Savory Butter Cookies with Sesame and Fennel
If you enjoy having cookies with your tea or coffee but don’t like them too sweet, these savory butter cookies are for you. They’re buttery, delicately crisp, and crumble in your mouth with the first bite.
I wanted to share this recipe because it’s one of those cookies you won’t stop at just one. My family and I kept going back for another!
A Little About This Recipe
These cookies are inspired by Turkish savory cookies, but I’ve made a few changes to the ingredients to include flavors we enjoy at home.
The first bite is buttery and slightly salty, followed by a hint of sweetness from the sugar and fennel seeds. I especially enjoy biting into a fennel seed and getting that lovely aroma. I even find that the fennel leaves my breath feeling a little fresher.
Sesame seeds add a nutty flavor, especially if you toast them lightly before adding them to the dough.
Another thing I love about this recipe is how easy the dough is to work with. It comes together quickly, doesn’t need chilling, and rolls out without any trouble.
How to Make Savory Butter Cookies
- Make the dough. Combine all the dough ingredients in a bowl and knead gently by hand until a soft dough forms.
- Roll and cut. Roll the dough to approximately ½ cm (¼ inch) thick and cut into your preferred shapes.
- Add the topping. Arrange the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake. Bake at 180°C (350°F) on the middle rack for approximately 17 minutes. The cookies should puff slightly and feel light when gently pressed. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool.
My Tips for the Best Savory Butter Cookies
- Use softened butter, not melted butter. This helps the dough come together properly.
- Try toasted sesame seeds. Untoasted seeds work well, but lightly toasting them gives the cookies a more pronounced nutty flavor.
- Keep the thickness consistent. I shaped mine into squares, but you can use any cookie cutter you like. Keeping them the same thickness helps them bake evenly.
- Don’t chill the dough. There’s no need to refrigerate it before rolling and cutting.
- Choose your preferred crispness. I prefer baking these cookies for about 17 minutes because they have a delicate crispness that quickly melts in the mouth.
What Happens If You Bake Them Longer?
I deliberately left one batch in the oven a little longer to see how the texture would change.
After a couple of extra minutes, the cookies became browner and shrank slightly instead of staying puffed. They also developed a more toasted aroma.
They were still delicious, and we enjoyed them, but the texture was different. The cookies baked for 17 minutes crumbled and melted in the mouth quickly, while the longer-baked cookies had a slightly grainier texture and took a little more time to melt.
Both tasted good, but the lighter, more delicate version is my favorite.
Serving and Storing
These cookies are wonderful with sweet tea or coffee and make a lovely snack for both children and adults.
We stored ours in an airtight container at room temperature for three days, and they stayed crisp until the last cookie disappeared!
If your kitchen is particularly hot or humid, you can keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator instead.
Savory Butter Cookies with Sesame and Fennel
Ingredients
- 125 grams unsalted butter softened but not melted
- 1 large egg separated, with the yolk in the dough and the white for brushing.
- 2 ½ tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds optionally toasted
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
For the Topping
- 1 Egg white for brushing
- Sesame seeds for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- In a bowl, combine all the cookie ingredients. Knead gently with your hand until a soft dough forms. There is no need to rest or chill the dough.
- Roll out the dough to approximately ½ cm (¼ inch) thick, or slightly thicker if preferred.
- Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into your desired shapes. Place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Brush the tops of the cookies with egg white and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake on the middle rack of the preheated oven for approximately 17 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool.
Notes
- These cookies rise slightly during baking, becoming thicker without spreading much.
- For a delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture: Bake for approximately 17 minutes. The cookies will have a light crispness and a tender, buttery texture that melts in your mouth.
- For a firmer, crunchier cookie: Bake a little longer. The cookies will become darker, shrink slightly, and develop a drier, more pronounced crunch. They will still taste delicious, but the texture will be different.
