Aromatic Sesame Seed Cookies

-
DSC_0009

7/8 c. Sesame seeds
1/8 c. Flax seeds
3/4 c. Brown sugar
4 Tbsp Butter, unsalted, softened
1 Egg
1/2 c. Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Toast the sesame seeds on a frying pan* until they are golden brown.

Using an electric beater, beat the brown sugar and butter together until fluffy. Beat in the egg.

Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add to the butter mixture and mix well by hand. Stir in the vanilla extract and lemon juice.

Mix in the toasted sesame seeds.

Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Drop a teaspoon-size cookie dough on the Silpat (or any silicone mats) or lightly oiled cookie sheet, leaving approximately 2" space in between the dough. Bake for 12-13 min, until the edges are slightly brown. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

* To toast the sesame seeds, do them in batches and stir constantly to ensure even toasting. My sesame seeds appeared shiny when they were done and some of them even started to "pop" out of the pan.

DSC_0012

My comments:

This is another one of my non-original recipes. I saw these Benne Wafers a few months ago on Simply Recipes and I've been meaning to try them. I always have sesame seeds lying around the house, so I don't know what took me so long to actually make them. These cookies are so easy to do and they are delicious!!

I tweaked the recipe a bit to my taste. I didn't have enough sesame seeds to make 1 cup, so I topped up the cup with a bit of flax seeds, another staple ingredient in my cupboard. Both sesame seeds and flax seeds are highly nutritious and they are super tasty when incorporated into baked goods. I also reduced the sugar by at least 1/4 cup and I found my cookies are plenty sweet! The original recipe asked you to bake the cookies for 15 min but in my oven, I found 13 min was more than enough. In fact, if you didn't chill the dough, I'd check the cookies at 12 min to avoid overbaking.

All in all, I enjoyed these cookies. I had to be careful not to eat them all while the baking was on-going.  They smell wonderful and tasted so good while still warm from the oven. I think they'd go very well with some vanilla ice-cream too!!

DSC_0014

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Orange Poppy Seed Cookies

-
Image
1/2 c. Sugar 1/2 c. Butter, unsalted, room temperature 1 Egg, room temperature 1 tbsp Orange zest (from 1 large orange) 1 1/4 c. Flour 1/2 tsp Baking soda 1 tbsp Poppy seeds Pinch of salt Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the orange zest. Beat until combined. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly add into the butter mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until just combined. Fold in the poppy seeds. Place little mounds of cookie batter on a Silpat (or parchment paper or greased cookie sheet). Flatten slightly slightly with a fork. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges turn a little brown. Be careful not to over cook and burn the bottoms. Allow the cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. My comments: When I saw the pictures on Elise's Simply Recipes , I knew I just had to try these cookies. It's easy to do and her cookies jus
Read more

Thai Curry Stir-Fried Rice

-
Image
3 c. Cooked rice* 2-3 tbsp Vegetable oil 1 Green onions, chopped 2-3 cloves Garlic, minced 3 Eggs 1/2 Fresh pineapple, cut into small chunks 3/4 c. Vegetables** 1 tbsp Sesame oil 2 tbsp Soya sauce 2 tsp Curry powder 1-2 tsp Thai curry paste * Freshly cooked rice has too much moisture and it is too soggy to fry; therefore, it is best to use leftover rice. If you don't have leftover rice, you can cool freshly cooked rice to room temperature and then place the rice in the refrigerator, uncovered, for a minimum of 1 hour to reduce the moisture. ** You can use any vegetables you like. I used frozen vegetable mix because it was the easiest thing to do and I thaw the vegetables to room temperature. Alternatively, you can chop up fresh vegetables into small pieces (eg. carrots, mushrooms, peppers, etc.), pre-cook them on the frying pan and drain the excess liquid. Drizzle 1 tbsp of oil to the rice and break up the rice into grains with a fork. Set aside. Stir together the soya sauce,
Read more

Very Berry Banana Smoothie

-
Image
1 Large riped banana, chopped 1 c. Frozen strawberries, chopped 1 c. Low-fat raspberry yogurt 1 c. Milk 2 tbsp Honey Combine all the ingredients in a blender. Blend on slow-medium speed until smooth. My comments: This was a yummy yummy YUMMY smoothie!! It's simple to make, it's healthy and it's very filling. I saved 1/2 of the smoothie and brought it to work the next day, it still tasted just as it came right out of the blender! I also tried adding a cup of apples (1 Macintosh apple, peeled and chopped) to the smoothie mix. It tasted good but the apples felt lumpy in the smoothie so the texture wasn't so great.
Read more