Þ
Sesame Seed Cookies
From Desserts by Nancy Silverton, Adapted by Blue Heron Kitchen
Olive is continuing to bring me lots of unconditional love as well as a good
reason to try out new recipes. My most recent lunch included these cookies
as part of our dessert. My mother, whose baking gene was passed on to me,
went nuts for these sesame seed gems and requested the recipe. So, this
one’s for you, Mom. (Olive loves her toy - thanks again!)
This cookie is all about butter and seeds. You’ll also need sesame oil. Unless
you’re catering a wedding with these cookies, or you’re making cold noodles
with sesame oil twice a week, buy a small bottle. It ‘turns’ quickly. Store it in the
fridge or in a cool place.
Buy ‘brown’ or unhulled sesame seeds. Unless you’re using them right away,
store them (and all seeds and nuts) in your freezer. Don’t buy a ‘jar’ of them at
the supermarket. In the NYC region, Patel Brothers is the place to go. You can
shop online, get discounts up to 10% if you spend in excess of $50, and online,
on either link, and, like, Shut up and Shop.)
These are slice and bake beauties, which stay in the freezer until you need
them. You’re the boss.
By the way, Nancy Silverton
is a genius, and any cookbook of hers is worth all the sesame
oil in China.
Ingredients:
8 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature, not mushy (European style 83% butterfat is best)
2 Tbsp. Oriental sesame oil
½ c. granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
2 cups, minus 2 Tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup unhulled (brown) sesame seeds
Procedure:
Þ In the bowl of a Kitchen Aid or electric standing mixer, beat the butter
and sesame oil until fluffy and light in color. It should hold soft peaks.
Þ Beat in sugar and egg yolk, scraping down sides, as needed. (If you’ve
listened to me, you’ve already bought your beater blade,
and this task has enabled you to practice doing The Tighten Up while
your beater blade is doing all the work.)
Þ Add flour and sesame seeds, mixing only until combined.
Þ Wrap dough in plastic and chill for 30 minutes, until dough is firm
enough to handle.
Þ Divide dough into three or four sections, and keeping the remaining in
the fridge, roll each into a log, by first flattening and then carefully folding
and being sure not to leave ‘air’ in the roll. Each roll should be about 1
1/2” in diameter. Due to the high content of butter in this batter, you have
to work quickly. If the dough is getting sticky and annoying, you can put it
back in the fridge and work with a cold portion until that one cools down
and behaves. You can also run your hands under cold water. This batter
doesn’t respond to the ‘warm hands, warm heart’ theory.
Þ Place roll on a sheet of plastic wrap with at least 4” of length on either
side of each end. Carefully roll up and then pick up the roll and ‘twirl’ it,
one way, holding the ends of the plastic wrap, to make a tight little
‘sausage’ roll.
 |
| Frozen pre-sliced roll |
Place on a flat surface in freezer. (If this doesn't exist in yours, as it rarely exists
in my horrible freezer, place on cookie sheet first.)
Þ When frozen, you can store in a freezer bag until you're ready to slice and
bake.
Baking the Cookies (already):
Preheat oven to 325º F., oven rack in center of your oven, and line cookie sheet(s) with Silpat or parchment paper.
Using a sharp knife, (this is an inexpensive and great alternative to and electric knife sharpener that the smart knife man at Broadway Panhandler turned me on to.)
slice cookies that are slighter thinner than 1/2” and place rounds on cookie sheet. You can ‘repair’ any crumbled off pieces by just patching them back on. Remember, this cookie is SO high in butter content that it’s difficult to work with. IT’S NOT YOU.
Bake 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned. For the cookies to melt in your mouth, they must be cooked through.
Cool on racks before storing in tins between layers of wax paper.
Full recipe yields approximately 6-7 dozen
peace, love and sesame (not BP) oil,
jane
peace, love and sesame (not BP) oil,
jane
