Almond-Cardamom Butter Balls

These are similar to Mexican wedding cookies, not quite as buttery or rich, and not as sweet since they're not covered in sugar.  (I see now I was supposed to sprinkle them with powdered sugar... oops. Oh well. Per the photo in Bon Appétit, they get a very light dusting.)

For a yield of 25 cookies, here's what I used:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1¹/₃ cups powdered sugar, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom*
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup finely chopped, toasted almonds

Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine all ingredients except powdered sugar in food processor. Process until mixture resembles fine meal, using on/off turns, then process continuously until dough begins to gather together. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Space 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet; bake until just firm to touch, about 20 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely. Sift lightly with powdered sugar. Store in airtight container.

*I couldn't taste the cardamom, so I added another 1/2 teaspoon.  Despite grinding my cardamom from seed, it must still simply be too old to be viable, because it was still completely undetectable.

Initially, these tasted strongly of toasted almond, so I recommend toasting the almonds quite lightly so as to not add too much flavor. Curiously, these did not taste like spice cookies.  I really didn't pick up anything besides toasted almond.

Conclusion:   Easy to make, they store well and very are Christmassy.  I'm sure they'd have been even better if the cardamom had been there.

Recipe:  "Almond-Cardamom Butter Balls" via Bon Appétit, January 1989

December ABC challenge: Dirty Chai Earthquake Cookies

The challenge theme this month is spices.  I wasn't necessarily looking for a spice cookie, but I happened upon this recipe, which had rave reviews.  Terrible name, but it seems "dirty chai" is a particular type of drink in which a shot of espresso is poured into a cup of spiced chai.  (Why not just make spiced coffee???)  And the "earthquake" part is from the cracks in the sugar coating.

It's a small recipe, so I made the whole thing, which is supposed to make only 2 dozen cookies.  The only change I made was an adjustment of salt, using salted butter, which I countered by reducing the salt in the ingredient list but ultimately resulted in a higher salt content than the original recipe, and I substituted out malted milk powder.  Here's what I used:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 tablespoon finely ground coffee (not instant)
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted then measured (255 grams)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 1/4 teaspoon kosher fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
2 large eggs
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste
2 tablespoons malted milk powder, such as Carnation brand malt syrup
1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted, for rolling

Brown the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, swirling and stirring occasionally, until nutty brown, 5 to 6 minutes.  Pour over the espresso/coffee in a small metal bowl and stir to combine.  Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, salt, and pepper; set aside.  With an electric mixer, combine eggs, and light brown sugar in a medium bowl and beat on medium speed until well combined and slightly paler, about 3 minutes, scraping bowl as needed.  Add the vanilla and malt syrup to the butter mixture, stirring to combine, then add that to the egg mixture and mix on low speed until combined.  Add the flour mixture, then mix again on low until combined.  Transfer dough to a resealable glass or plastic container and chill thoroughly, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Put granulated sugar and confectioners’ sugar into two separate bowls.  Portion dough into heaping tablespoons (about 25 grams each); roll into smooth balls and drop a few at a time into the bowl of granulated sugar, rolling to coat.  Transfer to the bowl with the confectioners’ sugar and roll gently, coating well and place in freezer until firm, about 10 minutes.  Place on a greased baking sheet, flattening slightly (if you want a less domed cookie) and bake until cookies are still quite tender (they will firm up as they cool), 12 to 14 minutes.  Let cool a few minutes on the baking sheets and transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

The dough sat tightly covered in my refrigerator for 3 days before I baked off half of it; that resting time should have really improved the flavor and enhanced the spices, but it didn't seem to.  I did find the cookies dry; they might be less so if I used an air-insulated pan.

My scale wasn't working, so I couldn't measure out 25g of dough.  I was further confused by the instructions to use a "small" cookie scoop or a heaping tablespoon.  I have a SMALL cookie scoop that's about a teaspoon, and another that's about a tablespoon -- obviously I don't call the larger one the "small" one.  I used the tablespoon-sized scoop and heaped the dough in to round it out so it made something resembling a sphere and didn't bother to roll it any better than that-- they came out about 1.25" in diameter (and went straight into the sugar.)  Perhaps they were a little too small, because they were quite firm at 12 minutes.  (I can't believe some people baked them for 15 minutes and more... then complained they were dry.)

Some people had trouble with the crusts not "cracking", and one piece of advice was to coat them heavily with the powdered sugar.  I think that probably just makes the cracking more prominent for appearance, but likely doesn't affect the tendency to crack or not crack.  And the last thing these needed was more sugar.  However, I followed that advice, unfortunately, as it was too much sugar in the first batch.  I used a lighter touch with the next batch and also experimented with other coatings:  coarse sugar, nonpareils, and none.

Obviously, nothing gave the intended effect other than the heavy powdered sugar coating.  The light sugar coating looked sad.  The coarse sugar looked okay -- the nonpareils not so much, and the plain were downright unappetizing.

Conclusion:  I'm not a fan of sugar-coated cookies, but I thought the dough was going to be less sweet with these so it would be okay.  It was not.  My initial impression was that, if I focused, I noticed the spice flavors, but if I didn't it just tasted sugary.  I didn't detect browned butter at all.  After I'd swallowed the last bite, I detected heat, probably from the pepper, and then coffee (perhaps from a stray ground), both mild. No other spice stood out, they all melded together in a pleasant warmth; it just wasn't enough to counter the sugar.  In the end, I decided this tasted a lot like a cinnamon cake doughnut and so tried it dunked in coffee.... Delightful!  But only as originally prepared, with the crisp, sugary crust.  Any other preparation or technique fell short.

Recipe:  Dirty Chai Earthquake Cookies via NYTimes Cooking 

Julekake (Norwegian Christmas bread)

I used the recipe from my cookbook Christmas:  a Cook's Tour.  It came together easily enough, but the dough felt dense and heavy.  I added more water, which helped, but suspected it still was the wrong texture.  After 5 hours rising in a warm oven with barely a budge, I made up a plain water and flour dough from about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of flour and a little more yeast and kneaded it into the dough until it felt right.  That allowed the dough to rise properly, but it was very soft and loose and made the braid difficult.  (This is supposed to be a round loaf, but I wanted something more decorative.)

I thought it had over proved the second time because I didn't turn on the oven until the loaf already looked plenty large, but the crumb looked okay.  The loaf was too large, soft, and heavy to rap on the bottom after it looked baked enough (it started to break), so I used a thermometer.  I read that enriched breads need to bake to a higher temperature, 200 degrees; that brought the loaf to a darker crust than I would have liked.  And as it turned out, the bread was very dry.

It was still very good with a nice buttery flavor.  It was too sweet to glaze, as I had originally intended, but was very good with just a light spread of salted butter.  I used golden raisins and half candied lemon peel/half candied red cherries chopped small.  I would eliminate the lemon peel, simply because it turned it from cardamom bread to something almost identical to stöllen.  (However, I don't know that I would increase the cherries to make up the difference.  If I did, I think I would reduce the sugar slightly.)

Conclusion:  Delicious, but not far enough from my stöllen.

Recipe:  Julekake via  Christmas:  a Cook's Tour

Morning buns

Apparently these are a new fad that started slowly but is quickly gaining momentum. They were created at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco in the 1970s; I first had one many years ago, but it's been only recently that I've started seeing them more frequently in coffee shops. (I don't think I've ever seen one in a bakery.) I'm not a fan of the super sweet, heavily laden breakfast pastries that are the usual fare in American bakeries, so I was immediately addicted to these lightly sweet, flaky, buttery rolls. (I'd call them a roll, not a bun. After all, they are rolled!) That said, while every one I've had has been very flaky, similar to a croissant, I just found another recipe from Bon Appétit that is made with enriched bread dough, which to me seems more like a cinnamon roll.

I didn't change much in this recipe. I switched out cardamom for the cinnamon (the scent of the cardamom with the orange was otherworldly), water for the orange juice (and used it for proofing the yeast), used less orange peel, and a mix of salted and unsalted butter (adjusting the added salt accordingly.)  I also modified the rising technique as recommended in one of the comments.  Here's what I used:

For the Dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon + 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2¼ teaspoons instant (rapid-rise yeast)
¼ cup orange juice water, very warm
3/8 teaspoon salt
1½ cups butter (half unsalted) cut into ¼-inch-thick slices and chilled
1 cup sour cream, chilled
3 tablespoons ice water
1 egg yolk

For the Filling:
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated zest of one small orange
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon cardamom, freshly ground
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Proof the yeast in the warm water with 1 teaspoon of sugar.  Combine the flour, 2 teaspoons sugar, and salt in a large zipper-lock bag. Add the butter, seal and shake to evenly coat the butter. Press the air out of the bag and reseal. Roll over the bag several times with a rolling pin, shaking the bag after each roll, until the butter is pressed into large flakes. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the yeast mixture, sour cream, ice water, and egg yolk until combined.  Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead briefly to form a smooth, cohesive ball. Roll the dough into a 20x12-inch rectangle. Starting at the short end, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. Pat the cylinder flat into a 12x4-inch rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for 15 minutes.

Line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners and grease with non-stick cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, stir together the sugars, orange zest, cardamom, and vanilla.  Remove the dough from the freezer and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a 20x12-inch rectangle and sprinkle evenly with the filling, using more towards one long (outside) edge and less on the other long (inside) edge.  Leave a ½-inch border at the long ends. Lightly press the filling into the dough. Starting at the long end with less filling, roll the dough into a tight cylinder and pinch lightly to seal the seam. Cut the cylinder into 12 equal pieces and transfer cut-side-up to the prepared muffin tin. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and place loaf or cake pan on bottom of oven. Remove plastic from rolls and place in oven. Pour 3 cups boiling water into pan in oven, close oven door, and let buns rise until puffed and doubled in size, 20 to 30 minutes*.  

Remove the rolls from the oven and heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.  Bake until the rolls are deep golden brown, **40 to 50 additional minutes. 

Allow the rolls to cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and remove the liners. The rolls are best served warm, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Make Ahead: After placing the buns in the muffin tin, place the tin in the freezer until the buns are firm, about 30 minutes. Transfer the buns (with the liners) to a zipper-lock bag and freeze for up to 1 month. To finish, return the buns to a muffin tin and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours, then proceed with rising in the oven as directed.


I had some problems with this recipe.  The first was with the rising.  According to the comments, this recipe is from Cook's Country (subscription required), although the blogger did not credit them.  (She claims she did, but I still don't see it.)  They modified the rising technique so that, instead of placing the rolls in a warm oven (which apparently caused some butter leakage), they put them in a cold oven with a pan of hot water.  My oven has a constant pilot light and so is always a little warm (no more than 100F), but I also used the pan of hot water.  *After 30 minutes, the rolls had hardly puffed at all, which didn't surprise me.  (It might be my yeast, which has been in the freezer for several years.  While it proofs fine in warm water, dough seems to rise more slowly than expected.  It really seems to need the heat.)  I let the rolls rise until they looked puffed and actually doubled, which was an hour and 45 minutes.  (On the other hand, in this demonstration by Claire Saffitz for Bon Appétit, the rolls have risen only about 1 cm after 30 minutes--not much different from mine.  She tests their readiness by the dent test.  I tried that at 30 minutes and the dough sprang right back, but I wasn't sure if it wasn't just sticking to my finger.  Besides, her dough was an entirely different consistency.)  By that time, there was a substantial amount of leakage of the sugar water.

Which brings me to problem #2:  the liners.  I had been counting on using my silicon muffin liners, but despite digging through every box I thought might have kitchen items, I couldn't find them.  The blogger warns that these rolls WILL stick, so I had concerns.  I greased the tins, lined the bottoms with a circle of greased parchment, then wrapped a strip of greased parchment around the side of the rolls and crossed my fingers.  It worked fine--- no sticking.

Since my oven's only heating element is at the bottom, I end up with burned bottoms with items that have a high butter content, so I try to use an air-bake pan in those cases.  To address that here, I put the muffin tin on an air-bake sheet pan (which also helped to catch some of the leakage.)

One problem I did not have was a wet dough, as some people did.  My dough was beautiful--soft and easy to work with.  I can only assume either they put in too much liquid, or, most likely, their butter softened while they were working with it. 

At 40 minutes, the rolls looked done, but I wanted them more caramelized and crispy, so I left them another 5 minutes.  I sort of think that, since butter browns so easily, anything with a high butter content probably needs to get pretty dark before it's actually fully baked.  (I was also concerned about what effect the liquid leakage and the air-bake pan would have on the bottoms, whether they'd be soggy.  Better over baked than under.)  But when I started taking them out of the pan, they seemed too pale and soft on the undersides.  So I put them back in the oven, without the air-bake pan, and baked for another 10 minutes.  I checked the undersides again, and they still seemed too pale and soft.  Back in for another 10 minutes.  **In all, I baked them for about an hour and a half, minus the five minutes or so that they were out of the oven while I was fussing with them.  They turned out perfectly:  crispy and flaky on the outside, very soft and airy on the inside.  (The tips and edges were just starting to get too brown.)  There was a little caramelized sugar at the bottom of each tin that would have cemented the rolls to the tin if I'd let them cool very long in it, but I took them out hot and cooled them on a rack upside down.  (And peeled the paper off before it hardened on as well.)  I'm not even sure it's necessary to do anything more than grease the tins, as long as you remove the rolls soon enough.

Conclusion:  These were absolutely delicious.  They are a bit fussy when you don't know what to look for or expect, but I think once you know that you can whip these up pretty easily.  The reduced amount of orange was still plenty for me--- just a hint.  My only issue is that they are almost too buttery.  I'd probably start with 1 cup of butter next time and see how that works out.  I'm just hoping now that they'll freeze well.

Original recipe:  Morning Buns via Brown Eyed Baker (via Cook's Country)

Kardemummabullar (Swedish Cardamom Rolls)

Cardamom is my very favorite spice, and the thought of it infusing sweet, buttery dough practically sends me into spasms.  I've had a recipe for cardamom rolls copied for some time, but the impetus (and recipe) for these came from another source.  This was the Bread of the Month July 2015 baking challenge for the Artisan Bread Bakers Facebook group.

The recipe provided by the group was adapted from the blog FixFeastFlair.  This was adapted from another recipe, Kokblog's Kanelbullar, which in turn was adapted from Mia Örn’s recipe for Kardemummabullar, which must be authentic because it's entirely in Swedish.  Of course I had to follow them back to see what the differences were.

The challenge recipe is nearly identical to FixFeastFlair's recipe (yield 15-20 rolls) but uses considerably less cardamom in the dough, filling, and topping, and doubles the salt in the dough to compensate for the unsalted butter specified. FixFeastFlair's recipe is nearly exactly half of the one on Kokblog (yield 30-40 rolls.)  FixFeastFlair uses a little less flour in the dough and twice the sugar in the filling.  It also uses 1/2 teaspoon less cardamom in the filling, but adds it to the spiced sugar topping mixture, which Kokblog doesn't use at all.  (Kokblog uses an egg wash with either pearl sugar or sliced almonds.)  The Swedish recipe (yield 25 rolls) is identical to Kokblog's except uses 1/2 teaspoon more cardamom in the filling PLUS 2 teaspoons in the spiced sugar topping, making it the cardamom champion.  (This topping, used in the Swedish recipe and FixFeastFlair's, consists of a sugar glaze---vanilla added to FixFeastFlair's---that's then sprinkled with cardamom sugar.)  Kokblog also shapes the buns differently from the others.

Since the recipes were so similar, particularly in the basics, it was easy to cobble together my own.  I used the most cardamom and the least sugar, and included the fancy sugared topping but without vanilla.  Then I reduced the quantities to produce a yield of about 5 rolls.  Here's what I used:

For the dough
3 2/5 ounces lukewarm milk half whole cream/half water
scant 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons light brown granulated sugar
3¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour
2/5 teaspoon whole cardamom (1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom)
1 2 heaping measuring spoon "pinches" (equal to 1/6 teaspoon) salt
2 tablespoons unsalted, European-style butter, room temperature

For the filling
1 3/5 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter
3 1/5 teaspoons dark brown sugar
1 scant teaspoon freshly ground cardamom 

For the glaze
2 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons sugar

For the topping
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom (1/2 teaspoon whole seeds)

To make the dough, mix the milk, yeast, and sugar and set aside for about 5 minutes to prove.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cardamom, and salt.  Add the milk mixture and mix with a dough whisk or wooden spoon until the dough comes together.  Start kneading, adding the butter in stages until incorporated. Knead for 5-10 minutes until dough is smooth.  Form into a ball and place in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, about 40 minutes. 

Mix together the filling ingredients and set aside.  Preheat the oven to 435 degrees F and grease a sheet pan.   Roll out the proofed dough into a strip 21 inches long and at least 5 inches wide. Spread the filling over the dough to cover the entire surface. Fold the dough lengthwise into thirds, like an envelope, to create an approximately 7"x5" rectangle.  Roll it out slightly with a rolling pin to a rough square.  Using a sharp knife or pizza wheel, cut the dough into 5 strips.
 
There are a number of ways to shape the rolls, as shown here.  For these, I twisted a strip a few times, then, holding it by one end, stretched it while wrapping it twice around the ends of my fingers.  I then pushed the end up through the middle, wrapped it over the edge of the roll, and tucked it underneath into the middle, thusly. (Slow to half speed for a better view.)  Place the shaped rolls onto the baking sheet, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and let rise for about 30 minutes. Bake the rolls for about 7-10 minutes until golden brown.  (Cover with a sheet of aluminum foil if they're getting too brown.)  After removing from the oven, immediately brush the baked rolls with the glaze and sprinkle with a little sugar and cardamom. Serve immediately or cool on a wire rack. 

Conclusion:  These were delicious, and very easy to make.  The wrapping is a little tricky, but fun once you get the hang of it.  There are lots of different shapes these rolls can be made into, some  easier than others.  One of these days I'll have to do a bakeoff with the other recipe that I had saved, or at least compare it to this.

Recipes:
Swedish Cardamom Rolls (Kardemummabullar) via FitFeastFlair (with helpful photos and gif)
Kanelbullar – Swedish Cinnamon Rolls via Kokblog
Kardemummabullar via MiaOhrn

The Swedish recipe quantities (and my 1/5 reductions) are translated here, for easy reference:
Dough 
5 decilitres milk (17 oz) -- 3 2/5 oz 
More than 25 g yeast -- 5 g 
1.5 decilitres granulated sugar (2/3 cup)  -- 2 tablespoons 
840 g (14 decilitres) wheat flour (6.75 cups)  -- 1 cup + 5-6 T
2 tsp cardamom nystött  -- 2/5 tsp
0.5 tsp salt -- 0.1 tsp 
150g unsalted butter (2/3 cup / 1.3 sticks)  -- 2 tablespoons 
Filling
125g unsalted butter (1/2 cup) 
0.75 decilitres granulated sugar (1/3 cup) 
1.5 tablespoon cardamom nystött 
Syrup 
0.5 decilitres granulated sugar (1/5 cup)
0.5 decilitres of water (1/5 cup) 
Cardamom Sugar
2 tsp cardamom nystött 
1 tbsp caster sugar

Cardamom-Semolina Shortbread Cookies

I so wanted to like these.  Shortbread is my favorite cookie, and cardamom my favorite spice.  But alas, it wasn't to be.  I didn't think it was possible to have too much butter in a cookie, but these have it.  Not only was the dough (call it more of a batter) extremely soft and sticky, the cookies themselves tasted downright cheesy.  You can't even taste the cardamom or orange-flower water due to the overpowering butter taste. It lingers on the fingers long after the cookie is gone.

Speaking of orange-flower water, I take great exception to anyone who suggests orange extract or orange liqueur as a suitable substitute.  Obviously these people are just making stuff up.  Sure, you could substitute those other items, but you might as well be substituting cinnamon, or anise extract, or black pepper for that matter.  Orange extract has a concentrated orange oil flavor; orange liqueur has a sweet, less-concentrated orange oil flavor.  Orange-flower water tastes NOTHING like orange oil!!  The best substitution to retain the flavor profile would be another flower water or flower extract.  Another clue that this author didn't know what he was putting together was the quantity.  I suspected that a measly 1/2 teaspoon wasn't going to have an effect.  I even doubled it, and it is still undetectable.  (I hate it when people just make stuff up.)

So the butter quantity was off, the flavoring quantities were off....  What went right?  Well, I liked the addition of semolina flour.  It gave a grainy, sandy texture and helped (along with all that butter) to create a very delicate cookie that melts in your mouth.  However, I recommend finding a happy medium and reducing the butter to about 1½ cups.  (If you choose to use salted butter, as I did, that will also help to balance the salt quantity.  A cup of salted butter has too much salt for this recipe, so stick with unsalted if you use the full amount.)  These cookies also lend themselves nicely to the use of cookie stamps, so if you have a pretty one, use it!

I should mention that I also greatly reduced the sugar, just for personal preference.  After making these delicious Brazilian guava cookies that used only a tablespoon of sugar per cup of flour, I will seriously rethink sugar quantities from now on.

Here's what I used:

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup semolina flour (pasta flour)
1¼ teaspoons ground cardamom, divided
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon orange-flower water, orange extract, or orange liqueur (such as Cointreau)

Whisk all-purpose flour, semolina flour, and 1 teaspoon cardamom in a large bowl; set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, salt, and 3/4 cup 2 tablespoons sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg yolks and orange flower water and beat to blend. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients and mix just to blend.  (It will be sticky.)  Place dough on a large sheet of parchment paper. Using paper as an aid, roll up dough into a 1 1/2-inch diameter log. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix remaining 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 tsp. cardamom in a small bowl. Slice dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. (If using a stamp, cut slightly thicker so that the cookies are about 1/4" thick after pressing.)  Dip 1 side of each round in cardamom sugar and arrange, sugar side up, on 2 large baking sheets. Bake until golden brown and firm, 20-25 minutes.  (The thinner cookies I made baked for only 13 minutes.)  Carefully transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.



Conclusion:  There are lots of delicious shortbread cookie recipes out there, and lots of delicious cardamom recipes as well. I recommended a pass on this one.


Recipe:  Cardamom-Semolina Shortbread Cookies via Bon Appétit





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Preserved Green Walnuts

Last summer, I spotted a tree on my way home from work sporting pale green balls on its branches.  I picked one and asked a landscape architect friend; he identified the ball as an immature walnut.  The tree was likely a California black walnut, Juglans californica.  (Incidentally, "Juglans" is derived from "Jupiter's balls", as in, the god's manly parts.)  Many months later, I came across a recipe for preserved walnuts, which called for immature, green walnuts.  Although the recommended variety for this recipe is a black walnut, Juglans nigra, or an English walnut, Juglans regia, all varieties of walnuts are edible.  In fact, Native Americans ate California black walnuts as part of their normal diet.  But they offer a very poor meat yield per nut compared to other varieties, and it's difficult to obtain, so it's no surprise they fell out of favor.  But since the whole fruit is used for this recipe and not just the meat, I figured they would work okay.  It would be fun trying, anyway.

Green walnuts are available beginning in June.  Obviously you want as large of a fruit as possible in order to maximize your efforts, but you have to pick them before the shell starts to form under the fleshy outer part.  If you can push a pin through the nut easily, they're still green enough to use.

Green, immature walnuts, about the size of a small plum.

Green walnuts are bitter, so they need to be soaked and/or boiled to remove the bitter taste.  One recipe called for soaking for 9 days, changing the water frequently.  I opted for boiling them several times in fresh changes of water, since I was making only a small batch.

After boiling.  The peeled nuts start to oxidize quickly,
turning a dark green/black, hence their name.

Eventually the nuts are boiled in a spiced sugar syrup, then stored for several weeks to flavor.

Spiced with cinnamon sticks and cardamom seeds.

There is an art to making syrup, and the instructions are vague, so I had a crystallization problem.  I managed to correct most of it, but still ended up with some heavy sugar crystals in the bottom of the jar.  There were also some hard crunchy parts in the walnuts -- I'm not sure if those were also sugar crystals, or parts of shell that were forming early.  They broke up on chewing, so I ate them anyway!

Conclusion:  This was a fun experiment!  The walnuts are delicious, but taste of the spices rather than any distinct nut flavor.  They shrunk considerably while seasoning -- I'm not sure what happened there.  They're excellent with a salty cotija cheese (as in the top photo), or would also be good mixed into plain yogurt.  The syrup could be used endlessly -- on pancakes, in drinks, drizzled on ice cream...

Recipes:  I mostly followed the directions in this recipe from About Greek Food, but I used a lot of the overall information from this site by "livelonger" on Hub Pages.