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.
Spiced Cardamom Twists
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Pink Stripes 