A buttery, crumbly cookie flavored with cilantro, curry leaves, green chili, and caraway seeds. With a savory, spicy, and slightly sweet taste, this is a perfect afternoon snack with tea or coffee.
This cookie was made popular by Bangalore’s iconic Iyengar Bakeries. My recipe borrows heavily from recipes from my mother and sister, with a few tweaks to achieve a sweet/savory flavor profile that highlights curry leaves and cilantro. I use this moon cake mold to shape the cookies, but you can also just use a fork to make a cross hatch pattern on top.
Khara Biscuit
Ingredients
- 2 cups All Purpose flour (250 g)
- 3/4 cup Unsalted butter (170 g) softened to room temperature, not melted
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1/4 cup Finely chopped cilantro leaves
- 1/4 cup Finely chopped curry leaves
- 3-4 Green chilis chopped finely
- 1/2 tsp Caraway seeds Shahjeera, optional
Equipment
- Cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat
- Kitchen scale, optional
- Moon cake mold (50g size), optional
- Electric beater or whisk to cream butter
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar using an electric beater or by hand until the butter is fluffy.
- Add the flour, 3/4 tsp of salt, chopped herbs, caraway seeds, and green chilis to the bowl.
- Using a spatula or your fingers mix together to form a crumbly dough. Do not knead.
- Taste the dough at this time and add the remaining 1/4 tsp of the salt if needed.
- Transfer the mixture to the silicone mat lined cookie sheet, and continue to work the dough by pressing gently until it holds together. If the butter is too cold, rest the dough for 20 minutes and try again. In a pinch, you can add a tbsp of milk if the dough doesn’t come together easily.
- Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter for 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into small balls about 20g in weight. Use the kitchen scale for this, or simply eyeball it so all the balls of dough are approximately the same size.
- Arrange the balls of dough on the cookie sheet 1” apart.
- Using the moon cake mold, stamp each ball of dough into a disk with your desired shape embossed on top. If you don’t have a moon cake mold, just flatten each ball of dough and use a fork to make simple cross hatch marks.
- Transfer the cookie sheet to the freezer, or the refrigerator if your freezer is full, for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F.
- Bake for 25-28 minutes until the biscuits are just beginning to turn golden at the bottom. Do not over bake.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to come to room temperature.
- Serve with coffee or tea and watch your family devour them!
Notes
- This is a savory cookie, so while you want the heat from the chili to come through, the sugar in the dough is necessary to counter balance the saltiness of the biscuit.
- Be cautious while adding salt. This biscuit gets over salted very easily. You can taste a tiny bit of the dough to check before shaping the cookies.
- Don’t skip the step with creaming butter and sugar. This makes the sugar crystals punch tiny holes in the butter that result in a more crumbly texture after baking.
- Store in an airtight jar for up to two weeks on the counter.
- The moon cake mold and kitchen scale are completely optional, but recommended. I find that taking the time to make sure all the cookies are of equal weight ensures they all cook evenly, and look more special.
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