Day 31: Tea Biscuits with Rosemary - Μπισκότα του Τσαγιού με Δενδρολίβανο και Μέλι (Rosemary) - April 2, 2014

Often when we think about rosemary, we think savoury foods.  But these tea biscuits are not savoury.  We don't classify them as sweets, either, because there is such a small amount of sugar in them.  In fact, there is no sugar -- only 2 tablespoons of honey!  How could a tea biscuit, which is often considered a cookie have rosemary and no sugar?  Does this interest you as much as it interested us?

We found this recipe in the ARGIRO, EVERYDAY GREEK cookbook.  Argiro is Veffa's daughter, so we had high expectations for her recipes.  We had made similar tea biscuits before, but not with rosemary.  That was the most appealing part.  When we looked at the amount of rosemary used (1 tablespoon in the recipe), we thought that maybe these would be very pungent in flavour -- almost biting, like rosemary can be in large quantities.  It may not seem to you that 1 tablespoon is a lot, but there is not another flavouring in the tea biscuits to off set the rosemary.  That was our concern.  There is honey for sweetness, a splash of vanilla which would not be enough against the dendrolivano, and then some pecans, which are also very mild flavoured.  So, would these be overwhelming?

There are very few ingredients to make these biscuits.  And, we are glad that they are called tea biscuits, because they really do need the cup of tea to complete the joy in eating them.  And, it took us about 20 minutes from start to finish, which is nothing, and we know we could make these in a pinch if we needed to (provided we had all the ingredients on hand, of course!).  The directions could not be easier, and this made our baking experience even better!

O.K. Here's a blooper for you. Can you spot one ingredient in the photo above that isn't in the recipe? You're right! The Kyknos tomato paste is NOT part of the actual recipe. 

For this recipe, you will need the following:

1 1/2 cups flour

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 TBSP honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 TBSP crushed rosemary

1/2 cup crushed pecans

Mix everything in a bowl.  It did not seem to matter about the order of ingredients, but we tried to stick to the "add dry ingredients to wet" theory, just from our own experiences.  We crumbled the rosemary with our hands, so that it maintained some texture.  We also smashed the pecans into various sized pieces to add a little interest to these cookies.  We thought about our mortar and pestle after the fact, but that would have been a nice way to crush the rosemary for the utmost flavour. Then, we put everything in the bowl and mixed.  The dough started to form , although it was a bit crumbly.  The more we played with it in our hands, the more the dough stuck together.  That's when we started to shape the discs.

Now, the directions in the book say that you should use a teaspoon to form the biscuits and drop a teaspoon at a time onto the baking sheet.  That did not seem to work for us.  The dough did not scoop well, and needed that moment in our hands to take a shape.  So, we opted to put a  pinch of dough in our palms, and flatten it with the other hand  The, we pinched the edges to make a disc or a more round shape than a lump.  You may have dough that is more moist, and the teaspoon could work for you.  You will see in the pictures that we went with something about the size of a toonie (a Canadian two dollar coin).  That seemed like a nice size of cookie to eat.

Once all the cookies are formed and placed on a parchment lined baking sheet, or a silicone mat lined baking sheet, then bake them at 350º F (175º C) for 6-8 minutes.  We have mentioned in other posts about convection baking taking a shorter period of time than non-convection ovens.  These cookies really need the non-convection baking.  The dough is dry to begin with, so you want it to have that extra moment in the oven to dry out  and bake through the center of the cookie.  Allow the cookies to cool on the baking pan before moving them to a serving dish.  This will help to complete the baking process in the centre rack of the stove.  Had these been the ball shapes they were supposed to be (as the cookbook recommended), we may have taken longer baking them.

Bake the cookies unit they have a very light golden colour and they move freely on the baking sheet.  That's how you will know that they are fully baked.

Serve and enjoy with Greek Mountain Tea (tsai tou vounou), tea or coffee! We certainly did!


"'Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord' (Heb. 12:14), Why did he say 'strive'? Because it is not possible for us to become holy and to be saints in an hour! We must therefore progress from modest beginnings toward holiness and purity. Even were we to spend a thousand years in this life we should never perfectly attain it. Rather we must always struggle for it every day, as if mere beginners."

From St. Symeon the New Theologian (The Discourses; Paulist Press pg. 91)

Source of quote: http://theodorakis.net/orthodoxquotescomplete.html