Aromatic Sesame Seed Cookies

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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.

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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!!

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