These past few days have been about more than Christmas baking: yesterday I said goodbye to a bunch of criminals that I held close to my heart for seven seasons.
It was the perfect ending for the perfect ride – nothing less than what I expect. Great acting, great writing, and it is a pity that Sons of Anarchy was never on the radar of the big award shows, except for the Golden Globe that Katey Sagal took home in 2011 (and she really deserved it).
I cried like a baby while watching the episode, so much that my husband grabbed me a tissue (“what are you watching that is making you cry like that?”, he asked) – I guess I wasn’t ready for another goodbye so soon.
Baking is such therapy for me that I usually go to the kitchen when I’m feeling a little blue, but to be honest I was so devastated after watching the finale of one of my all time favorite TV shows that I did not feel like cooking at all, not even dinner – luckily I had baked these delicious cookies the day before and now I can share them with you.
Cardamom and hazelnut snowballs
slightly adapted from Bon Appétit magazine
2 ½ cups (350g) all-purpose flour
finely ground seeds of 12 cardamom pods
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 ½ cups (210g) powdered sugar, divided use
generous 1 cup (110g) sliced hazelnuts
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine ½ cup (70g) sugar and hazelnuts in a food processor; pulse until coarse meal forms. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and vanilla in a medium bowl until creamy, 2–3 minutes. Add nut mixture; beat to blend. Add dry ingredients; blend well (dough will be moist but still crumbly). Transfer to a work surface; knead to form a ball, about 4 turns.
Measure 1 leveled tablespoon of dough per cookie and form into a ball. Place 2.5cm (1in) apart on prepared sheets.
Bake, one sheet at a time, until bottoms are golden, 12–15 minutes. Sift remaining 1 cup powdered sugar into a shallow wide bowl. Working in batches of about 8 cookies each, roll warm cookies gently in powdered sugar to coat. Transfer to a wire rack to let cool. Dust cooled cookies with powdered sugar.
These cookies can be store in an airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Makes about 50
6 comments:
These sound wonderful! Pinned!
They look delicious - I love Christmas baking. Christmas baking offers a great excuse for baking large amounts of cookies and using a lot of butter! I will definitely be trying these cookies. I love cardamon and think it is quite an under rated spice. I love you blog and have been a silent reader for years - Thanks for sharing!
I love hazelnut cookies, what delicious looking snowballs!
I knew at the start of the episode what was going to happen but like you felt the loss. And I'm the same way. My kitchen is my zen place.
Delicious looking cookies too!!
Thank you, girls!
Sarah, thank you for your kind words, I'm so glad to know you like the blog!
Christie, I guess it was the only way things could have gone in that show, it all made sense. Thank you for commenting!
I love the falvor of these little balls hazelnut heaven!ajaust the cure for the heart break of the last ride
Thse cookies ar also a great opening to th Christmas holidays soon upon us.
Wishing you happy holidays :)
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