These norwegian cardamom cookies are another recipe that was stored away in “that other place” and needs to resurface again. Not that much for the recipe itself, because I got that from some “I moved and live in Norway now” blog, so it’s alread out there. But because it features one of my favorite pieces of cast iron, an old norwegian gorojern.

Compared to some of my other cast irons, it’s a more modern piece. It has plates attached to the outside that fit on a cooking plate and give it a very 1950s feel. It’s not exactly one to hang on the wall to display, but it makes up for it in spades once it’s open. Isn’t that a great cookie pattern?

And the cookies are amazing! Did I mention they have cardamom in them? I love cardamom! You don’t necessarily need a gorojern to make these. You can bake them in a pizzelle or cinnamon wafer iron. It might work if you use one of those laser cut rolling pins and bake them in the oven, but I’ve never tried that. So no guarantees.

For a batch of goro cookies, you need:

• 150g butter
• 450g all purpose flour
• 1 heaped tsp cardamom
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 175g whipped cream
• 120g sugar
• 1 egg

Mix the butter, flour, cardamom and vanilla until you have a bowl full of crumbs. Whip the sugar with the egg until fluffy, then mix with the whipped cream. Mix everything into the flour and knead into a smooth dough. The end result looks and feels a bit like pasta dough.

Wrap and chill the dough for at least two hours. I like to leave it in the fridge overnight.

Roll it into a 3mm thick sheet and cut out pieces that fit the gorojern. You can also make it very easy and use a pasta machine for the dough. With my machine (the marcato atlas) level 2 is about 3mm thick.

Pre-heat the gorojern and bake the small sheets until they’re golden brown. If you have an old one like me, don’t forget to turn it regularly. First time a few years back was a huge mess, as you can see on the photo below. The dough leaked fat like crazy. I’ve since cut the butter part of the original recipe in half. It’s perfect now.

Cut the cookies into singles while they’re still hot. A pizza cutter works just as well as a sharp knife. Then let the goro cool on a rack.

Wrapped in a see-through bag, the cookies make beautiful little gifts. Of course, you can also keep them in a cookie tin and eat them yourself, but where’s the fun in that? Those cookies need to be shown off!