Place the oven rack to the middle position.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder (I prefer natural cocoa rather than sweetened), baking soda and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter on medium until smooth.

Add the 1¾ cups sugar and beat on medium until light and fluffy. This should take about 2-3 minutes to arrive at the "fluffy" light yellow look.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat on medium until combined.

Add the flour mixture and beat on low until just combined.

Place the remaining 1 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Stir in cardamom, if desired.

Form the cookies into balls. The original recipe recommends about ⅓ cup dough for each cookie. I made mine smaller (about 2T).

Roll each ball in the sugar and place cookies on each prepared sheet pan. Bake one sheet at a time 11 to 14 minutes, until the edges have set and the centers are puffed and starting to crackle. I cooked mine for about 11 minutes. Mine were smaller than the recipe called for though, so cooking time was on the shorter side.

Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the cookies cool completely on the pan.