I tested 12 versions of Cardamom Cookies to create the best one. These cookies are buttery, crisp on the edges, soft and chewy in the middle, with cardamom in every bite. It's my dream cookie—I hope it becomes yours, too!
As a recipe developer and food stylist, I’ve baked thousands of cookies for magazines, cookbooks, and TV ads for brands like Nestle and McCormick. Now, I’m sharing how to make these delicious Cardamom Sugar Cookies—with tips for perfect results at home!
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Why you'll love this recipe
- The Best: I tested 12 different versions to get the recipe just right! These cardamom cookies are soft and chewy, with slightly crisp edges. They're not puffy or cakey.
- Easy: This recipe is super simple to make! And it's quick too, because you don't need to chill the dough or let it rest in the fridge.
- No Rolling: These drop sugar cookies with cardamom don't need to be rolled out. So you won't need any special tools, like a rolling pin or cookie cutters.
- Perfect for the Holidays: These delicious cookies are perfect for holiday cookie boxes, DIY gifts, or sharing with family and friends. They're a great cookie option for anyone who doesn't like chocolate!
- Freezer Friendly: You can bake dough balls straight for the freezer—much like my Earl Grey Shortbread and Nutella Puff Pastry Palmiers! It's perfect for getting ahead of holiday baking.
Ingredients (and substitutes)
These soft and chewy Cardamom Sugar Cookies only have 9 ingredients. Chances are, you already have them at home! Here’s what you need:
- All Purpose Flour: No need for specialty flour—just all-purpose! Flour is a commonly mismeasured ingredient. Use a kitchen scale for the best results. Otherwise fluff the flour, gently spoon it into a measuring cup, then level it off with the back of a knife.
- Butter: Unsalted butter gives you the most control in baking. With salted butter, the amount of salt varies by brand. In a pinch, you can substitute salted butter.
- Egg and Egg Yolk: The key to a chewy and soft cookie is to use one large egg...and an extra egg yolk! Use room temperature eggs because they mix better with other ingredients—especially butter. You can submerge fridge-cold eggs in warm water to quickly bring them to room temperature.
- Ground Cardamom: Cardamom is a delicious spice, with notes of citrus and pepper. It's a common ingredient in Chai (tea). You can find it in the spice aisle at the grocery store. Or in the Indian section, where lyou can often find larger quantities for cheaper.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda lasts a long time in your pantry. But it does lose its potency over time. To check if your baking soda is still good, transfer some into a small bowl and pour some vinegar over top and make sure it bubbles.
- Cream of Tartar: Helps create chewy cookies with crisp edges. This white, acidic powder is a by-product of winemaking. It's inexpensive and easy to find in the baking aisle at the grocery store.
Find the recipe card below for the complete recipe, including all ingredients and instructions.
How to make Cardamom Cookies
This cardamom cookie recipe is quick to make. There's no need to chill the dough, no rolling or cutting, and no decorating needed!
Here's how to make them:
1. Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
2. Beat butter, then mix in sugar until fluffy. Add remaining wet ingredients, then dry.
3. Mix together sugar and ground cardamom in a small bowl.
4. Scoop 3 tablespoon dough balls, then roll in the cardamom sugar mixture.
5. Arrange sugar coated dough balls on a parchment lined baking sheet.
6. Bake on the middle rack until the edges are set and the bottoms are pale golden.
Find the recipe card below for the complete recipe, including all ingredients and instructions.
Tips
I did a lot of heavy-lifting during the recipe testing process, so you don't have to! Here are my tips for how to bake perfect cookies in your own kitchen.
- Bake by weight if you can: A kitchen scale is the best upgrade for your baking. Weighing ingredients is faster, more accurate, and cuts down on dishes! Flour is often mismeasured with cups, so I recommend using the gram option.
- Don't over mix the dough: Once you add the flour, mix the dough just until combined. If you overwork the dough, your cookies won't be as soft and tender.
- Know your leaveners: In taste tests, cookies with baking soda and cream of tartar had crisp edges and chewy centers. Whereas baking powder made them cakier and puffier. The slight tang from cream of tartar balances the sweetness too (like with Snickerdoodle cookies). And it lasts almost forever—so grab some if you don't already have it!
- How to get perfectly round cookies: Use a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop for even, round cookies. You can take the cookies out of the oven a couple minutes early—then use the back of a flexible spatula to round the edges. Don't forget to pause the timer while they're out! Then return to the oven to finish baking.
- If you have leftover cardamom sugar: It's not necessary, but you can sprinkle the warm cookies with any extra cardamom sugar once out of the oven.
- How to freeze cardamom cookie dough: Scoop the dough into balls, then place them on a parchment lined baking sheet to freeze. Once hard, transfer the dough balls to an airtight freezer bag. Use within 3 months. See Recipe Card for how to bake frozen dough balls.
- Delicious paired with orange icing: You don't need to garnish these cookies, but if you do, make this royal orange icing (just 3 ingredients)! Orange and cardamom are an amazing flavor combination.
Recipe FAQ's
Cream of tartar creates chewier cookies, because it prevents sugar from crystallizing. I also found it helped prevent the cookies from browning too much (compared to the baking powder varieties).
Cream of tartar is used in Snickerdoodle cookies to add a slightly tang. In this recipe, the flavor difference is subtle...but I did prefer the flavor (compared to baking powder).
Yes, you can scoop and freeze the raw cookie dough. The frozen dough balls can be baked from frozen. I recommend baking frozen cookie dough at a slightly lower oven temperature for longer, so they don't get too brown. See Recipe Card for full details.
These homemade cookies are usually best enjoyed within 3 to 4 days. I prefer to store them in a resealable freezer bag, so you can remove as much air as possible to keep them fresh. But an airtight container works too.
If you're looking for a cookie that keeps for up to 2 weeks at room temperature, try these Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies.
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📖 Recipe
Best Cardamom Cookies (Soft and Chewy)
Ingredients
- 2⅔ cups all purpose flour (see note 1)
- 1½ teaspoons ground cardamom
- ¾ teaspoons baking soda
- ¾ teaspoons fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup unsalted butter (room-temperature, see note 2)
- 1¾ cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk (see note 3)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Cardamom Sugar (for rolling)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
Instructions
- Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 350℉ (177℃), with rack in the center position.
- Dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk 2⅔ cups all purpose flour, 1½ teaspoons ground cardamom, ¾ teaspoons baking soda, ¾ teaspoons fine sea salt, and ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar. Set aside.
- Wet ingredients: Beat 1 cup unsalted butter in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use electric beaters) until soft, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1¾ cups granulated sugar and beat at medium speed, until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract. Mix until combined. Scatter in dry ingredients, then mix at low speed just until combined. Don't overmix the dough!
- Cardamom Sugar: In a small bowl, combine ¼ cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cardamom.
- Scoop & roll: Scoop 3-tablespoon portions of cookie dough (golf-ball sized). Roll in the cardamom sugar mixture to coat. Arrange on a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches (5 cm) between them. (I usually bake 6 cookies on a 18 x 13-inch baking sheet).
- Bake: Bake until the bottoms are pale golden and the sides are set, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Flour: For best results, measure with a kitchen scale. Otherwise, fluff the flour in the container with a fork, before gently spooning it into a measuring cup and levelling off with the back of a knife. (To see ingredients listed by weight, make sure you select "Metric" - rather than "US Customary" - on the Recipe Card).
- Butter: Use unsalted butter for best results. In a pinch, you can substitute with the same quantity of salted butter. If using salted butter, continue to use the same amount of salt that the recipe calls for. It'll be a bit saltier, but the flavor difference won't be significant.
- Eggs: Use 1 whole large egg + 1 large egg yolk. You can discard the extra egg white or keep it and use in your morning eggs (like omelette or scramble) or baking (meringue, royal icing, etc).
- Storage Tips: Once cookies are fully cooled, store them in a resealable freezer bag or airtight container. They'll stay fresh for 3 to 4 days.
- Freezing Tips & Baking From Frozen: You can scoop the dough into balls and freeze for baking at a later date. Arrange dough balls on a parchment lined baking sheet, then freeze (uncovered) until hard. Transfer frozen dough balls to a freezer bag. Can be frozen for up to 3 months. The frozen dough can be baked straight from the freezer. For best results, bake at a lower oven temperature (325℉/165℃) for 3 to 4 minutes longer (16 to 19 minutes). This helps the cookies cook through without getting too brown.
- Recipe adapted from Sarah Kieffer's Sugar Cookies (100 Cookies cookbook).
Therese says
Keeper! Great for allergen friendly ingredients. This recipe worked with both non-dairy butter (Country Crock Avocado Oil) and gluten free flour (Bob’s Red Mill rice potato & sorghum flour from Sprouts). My daughter thought we’d never find something delicious that we could both eat! I didn’t have to adjust the cook time or temperature despite using gluten-free. Yummy!
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi Therese! I'm thrilled you and your daughter both loved these cookies! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your allergen-friendly modifications, I'm glad they worked so well for you!
David says
Turned out fantastic! I’ve made these three times now—last fall, at Christmas (perfect for the holidays), and now again since I’m out of snacks.
I’ve used fresh-ground cardamom every time and find 1tsp in the mix and 3/4tsp in the sugar coating works nicely. Also added 1/8tsp cinnamon because it goes very nicely with cardamom.
I’ll definitely be making these again and again.
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi David! So glad you've been making these Cardamom Cookies so often! Thank you for sharing the measurements you use for freshly ground cardamom. Freshly ground is definitely more flavorful/aromatic, so yes, I would pare it back as you're doing. Appreciate you sharing this note with other readers. Have a lovely week ahead!
Nik says
Help! My cookies turned out dry and cakey. Flavor is yummy. What did I do wrong?
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi Nik! Oh no, sorry to hear. A few questions for trouble shooting:
1) Did you use a kitchen scale and bake by weight?
2) For the flour, how did you measure it?
3) Did you make any recipe modifications (ingredients and/or quantities)?
The cookies shouldn't be dry or cakey. It sounds like there was likely an issue of too much dry ingredients being added (most likely ingredient being flour), and/or too little wet ingredients (most likely ingredient being butter). If you overmix any cookie dough, it can turn out tough; and if you overbake cookies they could be dry. But I suspect it's an ingredient that was off in your last go. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help you have success with this recipe.
Katherine Crean says
You suggest we measure the flour by weight, not just by volume using a measuring cup, yet NOWHERE do you mention what weight of flour should be used for the cardamom cookies,
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi Katherine - To see the weight of the flour (along with the weight of every other ingredient in this recipe), simply click the "Metric" button. When "Metric" is selected, all ingredients are listed by weight where relevant. When "US Customary" is selected, it'll show the ingredients by cup/teaspoon. Based on your comment, it sounds like you have "US Customary" selected. My recipes provide readers with both options, to accommodate different needs. But as you note, I recommend baking by weight where possible, especially for ingredients like flour. Hope this helps and have I hope you have a lovely start to the new year!
Lisa G. says
We really enjoyed this recipe! The sugar cookie in and of itself is very nice, with delightfully crispy edges and a softer middle, even though I used a 4 tsp cookie scoop to make them a little smaller. I'm new to cooking with cardamom and was a little scared of it (ha-ha!), so I opted to add a little cinnamon, just in case. The two made a nice combination, and I would also be comfortable using the cardamom alone in the future. I made one mistake: botched the egg separation, so I ended up using 2 whole eggs instead of 1 egg + 1 yolk. The recipe was very forgiving; the cookies were still fantastic. This is a recipe that I plan to make regularly--thank you!
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi Lisa! Yay, I'm thrilled to hear you enjoyed this Cardamom Sugar Cookie recipe! Thank you for sharing your notes and experience incorporating cinnamon into the recipe. And I'm glad it worked out, even with the accidental extra egg white. LOL. Thank you for taking the time to come back and share. Happy you'll be making them again!
jenny says
Followed the recipe exactly and it worked out beautifully. I used Penzey's ground Guatemalan cardamom and it was really quite perfect at the suggested amount. These cookies had a sweetness that balanced the forward citrus/warm spice of the cardamom. I was hesitant about the volume of the dough balls, but they worked out very well with respect to spread and resulted in a reasonable sized cookie. It was wise to leave space and bake only 6 at a time on the sheet to avoid crowding/touching. Will keep this recipe in my cookie repertoire!
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi Jenny! Happy New Year! So glad to hear this Cardamom Cookies worked out well for you. And, I'm thrilled the recipe's making it into your cookie repertoire! Thank you for coming back to leave a review. Much appreciated!
Gloria Jarvis says
These are a new favorite! I made smaller cookies from 1 heaping Tbls of dough each, yielding about 3 1/2 dozen. I also made these successfully gluten-free with 1:1 GF flour.
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi Gloria - Yay, happy to hear these Cardamom Cookies are a hit! Thank you for sharing your gluten free substitution and that the smaller cookie size works too. Great to know! Hope you have a great week ahead.
Kathy Lingle says
I've made these wonderful favorful cookies six times now. My daughter and her husband absolutely love them. I think it's the best cookie I've ever tasted. So good and would recommend everyone try them. Thanks for sharing your recipe. God bless.
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi Kathy - Wow, what a compliment! I'm so glad to hear you've made these so frequently and that your whole family loves them. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
Riley says
I made mine with freshly ground cardamom seeds and it was a bit much, but still really good. So if you're like me and being fancy, maybe down it to 1 tsp.
Otherwise a really fantastic recipe and would probably make a good snickerdoodle base for any warm spice like ginger, cinnamon, etc.
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi Riley! So glad you enjoyed this cardamom cookie recipe! Great call out. You are fancy! And I love it! Yes, if you're using freshly ground cardamom seeds, the flavor will be more intense, so you'll want to scale down the amount (vs. pre-ground, which I think most people use). I haven't personally tested the recommended amount for freshly ground, but your inclination seems right. I usually make these cookies over the holidays, so I'll test freshly ground and update the recipe notes when I do. Thank you for getting this started! Hope you have a great week ahead.
Touma Laurel says
Cardamum is reminiscent of my mother and Christmas so in August I decided to make these cookies. The recipe is delicious. I added one half teaspoon of cinnamon which enhanced the flavor but three tablespoons per cookie is way too much for one cookie. Snickerdoodle size would be much better. The recipe is huge so halving it would work.
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi Touma! So glad you enjoyed these cookies! If you prefer smaller cookies, you can certainly reduce the size to your preference. Just make sure to adjust baking times. I would aim to stick to at leastr 2 tbsp of dough per cookie (vs. 3 tbsp scoops as written in the recipe). If you go much smaller, they won't be very chewy in the middle. If you give this a try with smaller scoops, would love to hear how it goes!
Pat says
In your notes, you say for best results, measure the flour with a kitchen scale, but you don't give a weight?
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi Pat! If you click the "Metric" button (rather than "US Customary") under the ingredients, it'll provide all the weight measurements you need. Hope this helps. Let me know if you give these cookies a try and if you have any other questions!
Anne Marie says
So delicious and easy! My husband and 5 year old are big fans and they were a hit at a party I brought them to. I also made them without cardamom and they are a perfect sugar cookie. Tastes similar to crumbl cookies. Will definitely use again!
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi Anne Marie! Yay, I'm so thrilled to hear your family loved these cardamom cookies. I feel honored you chose to bring them to a party too! And, thank you for sharing that you also tried this recipe without the cardamom. I hadn't tested that method, so it's super helpful to know (for both myself and other readers). Have a great rest of your week.
Christina S says
Wow!!! I made these for family over the holidays and people went BONKERS. I've printed the recipe and put it in my recipe binder. I don't do that often as I've accumulated a lot of recipes in my 58 years. But this recipe deserves it. Thank you
Bri Beaudoin says
Hi Christina! So happy to hear your family enjoyed these cardamom cookies. I feel so honoured this recipe made it into your recipe binder. Thanks so much for sharing this - it's the highlight of my day!