Mascarpone Rose Cookies

Preheat oven to 375ºF and line 4 cookie sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.

Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom and cinnamon together in a bowl to aerate the dry ingredients. Set the bowl aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the mascarpone, butter and sugar. Beat them together well until creamy and fluffy. Add the rose water and vanilla, followed by each egg one at a time. Finally, turn the speed to low and slowly pour in the dry ingredients just until they are mixed in and a soft cookie dough forms.

Use a 1 1/2-inch cookie scoop to scoop perfect little dollops of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. 12 fit perfectly on each sheet for 48 cookies total. Bake two trays at a time for about 15 minutes each batch, rotating the sheets halfway through to make sure they bake evenly.

While the cookies bake, prepare the glaze. Stir the powdered sugar, food coloring, rosewater and vanilla together until it becomes like a thick frosting. Thin it out and make it glossier with a couple of dashes of water. A little more may be needed later to keep it thinned out as you work. Set the glaze aside.

Let the cookies cool when they are done for a few minutes on the sheet trays, then transfer them to cooling racks to finish cooling. Once they are cooled, spread a small spoonful of the glaze over each one and sprinkle them with the red sugar on top before the glaze hardens completely. Once the glaze has completely hardened, they are ready to pack up! Enjoy spreading the holiday cheer!