Rich, buttery, and aromatic cardamom shortbread cookies are a great addition to your holiday cookie plate. These slightly sweet cookies are easy to make and perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.
If you love shortbread cookies as much as I do [see: rosemary lemon shortbread cookies], you are going to delight over these unique cookies that are perfect for the holidays. This recipe makes soft and tender shortbread cookies, thanks to confectioner's sugar.
They are slightly sweet, with the added floral notes of cardamom, and pair beautifully with a cup of tea or coffee. You can even stick your cookie dough in the freezer and bake them at a later date.
Cardamom shortbread cookies are a delicious addition to your holiday dessert plate, along with chewy old fashioned ginger snap cookies, gluten free thumbprint cookies, chocolate pecan bark with rosemary, and old fashioned peanut butter balls.
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⭐️ Why These Cookies Are The Best
- Soft and tender shortbread texture
- Rich and buttery with floral, herby notes from cardamom
- Easy cookie recipe with 5 simple ingredients
- With "Make ahead and bake later" instructions
- Excellent addition to a holiday cookie plate
👩🏻🍳 What Is Cardamom?
Native to India, cardamom is a spice made from the seeds of several plants. It has floral and herbal notes, and is very fragrant. It is often used in Indian cooking, and is also frequently used in baked goods in Sweden, Norway, and Finland.
🍪 Ingredient Notes
- Ground cardamom - A floral and aromatic spice that is frequently used in Nordic baking.
- Unsalted butter - Using unsalted butter helps us control the amount of salt in our cookies.
- Confectioner's sugar - Makes very soft and tender cookies, due to the addition of cornstarch to the sugar.
📝 Variations & Substitutions
- Granulated sugar. You can substitute granulated sugar, but the cookies will be much more crispy.
- Spice. Substitute your favorite spice to replace the cardamom, or use a combination of spices, like nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice.
🔪 How To Make Cardamom Shortbread Cookies
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ground cardamom, and salt.
Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer, cream butter until light and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl using a rubber spatula.
Add confectioner's sugar and vanilla, and mix until well combined. Add flour mixture and mix for another 1 to 2 minutes, until dough comes together.
Transfer dough onto large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap dough and use a rolling pin to flatten into a disk. Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes, until the dough is firm enough to roll out.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place chilled dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll the dough to a little less than ½-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut desired shapes (if you have a cookie stamp, use it here).
Place the cookies 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or place in freezer for 10 minutes.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges and center is just set.
Let cookies cool on baking sheets 2-5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
💭 Expert Tips
- Halve the recipe. If you don't need a large batch of cookies, you can halve this recipe.
- Freeze dough. Freeze your cookie dough and bake at a later date. Or freeze half the dough to make fresh cookies closer to the holidays.
- Use your favorite holiday cookie cutters to make fun holiday shapes.
- Serve with a steaming mug of creamy oat milk hot chocolate.
- Storage: Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- How to freeze: After completely cooled, place in a freezer-safe container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
💬 Frequently Asked Questions
Cardamom cookies have floral and herby notes and are very aromatic.
A key to making perfect shortbread is letting the dough chill in the refrigerator before baking. This allows the butter to firm up, which prevents spreading when baked. It also allows the flavors to concentrate while chilling, resulting in enhanced flavor.
Every shortbread recipe is different, and in this recipe we start with softened butter to make sure we cream it well with the confectioner's sugar. We then let it firm up in the refrigerator before baking.
🍪 More Cookie Recipes
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Cardamom Shortbread Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup confectioner's sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ground cardamom, and salt.
- Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer, cream butter until light and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl using a rubber spatula.
- Add confectioner's sugar and vanilla, and mix until well combined.
- Add flour mixture and mix for another 1 to 2 minutes, until dough comes together.
- Transfer dough onto large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap dough and use a rolling pin to flatten into a disk. Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes, until the dough is firm enough to roll out.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place chilled dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll the dough to a little less than ½-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut desired shapes (if you have a cookie stamp, use it here).
- Place the cookies 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or place in freezer for 10 minutes.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges and center is just set.
- Let cookies cool on baking sheets 2-5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
Notes
- Halve the recipe. If you don't need a large batch of cookies, you can halve this recipe.
- Freeze dough. Freeze your cookie dough and bake at a later date. Or freeze half the dough to make fresh cookies closer to the holidays.
- Use your favorite holiday cookie cutters to make fun holiday shapes.
- Serve with a steaming mug of creamy oat milk hot chocolate.
- Storage: Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- How to freeze: After completely cooled, place in a freezer-safe container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Barbara Haner
I am making these tomorrow. I have not made cookies since we moved and this recipe looks simple! I love, love, love the photos for these cookies!
Gastronotherapy
Thank you! 🙂 I would love to hear how they turn out!
Traci
These are so fun and easy! I needed a new reliable cookie recipe and this is it! Thanks for sharing!
Gastronotherapy
So glad you enjoyed them, Traci! 🙂
Andrea
These are definitely going on my cookie plate this year! They sound fabulous!
Gastronotherapy
Yay! I hope they are a hit!
Vanessa
Can believe how simple these were to make. They're a staple now for me!
Gastronotherapy
Hi, Vanessa! I'm so glad you found them easy to make. That was one of the goals with this recipe! 🙂
Lucy
These cardamom shortbread cookies are delicious. They're the perfect snack, especially for the holidays.
Gastronotherapy
Thanks, Lucy! They are the perfect size for a holiday snack! 🙂
Michelle
These are beautiful and the cardamom adds such an interesting flavor!
Gastronotherapy
These cookies are definitely for cardamom lovers! Thanks for stopping by, Michelle!
Mike
Your website is very busy, and it took far to long to get to the ingredients and recipe. You should have a short one or two sentence introduction then list the ingredients and recipe.
That's said, my great grandmother made cardamom cookies that were the best thing I've ever eaten. I'll have to wait for the cardamom itself to get here, but I will certainly give it a try.
MaryAnne
Hi Mike, there is a "Jump to Recipe" button at the beginning of every post so that folks can go right to the recipe if they don't want to read all of the provided information about the recipe. I hope you do give these cookies a try!
Susi Ryan
I followed the instructions to the letter and found the dough very crumbly- I wonder if a cup and half of butter would have made the difference. It was difficult to roll out after refrigerating.
The cookies were very dry, definitely need to be served with a glass of milk or a cup of tea.
I think with a couple tweaks it would be perfect.
MaryAnne
Hi Susi, thanks so much for your comment. I've made these shortbread cookies several times and I've never had a problem with them being too dry. Did you use the "scoop and level" method when you measured your flour? It makes a difference, and I suspect you had too much flour in your mixture. Adding that much butter would make them too greasy and they would most likely spread into flat discs when baking. Next time, try the scoop and level method when measuring your flour. And if the dough is still too dry, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water until you get the right consistency. Thanks again for your feedback!