Pepper-Cumin Cookies
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2cups all-purpose flour
- 6tablespoons sugar
- 1teaspoon kosher salt
- 2teaspoons grated lemon zest
- 1teaspoon black peppercorns, cracked
- 1teaspoon cumin seeds, cracked
- 1cup unsalted butter, softened slightly and cut into pieces
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
Nutritional analysis per serving (30 servings)
95 calories; 6 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 9 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 44 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the flour, sugar, salt, lemon zest, cracked peppercorns and cumin in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and vanilla and pulse until mixture just forms a dough.
- Step 2
Place the dough on a work surface and shape into 1-inch balls. Place them 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets and flatten each cookie with the palm of your hand. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 to 20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Remove from the tray and place them on a rack to cool.
Private Notes
Comments
This recipe isn’t great for explaining how you handle a dough like this. Chilling dough in the freezer for at least 30 mins greatly improves the taste and texture. Starting with s fragrant peppercorn blend will yield a more flavorful full cookie. And ALWAYS toast your cumin seeds. They transform into something magical when you do. Hope this helps!
I also toasted the black pepper corns & cumin seeds for a few minutes before cracking. I formed the finished dough into four 1 dia logs, wrapped them in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer for 30 mins. My yield was approx 16 disks per log for a total of 60 cookies in the end. The toasted cracked black pepper and cumin seeds rise up to run through the sugar and are tripped up by the lemon zest and kosher salt but land softly in the butter that teamed up with the vanilla. Brilliant!
love this recipe!! Added a teaspoon of lemon juice to bring the dough together in the food processor.
Followed notes to toast spices & refrigerate dough before rolling out - these came out excellent. However, if using a mortar and pestle to crack your spices, I'd recommend toasting & cracking the peppercorns and cumin seeds separately, since the larger peppercorns made it difficult to crack the cumin seeds. For those looking for ingredients by weight: 283g all-purpose flour, 228g butter, 75g sugar, 3g salt, 5g vanilla extract, 4g lemon zest, 4g whole black peppercorns, and 3g whole cumin seeds.
I've made these almost every year since the recipe was published 20+ years ago, and it becomes a bit of a party game for people to guess the spices. I have always made exactly as published, but this year I will toast my spices based on feedback here.
I toasted the cumin seed and the peppercorns in a skillet. I cracked them in a spice grinder just for a few seconds. To make the balls, I used a 1 inch scoop and then rolled them into balls. I used a flat bottomed glass to flatten. These are really great. I taking them to wine club tonight!!
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