Recipe: Cardamom and turmeric are the surprising ingredients
![]() These spiced sugar cookies, loaded with orange zest, brighten up a gray day. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)
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Wet, gray, cold -- sounds like perfect cookie-baking weather. And a couple of large oranges self-harvested from my little Washington navel tree. They're not at their ripest, but the zest is definitely usable.
So I found a new winter cookie among the group of recipes that King Arthur Flour released this year, a collection dubbed "The New Classics." A sugar cookie is about as classic as you can get, and this zesty version is a winner -- and very pretty. It's more likely to appeal to adults than kids, and would go especially well with a good cup of tea.
The cardamom and turmeric are less-common spices in baking but they shine here. Substitute allspice for the cardamom if you're not a fan, but the turmeric is essential for the cookies' delightful color.
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Olive oil-orange sugar cookies
Makes about 30 cookies
Ingredients:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened but not melty
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted if lumpy
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup good-quality olive oil
Zest of 1 large or 2 small oranges
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (or allspice)
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1/8 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Coating:
1/2 cup granulated sugar or sanding sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (or allspice)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
Zest of 1 large or 2 small oranges
Instructions:
Cream the butter with the sugars. Add the olive oil and zest and combine thoroughly. Stir in the egg, vanilla and spices until mixture is smooth.
Stir in the baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour, mixing until smooth.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line baking sheets with parchment paper. (Alternatively, lightly grease the baking pans.)
Make the coating by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl. Scoop the dough by tablespoons (a cookie scoop is ideal) and roll into balls, then roll the balls in the sugar coating.
![]() The zest makes the coating a bit thicker, but it doesn't seem
that way once the cookies are baked.
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Place the balls on the parchment paper about 1-1/2 inches apart.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges just are starting to brown. Let them cool on the pan on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes before removing to cool completely.
Make-ahead note: The balls of dough, without the sugar coating, can be frozen. When ready to bake, make the coating and roll the frozen dough in it; no need to defrost, but allow a little extra time for baking.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of June 8
Get out early to enjoy those nice mornings. There’s plenty to keep gardeners busy:
* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal or rock phosphate can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.
* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don’t let them dry out completely. Inconsistent soil moisture can encourage blossom-end rot.
* It’s not too late to transplant tomatoes, peppers or eggplant.
* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.
* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.
* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias.
* It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.
* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.
* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.
* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.
* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.
* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.
* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.
* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.