These shortbread style biscuits, with the addition of fennel seeds, pair beautifully with a cup of Stir black tea. We have also served them alongside a dessert of roasted Central Otago peaches and ice-cream to add a delicious buttery and crunchy element.
This recipe is by NZ foodie and author Lucy Corry and appeared in her outstanding recipe book, called Homecooked - seasonal recipes for every day.
Makes about 25 biscuits
Prep time: 10 minutes, plus 30 minutes chilling
Cook time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
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125g unsalted butter, softened
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¾ cup icing sugar
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1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
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¼ tsp salt
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2 tbsp whole fennel seeds
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1¼ cups plain flour
Method
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Beat together the butter, icing sugar and olive oil until smooth and creamy.
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Stir in the salt and fennel seeds, then sift the flour over.
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Mix to form a dough, then tip this out onto a large piece of baking paper.
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Put another piece of baking paper on top to stop the dough from sticking and roll out the dough to about ½ cm thick.
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Cut into triangles, squares, or rectangles (it doesn’t matter, as long as they’re all roughly the same size).
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Line a baking tray with the spare piece of baking paper and lie the cut-out shapes on top.
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Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or cover and chill for up to 24 hours.
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When ready to bake, heat the oven to 180°C.
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Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, until pale golden.
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Leave on the trays to cool for 5 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely.
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Store in an airtight container when cold.
Observations from Michelle at Stir Tea:
Gluten-Free - we made these using gluten-free ingredients with great results. The only small tweaks we felt we needed to make with the GF ingredients were adding a little more olive oil to the dough when mixing it and cooking the biscuits slightly longer than recommended.
Our recommended Stir Tea to serve with these cookies: Assam, Darjeeling or English Breakfast.
If you are a lover of fennel then consider trying our Yoga Flow (caffeine-free herbal & fruit blend).
