Monday, April 6, 2009

Cumin Cookies revisited....


In one of my rare forays into using all purpose flour I had ventured into making these cumin cookies  quite some time back. I enjoyed these cookies  quite a bit and it had turned out both crunchy and spicy, satisfying my need for both in a snack. One of my readers Kay tried out this recipe and mentioned she substituted spelt flour in place of all purpose flour .Spelt is a grain which resembles wheat but has a slightly sweeter and nuttier taste than wheat and is said to be easier to digest than wheat. 

I have been wanting to experiment with spelt flour in my bakes and I thought revisiting this cookie with spelt seemed like a good idea. I also added some semolina flour and gave the cookie a more cracker like feel by rolling it out thinner and found it turned out crunchy and perfect for a tea time snack. I thought spelt flour lived up to its reputation and it lent a nice flavor and taste to the cracker. So give this one a try if you like savory snacks, its quick, simple and tasty :-)






Ingredients and Method to make the cumin crackers
1 cup spelt flour 
1/2 cup semolina flour (fine rava) (see notes)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 1/4 tsp salt (or according to taste)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (or according to taste)
3 tbsp clarified butter (ghee) (see notes)
3 tbsp oil 
1/4 cup milk + 2 tbsp water if required

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F
Line a cookie sheet or baking tray with parchment paper and keep aside
Mix together spelt flour, semolina, cumin seeds, salt, soda, red chilli powder in a large bowl.
Add clarified butter/ ghee and oil and rub it into the dough.
Add milk and knead to form a slightly stiff but pliable dough.
Add water only if required and continue to knead for a minute or two.
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Divide dough into three parts.
Roll out each part as thin as required. (Use flour if necessary to aid in rolling out, I did not need it)
Place the rolled out dough on the lined tray and gently score lines or use a cookie cutter to score shapes on the dough.
Place in the oven and bake for about 15 to 20 mins until slightly brown.
Remove and cool thoroughly and break the crackers on the scored lines and store in an air tight container.
Proceed with the balance of the dough in the same manner.


Notes
You can substitute clarified butter with oil entirely.
You can substitute semolina flour (fine rava ) with spelt flour of equal quantity or all purpose flour
Baking times will vary depending upon the thickness of the rolled out dough, so do keep an eye on the crackers from about the 10 minute point itself.

58 comments :

Shama Nagarajan said...

looks cool and perfect

EC said...

Super snack for teatime

Subhie Arun said...

new to me...looks yummy..will try soon..thx for sharing

Archana said...

Nice ones - i always like these savoury snacks..can i use wheat flour instead of spelt flour ? would that work ?

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow superb... Looks cunchy and yum.

FH said...

I would love have some for Tea time, looks yum. In B'lore, we do get get something like these called Khara biscuits.

Sharmila said...

We usually make these deep fried ... baking is a good idea Usha! :-)

Gita Jaishankar said...

Wow baked cumin crackers instead of fried ones, I've got to try this one, looks perfect and delicious too :)

Sara said...

These look delicious, sounds like they'd be a great snack!

Chutneytales said...

Wonderful tea time snack..I love these!

Anonymous said...

Would love to have some with black coffee..cumin flavour is great to mention..

Soma said...

They look like nimkis but done in a different way. I have never used spelt flour.

Nandinis food said...

Those cumin cookies look lovely and crispy! I'd like to have it for a tea-time snack.

Deepthi Shankar said...

they look just delicious .. Iam gonna make these sometime, wud be just lovely with tea

Meghan at Making Love In the Kitchen said...

I love anything with cumin. These look so good!

Priya Suresh said...

Prefect snack of teatime..looks yummy n crunchy!

Vishali said...

wow nice cookies ....love them:).
Hope u had a nice weekend.

Deepa Hari said...

Yummy and crunchy Usha...Perfect to snack.

Jaishree Iyer said...

Crunchy ta time snack.. looks delicious:)

Unknown said...

Never came across spelt flour,crackers looks delicious.

Indhu said...

these look yummy.. I remember making the earlier version.. that was one of my first trysts with the oven :)

Cham said...

Perfect and crispy!

saffronapron.blogspot.com said...

Love the way you arranged them on that plate. nice recipe too.

Lisa Turner said...

Savory cookies are the way to go, especially when they are cumin flavoured!

Ashwini said...

Nice tea time biscuits..cruncy and munchy..

Manju said...

such crunchy cookies with bites of cumin inside it! lovely!

Priya Sriram said...

Looks beautiful Usha! How did you make it so perfect in shape? Nice presentation! :)

ARUNA said...

wonderful crackers Usha....u gave them nice shape!!

jd said...

These sound fantastic, especially since I LOVE cumin!

BTW, thanks for the substitution info re: the butter, I'll definitely have to give this recipe a try.

Yum!

Uma said...

looks so good and yummy Usha! Love the presentation.

Vani said...

Crispy and yum!

Lavanya said...

very nice usha..nice presentation too!!

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Cookies look great I do remember visiting your post earlier too... :)

A_and_N said...

I should try spelt flour also! These look like a good start :)

Varsha Vipins said...

Flavorful snack USha..:)

Red Chillies said...

The picture resembles the namkeen (tukdi) that is made with AP flour, cumin and are cut like diamonds. They are deep fried ones.
But this is such a neat and a healty version.

Unknown said...

lovely tea time snack..loved the ingredients you hav used..

Purva Desai said...

we call this shakar para.......lovely tea tme snack

gtyuk said...

I've never tried using spelt flour; that's a nice idea; I imagine the texture melting soft and crunchy on the tongue, and the taste somewhat like the crackers.....yummm, nice one to bookmark and prefer this version too, has come out fine and perfect!

AnuSriram said...

Crispy and crunchy snack, perfect with a cup of tea! Lovely!

Premyscakes said...

perfect snack, very crispy.

Anu said...

Long time no see ;-) Hope u r doing gud.

Nice snack:) Loved the way u have arranged them.

Laavanya said...

I do remember you cumin cookies from last time.. nice to see this healthier version with spelt flour. Looks good.

Rajee said...

So cool and perfect for tea time. I think it's also called khara biscuits.

Sukanya Yogesh said...

Iam a huge fan of homemade cookies and the diamond shaped cookies made by you look perfect.

Archy said...

Nice crispy snack.. Never tried spelt flour.. need to try now :)!!

Ana Powell said...

Hi Usha
The perfect snack, lovely x

Vibaas said...

yum! nice recipe!

Archana said...

Hi Usha, I made molaga pudi using your recipe, turned out real good - my first ever home made molaga pudi and idli-dosa-loving-tam husband approved of it - thank u so much !!

Jaya M said...

Usha,
these looks so yum and crisp...I am sure it taste great just like a jeera biscuit from a famous brand here in India
hugs and smiles

Recipeswap said...

Will go so well with tea.

Priyanka Agrawal said...

i love cumin biscuits yumm

Vaishali said...

Lovely idea to incorporate spelt flour into these cookies, Usha. I love the idea of savory cookies, but have rarely ever made them, so thanks for the recipe.

Unknown said...

Looks like a perfect snack with tea. I have a similar savoury cookie in my blog. i added a little cheese to it.

Bharti said...

I like the sound of these.

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

These sound delicious, my kind of snack actually. Though I would use whole wheat flour as spelt isn't available here.

Anonymous said...

Hi Usha! I also have been wanting to experiment with Spelt flour and though I had the chance to taste products made with it,I never got the chance to try and do something with it myself..I would love to try these out,as I love to make all kinds of healthy crackers,especially to nibble on while on the go instead of giving into any junkfood..!

Raji said...

Hi Usha,

Thanks for sharing such wonderful recipe! I gave it a try last weekend and it turned out pretty good. I used about 3 Tbsp of saffola oil and rest yogurt to make it low-fat and it was very good. It suits as a soup cracker too. Spelt is good in buns too.

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