Jeera Biscuits

A buttery crisp and tender; these Jeera Biscuits are classic Indian cookies that are super easy to make at home with just 5 basic pantry ingredients.

What are Jeera Biscuits?

Jeera Biscuits are basically a classic variety of biscuits that is locally made in Indian bakeries.

Jeera or Zeera translates to Cumin in English, so these are butter biscuits that are flavoured with roasted cumin seeds which is where all the flavour for this recipe comes from.

What makes it different is also the addition of some extra salt that you would not normally add in a cookie recipe.

The recipe calls for 1tsp of salt which balances the sugar in the recipe making it a perfect tea time accompaniment and also this is the reason why it is called as namkeen biscuits aka savoury biscuits.

Why try this Recipe?

Aren't cookies made of butter and love? Well that itself is enough to bake cookies right?

But this recipe takes it to another level:

1. Has an unique flavour - the addition of extra salt and roasted cumin seeds gives out an amazing flavour to the cookie like never before.
2. Made using just 5 basic pantry staple ingredients.
3. Definite Crowd Pleaser.
4. No Baking Soda or Powder needed.
5. Has a good shelf life.

Ingredients:

Ingredient Notes:

1. Butter: Use Unsalted butter; if using salted reduce the amount of salt added a little.
2. Cumin Seeds: Freshly roasted and grounded cumin seeds enhances the flavour. However you can also use store bought roasted cumin seeds too.

Step by Step Tutorial:

Step 1: Roasting Cumin Seeds:

You can roast the cumin seeds until it turns brown and fragnant in a saucepan or also in a microwave.

Simply add the cumin seeds to a pan and dry roast over medium flame until it turns brown in colour (image 1).

If roasting in a microwave, place it on a microwave safe plate and microwave for 2 mins, stirring at 1 min mark.

Let it cool a bit.

Reserve about a tsp of seeds and crush the remaining using rolling pin coarsely and set aside (image 2).

Step 2: Preparing the Cookie Dough

In a mixing bowl, combine the softened butter and sugar using a spatula until mixed and creamy (image 3-4).

Add the flour, salt and crushed cumin seeds (images 5-6).

Combine until everything comes together into a dough taking care not to knead the dough.

Once combined flatten it out to make a circular disc, cover with a cling wrap and refrigerate for 20 to 30 mins (image 7).

Please note if you find that the dough is dry and is not combining together then and only then add a tsp of milk at a time until combined or else you can skip using milk in this recipe.

After 30 mins take the dough out, dust some flour on your worktop and roll the dough evenly to 1/4th inch thickness.

Sprinkle the reserved whole cumin seeds on top and gently press using your rolling pin (image 9).

Using the desired cookie cutter shape, cut out the dough (image 10).

Place it on a baking tray lined with parchment paper leaving some space in between each dough (image 11).

Bake in a preheated oven of for 8 to 12 mins or until the sides turn golden brown and the centre remains pale (image 12).

Once baked, allow it to rest in the pan itself for 3 mins and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve with your evening tea or pack it in your kids lunch box and serve as a snack.

Baker's Tips:

1. Ingredients: It is important that you use softened butter so that it easily mixes with the sugar without incorporating too much air into the batter which causes the cookie to spread. So try to avoid that.
2. Timing: Do not beat the butter and sugar for long. Just mix until sugar is dissolved and combined and it looks homogenous and creamy.
3. Freshness: Using freshly roasted and crushed cumin seeds brings in so much flavour. So I highly recommend using it fresh rather than buying roasted cumin seeds from the shop.
4. Kneading: Never knead a cookie dough, it causes gluten to develop which changes the texture of the baked cookie.
5. Rolling: Roll the dough evenly so that the cookie bakes evenly.
6. Colour: If you find that the base of your cookie always bakes faster than the top or it turns brown quickly you can follow the double pan method to avoid that.
7. Follow the basic baking principles - preheating the oven, lining the tray with parchment paper and always bake in the middle rack to make perfect cookies.

Storage (Make-Ahead) Instructions.

The baked Jeera Biscuits stays fresh for upto 10 days in an air tight container at counter top.

You can make the cookie dough ahead of time and freeze it for upto 3 months.

Whenever you need it, just thaw the dough a bit and then roll and cut out the cookie dough as mentioned in the post.

Recipe FAQ's

Related Recipes:

1. 3 ingredient Butter Biscuits
2. Bakery Style Tutti Fruity Biscuits
3. Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies
4. Khasta Nankhatai recipe

This post was first published on Apr 5, 2018. Now updated to add better pictures, detailed step by step instructions with pictures, included Baker's tips and also Storage instructions and published on Mar 17 2021.