Spiced Cardamom Twists

If you love cardamom, you’ll love these. They are very easy–well,  if you have danish dough already prepped– and simple. Cardamom, sugar, chopped almonds, 1 egg, and 1/2 recipe of danish dough. You roll out the dough into a 12-inch by 16-inch rectangle. Brush the surface with the egg and sprinkle with the cardamom-sugar, followed by the chopped almonds. Fold the dough in half and cut into 16 one-inch strips. Twist and place on baking sheet. Let rise and bake in oven.

I made these when work was crazy and had to participate in multiple teleconferences over a weekend. I learned that baking while on a conference call (on mute, of course) is a great way to multi-task. It is much easier to pay attention to the call while baking than when I’m listening from my office and distracted by the computer. I brought them in for a very early (for me) 7:30 am meeting the following Monday and they were a big hit.

From The Art & Soul of Baking

• 1/2 recipe Danish Dough (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) finely chopped raw almonds

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Place dough on work surface dusted with flour and sprinkle top of dough with flour. Roll dough into a 16 by 12 by 1/4-inch rectangle with the longer side parallel to the edge of the work surface closest to you.
2. Place the sugar and cardamom in a small bowl and whisk to combine.  Lightly beat egg in another small bowl and  brush entire surface of dough with a thin film of the egg. Spread the sugar mixture over the bottom half of the dough leaving a 1/2-inch border along the bottom. Sprinkle almonds evenly over sugar. Fold top half of dough over filling and press bottom edges to seal. Roll over dough with a rolling pin 2 or 3 times to seal and embed the filling in the dough. Cut dough in 16 one-inch strips. Grasp a strip by both ends and twist in opposite directions 4 times. Place twists on baking sheet 2 inches apart. Sprinkle any fallen filling over tops of the twists.
3. Cover twists loosely with plastic wrap and let the twists rise  in a cool room-temperature spot until  they are nearly doubled in size, about an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 400° F and position rack in center. Chill the twists in refrigerator for 15 minutes. Bake one batch of twists at a time, rotating the sheet halfway through, for 14 to 16 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer the twists to a cooling rack.

I’m submitting this to Yeastspotting, a weekly round-up of yeasted goods and bread.

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