ready to build the pie.

freshly baked old fashioned apple pie

If you don’t have pie crust already, I recommend whipping up a batch of Double Crust Pastry now so that it will be easy to roll out by the time you are ready to build the pie.

baked pie

Old Fashioned Apple Pie

Yield: 1 Pie
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 c. brown sugar
  • 1/4 c. granulated sugar
  • 1 t. cinnamon
  • 3 T. all purpose flour
  • 5 Gala, Fuji or Rome Apples
  • 1 T. vanilla
  • 1 T. lemon juice or juice of one lemon
  • 6 T. butter, salted
  • 1 Recipe of Double Crust Pastry

Instructions

  1. Peel, quarter and slice apples.
  2. Toss apples with vanilla and lemon juice. This enhances the flavor and also prevents browning.
  3. Combine sugar, cinnamon and flour.
  4. Sprinkle half of the sugar mixture on the bottom pie crust.
  5. Add apples and sprinkle remaining sugar mixture on top.
  6. Dot pie with butter.
  7. Cover with top crust and crimp as desired.
  8. Bake at 350* for 40-50 minutes or until top crust is lightly browned.

Notes

I am not a fan of the sharpness of Granny Smith Apples. If you are, feel free to adjust the recipe accordingly. The apple types I suggested are ones that end up producing a good texture and aren't too sweet or sour in my opinion. You do you! In my experience, Red Delicious apples are also a no go since they tend to turn out too 'spongey' for my taste.

© A Kitchen of Herbs
Category: Dessert

Corn Flour Tortillas: The Best of Both Worlds

Posted on by M.

Combining the flavor of corn with the pliable texture of flour, these corn flour tortillas bridge the gap!

corn flour tortillas with light brown toasted spots

Corn Flour Tortillas

Yield: 24 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 22 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/4 c. Cornmeal (Yellow, Stone Ground, whatever you please.)
  • 3/4 c. P.A.N Cornflour/Masa (It is very important that you use this brand. )
  • 1/4 c. Butter, salted/Plant Butter
  • 1 t. Salt
  • 1 1/2 c. Boiling Water (This water needs to be scalding.)
  • 2 c. All Purpose Flour

Instructions

    1. In a mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, cornflour, butter and salt.
    2. Add the boiling water and mix well.
    3. Let set for a minute or so.
    4. Add flour a cup at a time and mix until dough is tacky but not sticky. You may need a little more or less flour depending on your environment's humidity levels.
    5. Portion dough into balls about 2 inches across.
    6. This dough can be refrigerated up to 3 days.
    7. Sprinkle flour generously and flatten the balls on both sides on the flour.
    8. Roll out to desired thickness, mine are usually paper thin.
    9. Preheat iron skillet on medium high.
    10. You want these to cook quickly and barely brown because the longer they take to become opaque and cook through, the tougher and drier they will get.

Notes

    • Cooked quickly on a hot skillet, they are deliciously soft and pliable.
      If not eating immediately, allow tortillas to cool completely, then store in airtight containers or bags. These freeze well for up to a month and can be thawed for breakfast quesadillas in 2 minutes
    • These deliver all the flavor of a corn tortilla with the texture and holding capability of a flour tortilla! I grew up making these and didn't realize how superior the texture and flavor were until we moved back to the U.S. They are my favorite and at this point I refuse to eat store-bought tortillas anymore.

© A Kitchen of Herbs
Category: Dinner