Cardamom-Rosewater-Vanilla Shortbread Balls 

My elder daughter and I whipped these up for her to take home with her. They are not the most beautiful cookies we have made, but they are definitely fragrant and tasty 🙂

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 tsp. rosewater
ground cardamom (seeds from 8 green pods)
seeds from one vanilla bean

Tap the cardamom seeds with the pestle to remove the seeds. Grind the seeds in the mortar. Slice the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds out with the edge of a knife. (Stick the bean in a jar of sugar to make vanilla sugar for your fluffy coffee treats and such.)

Beat the butter and icing sugar together until fluffy. Add the rosewater, vanilla seeds and ground cardamom. Mix. Combine the dry ingredients and add them into the butter mixture, stirring as little as possible to keep the cookies tender. Gently form dough into one inch balls. Place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 17 minutes. Your oven might be different. They will still be a bit soft when you remove them from the oven, but will harden up as they cool. If they start to brown or crack, get them out of the oven. Cool on a rack.