Greek Sesame and Anise Cookies
Crisp, golden Greek cookies studded with toasted sesame seeds and fragrant with anise and orange. These paximadia-style biscuits have a rustic crumb with a satisfying bite, lightly sweetened with honey and enriched with olive oil. Perfect with coffee or as a crunchy accompaniment to Greek yogurt.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 35 min
- Wait
- 30 min
- Total
- 1 hr 20 min
- Makes
- 24 cookies (about 1.5 inches / 4 cm each)
Steps
Before you start
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C)
- Toast sesame seeds lightly in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2–3 minutes to deepen flavor (optional but recommended)
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper
Mix Wet Ingredients
- In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, honey, and orange zest until well combined.
- The mixture should be smooth and pale.
- This takes about 1 minute of whisking.
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Ready when: Mixture is smooth and uniform
Tip: Don't overmix; just combine until you don't see streaks of oil.
Add Seeds and Combine
- Stir the toasted sesame seeds and crushed anise seeds into the wet mixture until evenly distributed.
- The dough will look thick and loose.
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Ready when: Seeds are evenly spread throughout
Combine Dry Ingredients
- In a separate bowl or directly over the wet mixture, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Sift if your flour is lumpy.
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Ready when: Flour mixture is uniform
Fold Dry into Wet
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
- Stir just until no dry flour is visible.
- The dough will be thick, slightly sticky, and studded with seeds.
- Do not overmix.
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Ready when: No dry flour streaks remain
Tip: Overmixing develops gluten and makes cookies tough. Stop as soon as the dough comes together.
Shape Cookies
- Using a rounded tablespoon or small cookie scoop, drop dough balls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1.5 inches (4 cm) apart.
- You should have about 24 cookies.
- Gently flatten each ball with the bottom of a glass or your damp palm into a disk about 0.5 inch (1.3 cm) thick.
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Ready when: Cookies are uniform disks
Tip: Don't press too hard; gentle flattening prevents dense cookies. If dough is sticky, dip your palm in cold water.
Bake First RoundOven 350°F / 175°C
- Place baking sheets in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 18–20 minutes.
- The cookies should be light golden brown on top and the edges slightly deeper in color.
- They will still feel slightly soft when warm but will crisp up as they cool.
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Ready when: Edges are golden brown; tops are light gold
Tip: Rotate pans halfway through baking if your oven has hot spots.
Cool on Pans
- Remove cookies from oven and let them sit on the baking sheets for 5 minutes.
- They will continue to firm up during this time.
- Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 15 minutes.
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Ready when: Cookies are no longer warm and snap cleanly when bent
Tip: Don't skip the cooling step on the pan; moving them too early can break them.
Good to know
Tips
- Toasting sesame seeds before adding them to the dough deepens their nutty flavor and reduces any raw, grassy notes. Toast in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2–3 minutes, stirring often.
- These cookies benefit from a day of resting; flavor and crispness improve overnight as moisture redistributes.
- For extra crispness, after the first bake, cool completely, then return cookies to a 300°F (150°C) oven for 10–15 minutes. This is the traditional method for paximadia (Greek twice-baked biscuits).
- If your kitchen is humid, store cookies with a silica gel pack to maintain crispness.
Make ahead
Dough can be prepared up to 2 hours ahead and refrigerated, covered, before shaping and baking. Baked cookies improve in flavor and crispness after 1 day and keep for up to 1 week.
Storage & reheating
Room temperature in an airtight container for up to 7 days. For longer storage, freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Refresh in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 5 minutes if they soften.
Substitutions
- sesame seeds → 2 tablespoons sesame seeds + 3 tablespoons chopped toasted nuts (pistachios or almonds). Reduces sesame flavor slightly but adds nutty complexity.
- anise seeds → 1 tablespoon fennel seeds or 1 teaspoon ouzo or anisette liqueur. Fennel is similar in flavor; liqueur adds depth but requires reducing olive oil by 1 tablespoon.
- orange zest → Zest of 1 lemon or 1 tablespoon chopped candied peel. Lemon gives brightness; candied peel adds chewiness and sweetness.
- honey → 6 tablespoons (90 g) light brown sugar or 5 tablespoons (65 g) maple syrup. Brown sugar makes cookies slightly chewier; maple syrup adds earthiness.
