This recipe was clipped from a magazine and comes from a collection of recipes dating from the 1960s through the 1970s. Recipe is typed below along with a scanned copy.
REMEMBER WHEN YOUR grandmothers used to make fancy cardamom cookies for Christmas? They were cut in fancy shapes and decorated so prettily. Bring back the past and make some of these for your family and friends.
Orange Cardamom Cookies
One-half cup shortening
Two tsps. grated orange peel
One tsp. ground cardamom
One cup sugar
One egg
Two tbsps. orange juice
Two cups sifted all-purpose flour
One tsp. baking powder* Updated
One-half tsp. salt
Frosting (see below)
Cream shortening with orange peel and cardamom. Gradually blend in sugar. Beat in egg. Add orange juice. Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Stir into creamed mixture. Chill dough until stiff enough to handle. Roll out on a lightly floured board to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes (bells, trees, boots, wreaths, etc.) with cookie cutters.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheets in preheated hot oven (400 degrees) eight minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool and frost with confectioners’ sugar and water frosting. Yield: Seven dozen cookies.
FROSTING: Combine 1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar and 2 tablespoons water. Mix until smooth. Spread over tops of cookies.
Update: The first recipe I posted was missing the baking powder amount, I found another identical recipe clipping for orange cardamom cookies that specified the baking powder amount so I updated it here. The second recipe scan is below: