I was invited to a dinner party recently and for my contribution I was assigned a dessert. I love cooking and sharing my food, but I felt immediately defeated when I heard the word “dessert.” I rarely make them. And while the precision that comes with baking should fall right in line with the other things I like to do in an organized fashion, I really struggle with it. I put on my baking pants (I do have baking pants), pulled out a cookbook and turned right to a beautiful dessert. From start to finish, it was a breeze.

But then, upon arrival to the dinner, I opened the container to find that these perfect little gelatinous (used agar, not gelatin) almond squares had become watery and misshapen. I decided to hide them and proudly take my appetizer in instead.

That night I couldn’t stop thinking about the dessert had the perfect combination of cardamom, rose and almond, but that it wasn’t put together in a sustainable way. At least not for a novice like me. I decided it had to be put into cookie form.

The next day, I spent some time laying out ingredients and writing out possibilities. On the first try, I made these slightly sweet and perfectly savory treats. I repeated it two more times with some little modifications and decided it was ready for you.