Cumin Cookies – Jeera Biscuits

4.78 from 48 votes

Feb 09, 2014, Updated May 07, 2023

Sweet and salty cumin cookies, perfect with tea!

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Cumin cookies or jeera/zeera (hindi name for cumin) biscuits as we call them in India are ideal for tea time. Little sweet and little salty, I love to dip them in my chai, so yum! I have tried making these cookies before but somehow they never tasted the way I wanted them to and so I tried and tried again and finally I found a recipe which was just perfect. This will be my “to go” recipe for cumin cookies from now on.

These cookies are very different in texture from the ones we get in USA. Basically in India we call these “biscuits” and not cookies. Biscuits are supposed to be crunchy and crispy, on the other hand cookies in USA are soft and chewy. It’s funny how the same term has different meaning in different countries. Biscuits in UK/India are hard, crispy and dry whereas biscuits in USA are soft and flaky.

These cookies are great with tea and so I made them crispy and baked them for a longer time. I baked till the edges were nice golden brown in color. If you are not a fan of crispy cookies and want them to be on the softer side, bake them for a less amount of time.

My husband has been asking me to bake these cookies for days as he loves to dip them in tea and I finally got around making them and the best part was that they came out so well that now he can’t stop eating them! I bet they taste better than the store bought jeera biscuits and they are so easy to make. So try these out and I assure you won’t be disappointed.

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.

1. In a baking tray, take 1 tbsp of cumin seeds and roast them for 3-4 minutes at 350 F degrees or till you get a nice fragrance from them. Set aside.

2. In the steel bowl of your stand mixer or using your hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.

3. Add the flour, salt and 3/4 tbsp of cumin seeds to the butter and sugar and mix. Reserve the remaining cumin seeds to sprinkle on top of the cookies. Mix at low speed till the mixture looks smooth and comes together in form of a dough. You may add 1-2 tablespoons of milk here if the dough doesn’t come together.

4. Sprinkle some flour on a flat surface or wooden floor and shape the dough like a flat disc.

5. Using a roller, roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into different shapes using cookie cutter. I cut them into small round cookies.

6. Place the cookies in a baking tray and bake at 350 F degrees for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, take them out and reduce the temperature to 325 F and bake the cookies again for 5-6 minutes or till light they are golden brown from sides and also from the bottom.

The reason I baked them for a longer time was because I wanted crispy cookies for my tea.

7. Place on wire rack to cool completely.

8. Store the cookies in an airtight container.

Enjoy the sweet and salty cumin cookies with tea!

EDIT: Some of you face the problem in getting the dough together. In that case, add 1-2 tablespoons of water or milk. Start with 1 tablespoon of water/milk and add more as required to bring the dough together.

* If you want softer cookies, bake them for a lesser time, around 10 minutes.

* If you want crispier cookies, bake them for some more time.

* You can cut down the sugar and increase the salt if you want the cookies to be more salty. This was just about perfect for me.

* I used a small cookie cutter and ended up with 20 cookies but if you are using a bigger cutter, you might only be able to get 8-10 cookies out of this dough.