Sesame & Cardamom Cookies

1/2 cup vegan butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbs lemon zest
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup gluten free flour
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

1)  Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2)  In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter, both sugars, and lemon zest until fluffy.
3)  Add egg, vanilla, flour, xanthan gum, cardamom, baking soda and salt. Beat to combine.
4)  Fold in sesame seeds.
5)  Using a small cookie scoop, place 1 Tbs sized balls of dough (leave space between cookies!!) onto the parchment lined baking sheets. Bake 13 minutes.

Review:  This recipe originally called for orange zest, but I like to buy the powdered stuff and only had lemon zest. It worked just as well and lots of sesame cookie recipes use lemon zest instead. What I wasn't expecting was how much these spread out! The first cookie sheet was unpresentable, as it came out as one huge cookie. I quickly ate the evidence, with Mike helping a little bit. The thin, almost lacy appearance made these look even fancier. The cardamom is not as strong as you'd think, and was well balanced with the savory sesame seeds. These were fancy, without being too much so.

Adapted from:
https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/sesame-cookies-with-cardamom-orange-zest