Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

Last night I finished off the last of my cookies, so this column is preceding my going down to the kitchen to bake myself another batch. I tend not to pig out on sweets, but from time to time I get the urge to have a glass of Chianti accompanied by either my biscotti or one of the other cookies I bake. I haven?t made myself any sesame cookies for some time now, so when I thought that it was time to bake another batch of cookies, sesame cookies came flooding into my mind. So here goes:

[tag]Sesame Cookies[/tag]

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 cup tahini, well mixed
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tbls H2O
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sesame seeds, lightly roasted

The Method

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the tahini and blend in. Beat in the vanilla, egg and H2O. Mix in the flour and baking soda. Stir in the roasted sesame seeds. At this point you can either roll the mix into sheets and cut them into standard round cookies or make drop cookies. I ten to prefer drop cookies, so here is my method. First, line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Now, roll heaping tbls of the dough mix between your (washed) hands, into a ball. Place the balls of dough on the sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart. (You can usually get five or six balls per line on your baking sheet. On most sheets you?ll be able to get three lines, or 15-16 cookies per sheet.) Next, taking a fork, press down on each ball of dough until you leave a good impression on them. But this time your oven should be up to heat. Depending on the size of your oven you should be able to get either one or two baking sheets in. Bake for 12-14 minutes. (It depends on each oven. You can check to see if the bottoms of the cookies have begun to brown.) When done take the baking sheets our and transfer your cookies onto cooling racks. When cool, transfer them into airtight containers.

Note: If you don?t know what tahini is, it?s ground sesame seeds in an oil base. Therefore, remember to mix it well when you use it.

Enjoy.

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