Cardamom Cookies

Music: new U2--How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

Via puckmichigan at Splendid table's foodtalk (I feel great confidence in this recipe, given the Detroit area's significant population of Arab descent. Also, Michigan is my personal ancestral homeland--I was born 10 minutes from Madonna's hometown! But we moved to Jersey when I was 6 weeks old and now Madonna's all English, so we really don't hang like we used to ...)

Cardamom Cookies
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) room temp butter (if unsalted, add a few shakes of salt to the recipe)
1 c powdered sugar (you can get away with regular, just beat it longer)
Crushed seeds of 3 Cardamom pods (or 1/2 tsp of cardamom powder)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolks
3 c flour
Handful of pistachio nuts

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit
• Beat together softened butter, sugar and vanilla.
• Beat in egg yolks (one at a time) and the cardamom. Your life will never be the same after cardamom. Add it to coffee (a small pinch in your cup)--it's unfathomably good.
  
• Sift in flour half a cup at a time and blend well. The mix will get all crumbly, but that's ok--the heat of your hands will melt the butter and make them pliable when it's time to make balls.
  
• Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls. Press a small piece of pistachio nut into the top of each. (and I'll be damned if I blanch and peel them again. Be grateful they're shelled.)
• Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet (dude, they're 80% butter. No need to grease the sheet.) in 375 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, until lightly golden.
• When cool, take off the cookie sheet, let 'em cool a bit and put in an airtight box on the counter. Treat them as you would butter cookies.