Sesame Seed Cookies

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,

7 oz. of brown sesame seeds, currently costs $2.99, and 14 oz., $4.99.  (Click

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