Cardamom Caramel Palmiers

Ingredients

• For the dough:
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, cold
• 8 ounces cream cheese, cold
• For the filling:
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 pinches of salt

Directions

1. For the stand mixer method, put the flour, sugar, and salt into the mixer bowl, then use the paddle to give everything a quick stir. Slice each butter stick into 8 pieces, drop them in, and mix on low until the bowl looks mostly like very rough crumbs, with some butter still in hazelnut-size bits. Add the cream cheese after cutting it into 1-inch cubes. Mix on medium-low just until the dough looks shaggy and damp, and clumps when you press it between your fingers, 30 to 60 seconds. Turn it out onto your counter, scrape in anything left behind, and knead 2 or 3 times so the loose bits join in. You should still see big ribbons of cream cheese.
2. For the food processor method, add the flour, sugar, and salt to the processor and pulse a few times to blend. Cut the butter into 3/4-inch cubes, add it, and pulse until the pieces run from crumbly bits to hazelnut-size chunks. Add the cream cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes, and pulse until the mixture is damp, shaggy, and holds together when pinched. Scrape the dough onto your work surface and knead it 2 or 3 times to bring in any stray pieces. Leave those generous streaks of cream cheese right where they are.
3. Cut the dough into 2 equal portions. Pat each one into a 4-by-5-inch rectangle about 1 inch thick, wrap them, and refrigerate until firm, for 2 hours at minimum or as long as 3 days.
4. Take the dough out of the refrigerator. If it is too stiff to roll, let it rest at room temperature just until it bends a little, but do not let it get soft.
5. For the filling, stir the sugar and cardamom together. Scoop 2 tablespoons of that mixture into a small cup, add the salt, and mix it well. Set that aside. Split the remaining cardamom sugar evenly between 2 bowls, so each dough portion gets its own supply.
6. Coat your work surface generously with cardamom sugar from 1 of the bowls. Place 1 piece of dough on top, then shower the dough with more cardamom sugar. As you roll, flip and turn the dough often, adding plenty of sugar underneath and on top, until you have a 24-by-8-inch rectangle that is thinner than 1/8 inch. Be generous here; the sugar keeps things from sticking and helps the cookies caramelize in the oven. Trim the rectangle so the edges are even.
7. Make a small notch at the center of the dough. From a short end, fold about 2 1/2 inches of dough toward that center mark, almost 1/3 of the way in. Fold the dough over 2 more times, keeping it loose and un-stretched, and stop just shy of the middle so there is a scant 1/4-inch gap at the center mark. Do the same from the other end, folding it toward the middle 3 times and leaving that tiny opening in the center. At this point, the dough should look like a tall, narrow open book. Fold one side over the other, like you are closing it. You should have an 8-layer strip about 2 1/2 inches wide and 8 inches long.
8. Scatter the remaining cardamom sugar under the dough and over the top. Roll lightly from end to end to press the layers together and stretch the strip to about 9 inches. Wrap it loosely in wax paper, not plastic wrap, which can trap moisture against the dough and melt the sugar. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. Repeat the same rolling, folding, sugaring, wrapping, and chilling with the second piece of dough and the second bowl of cardamom sugar.
9. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Arrange oven racks in the upper and lower thirds.
10. Take 1 piece of dough from the refrigerator and unwrap it. With a sharp knife, neaten the ends, then cut it into 1/3-inch slices. An easy guide is to mark the dough every 1 inch and get 3 slices out of each marked section. Place the slices 1 1/2 inches apart on ungreased or lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the bottoms are a deep golden brown, rotating the pans top to bottom and front to back midway through.
11. Pull the pans from the oven and flip the cookies. Dust each cookie with a pinch or 2 of the salted cardamom sugar, saving half of it for the next batch. Put the sheets back in the oven and bake for 3 to 5 minutes more, until the cookies are deep golden brown. Rotate the pans, and keep a close eye on things now so the sugar does not burn. If some cookies darken faster than others, lift those off and let the paler ones keep baking. If you used liners, move the pans or the liners to racks to cool; if the pans were unlined, transfer the cookies with a metal spatula. Let the cookie sheets cool completely before you bake the second piece of dough. Cool the cookies all the way before storing. They may be kept in an airtight container for up to 4 days.