Cumin and lime biscuits

When I cannot imagine what something tastes like, I try my hardest to ignore what it may be or what it looks like and give it a try. For example, chicken feet, jelly fish and raw mince meat with onion on bread all once belonged in the 'cannot imagine what it tastes like' category. Surprsingly, I like them all:) Oh yes,then there was the dog food incident when I was little. Yep, I tried a tinnnnny bit of dog food. I was one of the children who did not have a Playstation or a Nintendo; what else was I supposed to do? Ok, I did play Encarta MindMaze and Dangerous Creatures on my CDROM, but after a while I needed something else to keep my mind rolling.


In Bondi a few weeks ago, Alan and I visited a cosy book shop cafe, the Gertrude and Alice Bookstore Cafe. While you drink your tea and lick the cake crumbs from your lips, you can read one of the many books on the library-like shelves. If you like the book, you can also purchase it for a great price.

Alan purchased a Marie Claire book titled 'Zest' for around $15 (bargain!) and I of course had a flip through it on the train ride home, while balancing a bag of lychees and longans on my lap at the same time. I found a recipe for cumin and lime biscuits and could not imagine in the slightest what they would taste like. Ok, I imagined a little; citrus and Indian curry...in sweet biscuit form. A little bit weird...

Cumin and lime biscuits
This recipe is from the Marie Claire 'Zest' book by Michele Cranston.
I used slightly less sugar than recommended, and a little more flour as my dough was too sticky.
The recipe made 34 biscuits

What you need

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 130g sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons lime juice and grated zest of 1 lime (Hence, you need 1 lime - I over estimated, hence 2 are shown in the photo)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 150g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

What you need to do

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a baking tray/s with baking paper.
2. Cream butter and sugar and fold in cumin, lime juice, lime zest, egg and vanilla extract.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder into the butter mixture and combine.
4. Roll balls of the mixture (I used half a tablespoon of mixture for each ball) and place onto the baking trays. If your mixture is too sticky, add some more flour to it.
5. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the bottom of the biscuits have browned a little.

While my dad enjoyed the biscuits very much, I cannot say the same for myself. They had a lovely scent but taste wise, I was not a fan. At first your taste buds are greeted with a citrus flavour. You chew a little and then the cumin hits. At this point I did not know if I was eating a sweet biscuit or a subtly spiced savoury biscuit. My taste buds would pick up some sugar, and then some cumin, and then some sugar again. My taste buds were confused.

If I had my time over again, I would simply bake lemon biscuits. Cheaper than lime biscuits and at least I know I am eating a sweet biscuit. However, I am sure some of you out there would enjoy this combination. For those who do not like sweet sweet biscuits, there is a chance you would enjoy these. For me, I shall just take the yogurt, dates and nectarine in the photo and run:)