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Home » Indian Mithai & Desserts

Jeera Biscuits - Buttery Cumin Cookies (Eggless)

Published: Dec 13, 2013 · Modified: Nov 9, 2021 by Tanvi · This post may contain affiliate links

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Sinfully Spicy :Jeera Biscuits 001(Buttery Cumin Cookies)

I have just finished unpacking the last of bags from a month long trip to Delhi. The household is slowly settling to routine, the little one is back to her usual sleep schedule and yesterday I could manage a batch of these cookies while she napped.

Sinfully Spicy :Jeera Biscuits, Ingredients 002(Buttery Cumin Cookies)

Sinfully Spicy :Jeera Biscuits 008(Buttery Cumin Cookies) Tea time in India is special, though not british like,but in its own way. From gossip sessions with the neighbor to prepping for exams the next day or just as a way to relax, the ubiquitous chai shadows each and every aspect of day today indian life. Something said to taste better with company, chai is usually served with piping hot fritters, indian trail mixes or cookies (better called biscuits).

Sinfully Spicy :Jeera Biscuits 004 (Buttery Cumin Cookies)

I grew up sipping overly milky, cloyingly sweet and richly spiced chai, something which I kind of got addicted to over years. Morning tea was accompanied by rusks but in the evening, while everybody liked their chai with samosas,I  dunk those salty-sweet jeera biscuits which mom got every now and then from a bakery near home.

Bakery biscuits back home are quite a thing, they taste different from the usual packaged cookies you get in the grocery stores, they look rustic, taste homely and make you feel gluttony. I guess thats the whole point there, its the non- consistent taste and look that makes them so special. Unlike fancy ingredients like chocolate chips or vanilla (yes), they are loaded with nuts, whole wheat flours and loads and loads of ghee.

Sinfully Spicy :Jeera Biscuits 006 (Buttery Cumin Cookies)

I am not much of a cookie person but I m partial towards these. These biscuits are more salty than sweet (which is what I like about them),crumbly thanks to copious amount of butter and the warm,woody aroma of the cumin seeds scattered in the dough is what makes them so whimsical.

Honestly, I prefer these cookies slightly over baked, when they are more crunchy than crumbly but that's just me, the original ones which you get in India are chewy in the center even when baked through.It took me a quite a lot of attempts to scribble this recipe, hope you like it.

Sinfully Spicy :Jeera Biscuits 006(Buttery Cumin Cookies)

Ingredientes (Makes 25-30 cookies)

  • 1.5 cups All purpose flour
  • ¼ cup fine semolina
  • ⅓ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 stick (8 tbsp) cold unsalted butter, diced into cubes
  • 3 tablespoon any neutral oil
  • 3-6 tablespoon cold milk (just so that the dough comes together)

Method 

In a bowl, mix flour, semolina, sugar, salt, baking powder & soda together. Sift once. Dump the sifted flour mix in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add the cumin seeds & cold butter cubes. Pulse for a minute or so till the butter becomes pea sized.

Remove the metal blade and fit the dough blade into the jar.Add the oil.Start the processor and add cold milk 1 tablespoon at a time till the dough just comes together.Stop.The dough might be slightly sticky but thats okay.

Scoop out the dough, bring it together, don't knead and divide into two equal portions. Form logs with each portion. Wrap the logs in a parchment sheets or plastic cling films. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes till firm and ready to be cut into slices.

Preheat oven to 325F/ 165C. Line cookies sheet with parchment/ wax paper. You might need 2 baking sheets or you can bake them in two batches.

While the oven is preheating, take out the cold dough logs and using a sharp,serrated knife, cut cookies about ¼" thick. Try to cut as uniform size as possible. Do not cut very thick slices else cookies will be raw while baking.

Arrange the cookies on the sheet about 2" apart. Bake in the preheated oven for 18-22 minutes till the cookie bases start turning brown and the top changes color. I personally like my cookies slightly overdone so I baked them for few extra minutes.

Let cool on the sheet before storing them in air tight containers for up to 2 weeks. Serve with hot chai.

Enjoy & Thanks for stopping by!

More Indian Mithai & Desserts

  • Til Mawa Roll (Makar Sankranti Recipe)
  • Besan Ki Barfi
  • Brownie Trifle
  • Masala Chai Tiramisu

Filed Under: Indian Mithai & Desserts Tagged With: easy indian food, Easy Recipe, eggless cookies, Fats and Oils/Tel, holiday cookies, indian cookies, indian cuisine, indian food, indian food blogs, indian spices, indian vegetarian, Milk and Milk Products, Recipe from blogs, Spices & Seasonings/Masaale

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kankana

    December 13, 2013 at 5:32 pm

    Omg Tanvi, i baked a batch few days back and munching some right now as your email poped in my inbox. This is my alll time fav biscuits 🙂

    Reply
  2. Deepa

    December 13, 2013 at 10:15 pm

    Tanvi, The biscuits look so delicious and mouthwatering. Wonderfully prepared.
    Deepa

    Reply
  3. Kulsum

    December 13, 2013 at 10:25 pm

    I'm a biscuit person and M jokes with me that if nothing I can live on biscuits and a cuppa of chai! I have been experimenting with a similar recipe but thank god now I can stop and try this!!

    Reply
  4. Rosa Mayland

    December 14, 2013 at 12:52 am

    Delightful cookies! Semolina is a great addition. Lovely clicks.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply
  5. Lail | With A Spin

    December 14, 2013 at 12:47 pm

    I love these biscuits and often bake a batch. No cookies can even come close to the tea time biscuits we have back home. Never tried with ajwain. Gotta try sometimes. Have you tried using fennel seeds to these? That's another good option.

    Reply
  6. [email protected]

    December 14, 2013 at 6:53 pm

    These are one of my favorite biscuits/cookies! Your photos are gorgeous as always.

    Reply
  7. Shri

    December 15, 2013 at 6:45 am

    Miss these. Beautiful Tanvi

    Reply
  8. sulagna

    December 16, 2013 at 10:58 pm

    i remember Ma baking these...something similar to these and as a kid i used to call them kut kut 🙂
    time i try these now and see what my two year thinks

    Reply
  9. dassana amit

    December 18, 2013 at 7:03 am

    i love biscuits and especially the bakery ones. beautiful pics.

    Reply
  10. Kumar's Kitchen

    December 20, 2013 at 2:28 am

    the aroma of cumin which wafts in the air as these cookies get made is a delight....thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe 🙂

    Reply
  11. Food to Fitness

    March 11, 2014 at 9:14 pm

    You have a beautiful blog. Amazing pics and great recipes. Keep up the good work.

    Reply
  12. Parul...

    June 08, 2014 at 3:02 am

    I am great fan of cumin cookies and I must say its a wonderful recipe ...cookies have a lovely texture and a mouth watering aroma....
    they were so good that i was forced to leave a comment ...
    Thank you

    Reply
    • Tanvi

      June 08, 2014 at 10:23 am

      Yaay! So glad you liked them. Its one of my fav recipes too!

      Reply
  13. madhu singh

    June 21, 2014 at 11:17 am

    can we use salted butter??? 1 stick butter means 100 gm??? plz reply as I want to bake thses cookies. ..

    Reply
    • Tanvi

      June 21, 2014 at 11:25 am

      You can use salted butter but cut down the salt in the recipe. 1 stick (US) converts to 100 gms roughly,it should be okay.

      Reply
  14. Florence

    June 22, 2014 at 6:47 am

    Made these last night...Yum! Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
  15. Ranjit Wickramasingha

    June 29, 2014 at 9:03 pm

    The pictures show the cookies to be like a rusk. Is this appearance correct?
    If they are baked dry, rusk-like, will they be nice to dip into the chai?

    Reply
    • Tanvi

      July 01, 2014 at 9:50 am

      They are paired best with chai. Go ahead and make some!

      Reply
  16. summe

    September 16, 2014 at 11:54 pm

    helo mam..i hav a question.. i have a blade blendr but not having dough blade so what i do? can i do this process with the help of my hands.. plz help me out

    Reply
    • Tanvi

      September 17, 2014 at 6:43 am

      yes.You can. Just don't overwork the dough. Do it gently with hands and once the dough comes together, form into a log and done

      Reply
      • summe

        September 17, 2014 at 2:02 pm

        thanx mam 4ur guidnce:)

  17. monabhageria

    September 26, 2014 at 12:22 pm

    Gonna try these out soon. Fingers crossed! It looks so good

    Reply
  18. Nikita

    November 06, 2014 at 4:42 am

    My cookies turned out to be very crumbly..They are falling part.. Very powdery I mean.. What can be the reason? Or what is the fix for it?

    Reply
    • Tanvi

      November 06, 2014 at 9:42 pm

      Hi Nikita,
      I cannot say. So sorry. This recipe has been used by many readers and worked fine in their kitchens. Did you add more butter than mentioned? Were you able to form a log and then cut discs?

      Reply
    • Nikita

      November 07, 2014 at 2:32 am

      I did not add semolina..instead I took 2cups maida.. Also only 7 spns butter..

      Reply
  19. Gaurav Arjun Gulati

    November 17, 2014 at 4:14 am

    the recipy is quite good

    Reply
  20. Ruchi Bartar

    December 18, 2014 at 1:10 pm

    Tanvi, I have been meaning to comment on your recipes for a long time. Your vegetarian and non vegetarian curry and snack recipes are typical Kyastha recipes, so I have grown up with similar dishes. I am known to be a fairly good cook but just by reading a recipe I can tell when yours is better than what I was using and I modify as per your instructions and it is always a great addition. You have an innate sense for cooking.
    I follow you on facebook.
    You also write and express very well.
    Kudos for being so young and talented.

    BTW my neice is called Tanvi as well.

    Reply
    • Tanvi

      December 18, 2014 at 3:47 pm

      Thank you Ruchi. You know good cooks know it just by reading the recipe.My mum is an awesome cook and she has passed on that kayasth touch to me even though I grew up in Delhi. Thank you again for your wonderful comment.It made my day

      Reply
  21. Shilpa

    December 23, 2014 at 1:09 pm

    These cookies are absolutely divine ! Just made one batch and turned out so good.Another batch is in the oven and i coudn't stop myself from writing. The variation i did was to roll out the dough and cut square pieces as i am planning to give out some in holidays. Thank you so much for lovely recipe.

    Reply
  22. shilpi

    March 04, 2015 at 6:13 am

    hi what shall i use to substitute unsalted butter. in india its very difficult to find unsalted butter..

    Reply
    • Tanvi

      March 04, 2015 at 9:22 am

      Skip the salt in the recipe and use salted butter that you get. These cookies are more salty than sweet so you should be good

      Reply
  23. Dr.Vidya

    May 04, 2015 at 12:28 am

    Amazing Recepi ....Wil try this very soon.....
    Few days ago I had made sweet cookies...n they came out really well...

    Reply
  24. deeksha

    August 06, 2015 at 12:44 am

    Hi...I tried these cookies....they came out so well that till now they r my best baked cookies... Thanks

    Reply
  25. deeksha

    August 21, 2015 at 6:57 am

    Thanks a lot for this recipe.... I tried and the result was superb...

    Reply
  26. Sheetu

    September 10, 2015 at 6:08 pm

    These reminded me of the good old jeera cookies from the bakery near our house in delhi. Perfect accompaniment for tea. Keep up the great photography and awesome recipes.

    Reply
  27. shveta

    January 02, 2016 at 4:42 pm

    love your recipes. can you come with a gluten free version of punjabi atta cookies? I used to love those cookies and now i cant have them because of celiac. But i tried your nan kahatai and it came out awesome. thanks

    Reply

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