These have nothing to do with Thanksgiving. Neither do pegacorns (Google it), but would you say no to a pegacorn just because it was Thanksgiving? Exactly.  So, just like you probably don’t have enough winged awesomeness in your life, you probably don’t have enough apricot or cardamom.  And if you do, good job! In any case, these are easy—easier than pumpkin pie made with a Pillsbury (you know who you are and shame on you) crust. Also baking these will make up for all the times you went to the snack table in Usdan, and in place of the magical jar of chocolate granola, you saw dried apricots and wanted to cry. Now you can just be like, “Ha! apricots, you think you’re so slick trying to be lame and trail mix-y and posing on people’s salads.” And then you can dice them, douse them in cardamom, and be thankful. There. Thanksgiving, yay.

Apricot Cardamom Shortbread

Adapted from Martha Stewart

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup well chopped dried apricots

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Put butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, flour, cardamom, and salt in large mixing bowl. Stir well with a wooden spoon until mixture is combined but not too creamy.

Stir in dried apricots.

Turn out dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and pat to flatten into a disk.

Refrigerate for an hour.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface, and roll out to 1/4 inch thick (a jar works fine for this, because who has a rolling pin in college). If dough starts to get too soft, place in the freezer or refrigerator a few minutes. Cut out shapes, as desired, and place on prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart.

Bake until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Cookies will keep up to five days at room temperature in an airtight container.