There are some wonderful baked treats that are popular in India and some of them are indigenous recipes, such as cookies like Nankhatai, Khari Biscuit, Atta Biscuit, Karachi Biscuit, or a cake that is a speciality of the Parsi community called Mawa Cake (Cake made from milk solids), Honey Cake (a speciality of south Indian Iyengar bakeries) and the Odisha special Chhena Poda (Burnt Cheese Cake). There could be more than I can’t recall right now. Each one of these recipe is unique and enjoyable.
Jeera Biscuit also are a part of this fantastic list and they are basically simple shortbread cookies with roasted jeera in them but a bit on the saltier side. So they are like mildly sweet and salty cumin seed cookies that are very popular and mostly served with tea. You can adjust the amount of sugar and salt to suit your taste. Here is the ratio that we prefer and enjoy. The recipe for these bakery style, mildly sweet, salty, buttery, crumbly, melt in the mouth cookies is a keeper 🙂
3 tsp Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
1 C All Purpose Flour (Maida) plus extra for dusting
½ C Whole wheat Flour (Atta)
1 tbsp Corn starch (popular as corn flour in India)
½ tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Baking Soda
¾ tsp Salt
¼ – ½ tsp Red Chili Powder (adjust to taste according to the heat of the chilies)
½ C unsalted Butter (should be soft)
1/3 C Icing Sugar
Roast the cumin seeds till they become aromatic. Remove them on a plate to cool completely.
Whisk together the maida, atta, corn flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and roasted jeera, in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together sugar and butter till they become pale and fluffy (whisk them for approximately four to five minutes) Gently fold in the flour mix into the butter-sugar mix until everything just comes together and there are no dry patches. Do not knead or over work the dough else the cookies won’t be flaky.
Wrap the dough in a cling wrap and place it in the fridge for an hour.
On a clean surface, roll the dough to half a centimetre thickness (sparingly use flour to roll, if required). Take flour in a plate and dust your cookie cutter with it (this will prevent the cutter from sticking to the dough) and cut out the dough, using the cookie cutter. Place the cut out dough on a baking sheet. (No need to grease or line your baking sheet)
Cover the cut out cookies with cling wrap and place the baking sheet in the fridge for half an hour.
Switch on the oven and turn the temperature to 170 degree C. Let the oven heat for fifteen minutes.
Take out the baking sheet from the fridge and carefully prick all the cut out cookies at three to four places using a fork. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or till the edges begin to turn golden. (the amount of baking time will depend on the thermostat of your oven, therefore adjust the amount accordingly)
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for five minutes before removing and placing them on a wire rack. Completely cool the cookies on the wire rack before storing them in an air tight jar or container. They will stay well for over a week.
Serve with tea, coffee or milk. Dunk and enjoy!
Yield – 24 cookies
Note – Add a few teaspoons of milk if the dough is not coming together.
Note – You can roll and shape the dough in a neat log and then slice and bake the dough. This method is faster than rolling the dough flat and cutting with a cookie cutter. Either way, they turn out fabulous 🙂
Thank you so much for your visit and see you soon again with another exciting recipe!
These cookies sound and look absolutely wonderful with cumin seeds and chilli!
I love cumin and of course chile powder. So it’s quite obvious that I would find these biscuits totally addicting. I nice black tea would be a nice complement.
Love shortbread, so of course this dish speaks to me. And cumin has such haunting flavor — one of my favorite spices. Such a nice recipe — thanks.
I’m not familiar with Jeera biscuits, but I do really love shortbread cookies and cumin seeds…so I think I would enjoy these! Plus, they look really fun with the whole cumin seeds on top!
A childhood favorite! This one always has a special place in my heart.
These look so beautiful and alluring, Taruna! I love cumin seed but have never had it in sweets. Will definitely try these biscuits!
Thank you so much David. I really hope you enjoy them 🙂