Swedish Orange Cardamom Stars

These Swedish Orange Cardamom Stars provide a festive and light dessert that will pair nicely with the cocktail and further our theme of glitter and sparkles for New Year’s. You can make the dough ahead a couple of days and store in the refrigerator, but baking ahead isn’t the best. These are definitely a cookie that’s best fresh. Swedish Orange Cardamom Stars also make great tea cookies though, as they’re almost crisp-like.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup almond paste, crumbled
1 tablespoon butter, chilled
1/3 cup orange juice concentrate (thawed)
3 tablespoons canola oil

Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice concentrate (thawed)

Combine flour, 1 cup powdered sugar, baking soda, cardamom, and salt in a food processor; process until blended. Add almond paste and butter; process until blended. Add juice and oil. Process until dough forms a ball. Divide dough in half. Press into a two disks and wrap with plastic. Chill 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350°. Working with 1 disk at a time roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut cookies out with a star-shaped cookie cutter. Place on a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment.  Bake 10-12 minutes (lightly browned). Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. For icing, combine 2 cups sugar and orange juice concentrate, stirring until smooth. Spread icing over each warm cookie. I found gold star edible glitter to decorate the cookie with as well.