Recipe: Sweet saunf and zeera butter cookies
Expect a sweet, savoury, crunchy, buttery cookie that you won’t be able to stop eating!
In a bakery full of sweet delights, my Mom never understood why I would always go for the savoury cookie! My favourite among them would have to be Zeera biscuits. Here is a sweet twist to them using sugar-coated saunf and zeera. Expect a sweet, savoury, crunchy, buttery cookie that you won’t be able to stop eating!
Makes about: 15-20 cookies
Total time: 30 minutes
Utensils required: Round cookie-cutter, baking paper, baking tray, rolling pin, electric whisk
ingredients
Salted butter 100 grams
Plain flour 175 grams
Baking powder 1-1/4 tsp
Caster sugar 50 grams
Sugar-coated aniseed (saunf) 1-1/2 tpsp
Cumin seeds (zeera) 1 tbsp
method
1. Preheat your oven to 450o F or 230o C.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
3. Slowly add the flour, zeera and 1/2 tsp of the sugar-coated saunf to the butter mixture. It should now look quite crumbly.
4. Place the crumbly mixture on a clean, floured surface and press together until it forms a dough. Now knead until it all comes together.
5. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out and sprinkle remaining sugar-coated saunf on top for decoration. Then, using the cookie-cutter cut out circles and place on a baking tray which has been lined with baking paper.
6. Bake for a maximum of 7-8 minutes; keep checking to make sure that the cookie edges don’t get burnt.
7. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack and allow to cool.
Sumayya Jamil is a lawyer-turned-food writer and cookery teacher in London, who is on a mission to promote the love of Pakistani food in the UK. She blogs at pukkapaki.com
Published in The Express Tribune, Ms T, October 7th, 2012.
Makes about: 15-20 cookies
Total time: 30 minutes
Utensils required: Round cookie-cutter, baking paper, baking tray, rolling pin, electric whisk
ingredients
Salted butter 100 grams
Plain flour 175 grams
Baking powder 1-1/4 tsp
Caster sugar 50 grams
Sugar-coated aniseed (saunf) 1-1/2 tpsp
Cumin seeds (zeera) 1 tbsp
method
1. Preheat your oven to 450o F or 230o C.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
3. Slowly add the flour, zeera and 1/2 tsp of the sugar-coated saunf to the butter mixture. It should now look quite crumbly.
4. Place the crumbly mixture on a clean, floured surface and press together until it forms a dough. Now knead until it all comes together.
5. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out and sprinkle remaining sugar-coated saunf on top for decoration. Then, using the cookie-cutter cut out circles and place on a baking tray which has been lined with baking paper.
6. Bake for a maximum of 7-8 minutes; keep checking to make sure that the cookie edges don’t get burnt.
7. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack and allow to cool.
Sumayya Jamil is a lawyer-turned-food writer and cookery teacher in London, who is on a mission to promote the love of Pakistani food in the UK. She blogs at pukkapaki.com
Published in The Express Tribune, Ms T, October 7th, 2012.