Naked gypsies.

I've reignited my love affair with cookbooks, and I've taken to reading, not skimming through, them on the couch on weekends. It's incredibly therapeutic and also very inspiring! And as part of recent my Aussie food rampage, I singled out this beauty of a cookbook by Rachel Grisewood, founder of Manna from Heaven bakery in Sydney.

click here for Amazon details

Rachel's got a bit of a boho vibe going on, and while my beach hippie days are over (I think), I was instantly drawn to this freewheeling flower child of a cook. And is it any wonder that her recipe for Gypsy Creams leaped out at me? Her description all but kicked me out of the couch and into the kitchen. "For me, these biscuits are excellent for gypsies who like to sail, but just as suited to people who like to sit on couches and simply dream about sailing around the world."

I must confess that until yesterday, I'd never heard of Manna on Heaven, before which I'd never heard of Gypsy Creams. According to Google, these are cookies (usually ginger flavoured) sandwiched with chocolate buttercream. Rachel's version is scented with orange zest, and features, quite simply, melted dark chocolate in place of buttercream.

I measured, whipped and mixed, and in typical curiosity-never-kills-the-cat fashion, flavoured half the cookie dough with crushed cardamom instead of orange zest. The scent of cardamom immediately transports me back to those hot Indian summer days I spent nursing many an ice-cold kulfi, and honestly, if I had to choose a spice to encapsulate the essence of gypsy, it'll be cardamom. But I digress. All I can say is this: the orange-scented cookies were delicious, but the cardamom babies were divine. So divine I didn't bother with the chocolate filling. Poor, naked gypsies.

Cardamom gypsies
Makes about 20 cookies

75g butter (I used salted), softened
65g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
120g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
seeds from 1 vanilla pod (or 1 tsp essence/paste)
1 tsp cardamom seeds, crushed (I podded my cardamom and crushed the seeds but I imagine the equivalent in cardamom powder will work, too)
pinch of raw sugar (optional)

1. Cream butter and sugar until thick and pale. Use an electric mixer; don't break your arms.
2. Beat in the egg yolk. Fold in the plain flour, baking powder, vanilla and cardamom. Mix well. The dough will be rather stiff.
3. Shape the dough into a log, about 3cm in diameter. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour or 2 until the dough is very firm. (The colder your dough, the less likely your cookies will spread.)
4. Preheat oven to 150C and line a baking tray (or two) with baking paper. Cut the dough into ½cm-thick slices and arrange them on the tray(s). The cookies may spread a tad so leave a little space between them. Sprinkle a pinch of raw sugar on top of each cookie and pop the tray(s) into the oven for about 15 mins, until the cookies are lightly golden.
5. Serve with a pot of masala chai.

You could of course replace the cardamom with the zest of a quarter of an orange, and melt about 50g dark chocolate for the filling. As much as I love these cardamom-kissed cookies, I know they're are not for everyone - I can imagine so many of my friends wrinkling their noses! But of course, I remain hopeful they'll come to love cardamom as much as I do, when their inner free spirits are awakened maybe. ;)

One day, some day, I really might succumb to my banked desire to run around the beach in jangly anklets and flowers in my hair. But for now, I'll content with baking and devouring these naked gypsy treats.