Cardamom & Coriander Cookies

Yield : 48 cookies

Ingredients :

2 eggs

1/4 cup butter, softened

1-1/2 cups sugar

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Juice of l lemon

Current or seedless raspberry jam

2 to 3 tablespoons water, as needed

1 egg or egg white, beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup finely chopped almonds

Instructions :

• Beat the eggs, butter, and 1-1/2 cups sugar in a mixer until light and fluffy.
• Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, coriander, cardamom, and lemon zest to blend. Add to the sugar mixture and blend well, adding lemon juice and water, as needed, to form a dough that holds together. Form into a rectangle and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a cookie sheet.
• Roll the dough out into a 1/2" thick rectangle. Cut into strips 1-1/2" wide. Make an indentation down the length of the strips in the middle. Place each strip on the prepared cookie sheet. Pipe or spoon the jelly in the indentation.
• Bake for 15 minutes. Combine the 1/2 cup sugar and the egg to blend. Remove the strips from the oven and brush with the egg mixture. Top with sprinkled almonds and bake for an additional 5 minutes or so.
• Remove from oven and cut into 1/2" wide diagonal strips. Cool on rack.

Annice Estes, adapted this colorful cookie recipe for the Global Feast Cookbook she edited for Mystic Seaport, the museum of America and the Sea.