Swedish cardamom cookies

Makes about 40 cookies You will need: • 225g butter, softened • 125g icing sugar • 275g flour • 1 egg, beaten • 2 teaspoons ground cardamom (freshly ground seeds from the green cardamom pods if at all possible, for the best flavour) • 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest • Pinch of salt • 200g sugar crystals — sometimes called sugar nibs (coloured if you like, these are available in some speciality food shops) — or chopped pecans 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F, Gas 4. 2 Put the softened butter in a bowl and beat it until it is very soft. Add in the half of the icing sugar and continue to beat, then add in the remainder of the icing sugar and keep beating until it has all been incorporated. Next, add in the flour, the beaten egg, the ground cardamom, the orange zest and the pinch of salt. Continue to beat the mixture until everything is well combined. 3 Scatter the sugar crystals, or the chopped pecans, whichever you are using, onto a sheet of parchment paper. Roll the dough out into a log shape on the parchment paper, so that the outside of the dough is fully covered by the sugar nibs or chopped pecans, whichever you’re using. The log should measure approximately 4cm wide and about 35cm long. 4 Tightly roll up the coated log in the parchment paper, pressing the sugar nibs or chopped nuts into the dough. 5 Put the parchment-wrapped log in the fridge to chill for a few hours or overnight. See Note, below. 6 When you want to cook some, or all, of the cookies, cut the dough into slices ½cm thick, then place them flat on a parchment-lined tray. Cook them in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes (the cooking time will vary depending on the cookies’ thickness), or until they turn a light golden colour. Carefully lift the baked cookies onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Note: The dough can be kept in the fridge in a log and you can simply cut slices of it when you’d like to bake the cookies. It will keep like this for two weeks. It will also keep in the freezer for up to three months.