Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice: Eleanor Ford’s Dreamy Nutmeg & Cardamom Nankhatai

Plus more from “A Whisper of Cardamom” and its namesake spice

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Hi all, 

Hope everyone’s having an excellent week. For today’s dispatch—a special Valentine’s Day edition, if you will 💕—we’re diving into Eleanor Ford’s new book, “A Whisper of Cardamom,” which is a beautiful collection of dessert recipes that exemplify the timeless pairing of sugar and spice. Mini primers on spices and how to pair them with other fruits, herbs, nuts, and types of sugar serve as a guide for crafting sweet bakes that are simple and elegant, yet complex and interesting in flavor.

Spice is often regarded as the bold, loud one playing the lead role in a dish. After all, cinnamon rolls are nothing without cinnamon (obviously), and the allure of gingerbread lies in how spicy and fiery its flavors feel on the tongue. It can be fun to really lace a dish with it for big, pronounced flavor that really hits you, but there’s something understated and as deliciously intriguing about cardamom or nutmeg showing up subtly to balance out, even enhance the flavors of other ingredients. Spice can play second fiddle to fruits like persimmons and figs, or sources of sweetness like honey and caramel, but still be indispensable to the entire orchestra. Just as in any healthy romantic relationship, understanding spices’ flavor profiles and how to pair them with the right ingredients will ultimately bring out the best in each other. 

“Just a whisper of spice can really tweak and lift existing flavors,” Eleanor explains. “It doesn’t have to be the dominant ingredient, but it can help enhance the other flavors there to bring out, say, the chocolateyness in chocolate or complement the butteriness of a cake.” 

That theme really shines in Eleanor’s line-up of recipes; a little truly does go a long way. An undertone of cardamom elevates the deep, caramelized flavor of maple syrup in a velvety no-churn ice cream, for example, while star anise adds a perfumed intensity to a recipe for slow-poached quince. The astringency of nutmeg tempers the sweetness of a milk chocolate tart and prevents it from becoming saccharine, while garam masala partners with crystalized ginger to give a warming heat to a batch of dark chocolate chunk cookies. Though “A Whisper of Cardamom” covers a variety of spices, its namesake spice is the first to be highlighted in a loving ode. 

Lauded as the “queen of spices,” cardamom’s origins are rooted in India but have since made appearances in a variety of cuisines—if not gosh-e-fil (Afghan fried pastries finished off with with cardamom sugar), then Kardemummakaka (a buttery Swedish cardamom cake with a pearl sugar crust that’s popular for fika), or malawah (sweet, floral cardamom crepes, a Somali treat). Not only that, the spice carries a longstanding romantic history. Cardamom was highlighted as a purported aphrodisiac in “One Thousand and One Nights.” Even the infamous Cleopatra reportedly burned cardamom as incense to seduce Mark Antony. 

“It's my favorite spice, cardamom,” Eleanor adds. “I'm so drawn to the amazing complexity of flavors it has—the fact that it’s both warming and cooling, so fragrant and floral. This book is about all spices, but cardamom really stood out as such a beautiful spice to pair with sweet flavors.”

Photo by Ola O. Smit

As a tribute to this seductive and sensuous spice, I’m sharing with you all this recipe for cardamom and nutmeg nankhatai from “A Whisper of Cardamom.” Nankhatai is said to have originated in the port city of Surat in Gujarat during the sixteenth century, a time when the Dutch and Indians were key players in the spice trade and traders’ towns were a melting pot of diverse cultures. A former bakery, which initially sold breads and other Western baked goods catering to the influx of Dutch immigrants, was taken over by Parsis upon the Dutch’s departure from India. They began adapting their baked goods to suit local tastes and flavors, incorporating spices and opting for ghee instead of margarine or butter. What resulted were these sandy, melt-in-your-mouth cookies that have since grown into popular treats across South Asia.

Not only does Eleanor’s recipe for nankhatai below come together seamlessly, the ingredients can be easily sourced online or from your local Indian grocery store. You can certainly substitute ghee for butter, though ghee yields a superior result. For a fun twist, Eleanor also suggests swapping out the nutmeg for a splash of kewra essence or a pinch of ground saffron. Serve these cookies with hot masala chai, and you’ve got a sweet, dreamy pairing.

Happy Valentine’s Day, all  ❤️

Photo by Ola O. Smit

Makes 12 cookies

• 90 grams all-purpose flour

• 45 grams confectioners sugar

• 30 grams gram flour

• 4 teaspoons fine semolina 

• Pinch of fine sea salt

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

• 10 green cardamom pods, seeds ground, divided

• 90 grams ghee, softened

• Chopped almonds and pistachios, for topping

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, adding in only half of the cardamom. If there are any lumps, use a whisk to break them up. 

3. Using your fingers, rub the ghee into the flour mixture. It will slowly come together to the texture of damp sand, which will clump when squeezed. If your dough is too crumbly, add a little more ghee. 

4. Press together ping-pong balls of dough, flatten slightly between your palms, and smooth the edges.

5. Lay on the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining mixture, spacing them well apart. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour. 

6. Heat the oven to 350°F.

7. Cut a cross into the top of each nankhatai and sprinkle with the remaining cardamom. Tuck a small crumble of almonds and pistachios into the middle.

8. Bake until the cookies are lightly golden, about 15 minutes. Leave to cool on the tray. They will keep in an airtight container for a few weeks.

Recipe adapted from “A Whisper of Cardamom: 80 Sweetly Spiced Recipes to Fall in Love With” by Eleanor Ford. Copyright © 2024. Used with permission of Apollo Publishers. All rights reserved.