These cookie bars use a simple sugar cookie recipe as the base, with freshly ground green cardamom to give them a bit more depth.
The jam layer on these bars is Blake Hill Apricot Jam with Orange and Honey, which is a perfect pairing for the cardamom flavor in the base cookie and the orange crumble on top!
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 tablespoon ground cardamom*
- 1 10oz jar Blake Hill Apricot Jam with Orange and Honey
- 1/2 tablespoon Blood Orange Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom*
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour an 8"x 8" baking dish and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar together using a stand or hand mixer. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Combine flour, baking powder, salt & ground cardamom together. Add the flour mixture into butter mixture and mix until combined. Remove dough from mixing bowl and press into bottom of prepared baking dish in an even layer. Pour contents of jam jar over top of the sugar cookie base and spread across evenly.
For the crumble, mix Blood Orange EVOO, 2 tbsp all purpose flour, brown sugar, salt and 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom in a bowl until a crumby mixture forms. Sprinkle the crumble across the jam layer.
Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes or until jam is bubbly around the edges. Let cool to room temperature to allow base and jam to fully set.
*It's a little more work but to get the best cardamom flavor, we take the seeds from the green cardamom pods and grind them in a spice grinder. You can definitely use pre-ground cardamom but you may want to increase the amount of cardamom called for in the recipe to achieve the same level of cardamom flavor.
