Cardamom Butter Squares

A friend passed this recipe on to me. The cookies came together easily. I preferred the cookies plain, but everyone else enjoyed the ones that were iced. I iced some with the espresso/chocolate combination but also did some with just chocolate. They were a hit!

Cardamom Butter Squares

Source: Gourmet

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground allspice

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

For icings:

1 tsp. instant-espresso powder

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp. milk

1 cup confectioners sugar

3 oz. fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), melted

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom, cinnamon, and allspice in a bowl.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes in a stand mixer.
Beat in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, then mix in flour mixture until just combined.

Form dough into 2 (12-inch) logs (1 1/2 inches in diameter), each on its own sheet of plastic wrap.

Use plastic wrap and your hands to roll, press, and square off sides of logs. Chill logs on a baking sheet until slightly firm, about 1 hour, then smooth logs with plastic wrap and flat side of a ruler to achieve straight sides. Chill logs on baking sheet until firm, about 1 hour.

Put oven racks in upper & lowder thirds of over and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut 1/4-inch-thick slices from a log with a knife. Fill 2 large ungreased baking sheets, arranging slices about 1 inch apart (chill remaining dough, wrapped in plastic wrap).

Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are golden, 10 to 12 minutes total.

Cool on sheets 3 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely. Make more cookies iwth remaining dough on cooled baking sheets.

Ice cookies:

Whisk together espresso powder, vanilla, and 1 1/2 Tbsp. milk until espresso powder is dissolved, then add confectioners sugar and enough additional milk to make a thick but pourable icing. Spoon into a sealable bag and snip off a bottom corner. Spoon melted chocolate into another sealable bag and snip off a bottom corner.

Pipe some espresso icing and chocolate over each cookie and let cookies stand on reacks until icing sets, about 2 hours.