A Great Cookie
“Every petal of blue lupin is edged with white, so that a field of lupins is more blue than you can imagine. And mixed with these were splashes of California poppies. These too are of a burning color—not orange, not gold, but if pure gold were liquid and could raise cream, that golden cream might be the color of the poppies. When their season was over the yellow mustard came up and grew to a great height.”
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
Inspiration
It’s already May and the only thing I know for sure is that a great cookie will brighten any day. Reminiscent of the iconic sesame candy halva, these cookies are fabulous. The edges are crunchy with sesame goodness while the center of the cookie stays soft. It all began with this recipe for The (Prodigal) Sesame Seed Cookie that I made last Christmas. I ended up making two, double batches. My chocolate loving family gravitated to these buttery cookies, scooping up two or three at a time. I knew then that this new flavor combination was worthy of more exploration. The backbone of this recipe comes from Maida Heatter’s Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies. I took a different path and went sesame.
Essentials
The whole wheat pastry flour and organic cane sugar work wonderfully in this recipe, giving the nutty cookies an earthy foundation. The cookies can be made any size and could be scooped individually. I stayed true to the original recipe and made them “ice box” style. Sesame seeds can be expensive, find them in grocery store bulk bin isle for the best price.
| Ingredients | |
| 1C | sesame seeds |
| 1-1/3C | whole wheat pastry flour |
| 1t | baking soda |
| 1/2t | fine grain sea salt |
| 1/2C/4oz | unsalted butter, room temperature |
| 1/2C | tahini |
| 1C | organic cane sugar |
| 1 | egg |
- Add the sesame seeds to a large skillet and toast on medium heat. Occasionally shake the pan or stir the seeds. Remove the pan from the heat when most of the seeds have changed color from ivory to tan and the sesame seeds become fragrant. Set aside to cool. Watch the pan carefully, as it will seem that suddenly the seeds are toasted.
- In a medium sized bowl sift or shake through a sieve the flour, baking soda and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer add the softened butter and beat until very soft and creamy. Make sure there are no lumps of butter before proceeding. Add the tahini and beat until again until the butter and tahini are throughly combined. Stop and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl making sure everything is combined. Add the sugar and mix again until throughly combined. Then mix in the egg. Stop and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, mix again. Then add the flour mixture, and half a cup of the toasted sesame seeds mixing only until combined. Stop and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl making sure everything is combined.
- On a flat work surface spread the remaining half a cup of sesame seeds roughly in a rectangle that is 14” long and 3” wide. Scoop the cookie dough on top of the sesame seeds and roll into a log of uniform size, approximately 18” long. Cut the log in half and wrap the cookie dough logs in plastic wrap. Once wrapped, roll and reshape to a uniform size if needed. Throughly chill the dough. (The cookies can be made larger or smaller, adjust the baking time accordingly.)
- Heat the oven to 350°. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. On a flat work surface, unwrap the cookie dough and evenly slice in the cookies 1/3” thick. Place the cookies an inch apart on the cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. The bottom edge of the cookies will turn brown when done. Bake another minute or two for crunchy cookies. Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea.
Right you are! Thank you Karen.
Sesame and tahini — would never have thought to use them in a cookie, but I could really see this working. It sounds delicious!
This is a delicious cookie! Thank you Viviane!
I am SO into these cookies. I love whole wheat and tahini so they sound just about perfect.
Thank you for the wonderful comment Jessie!
This is a really great recipe and idea, Deb. So simple yet hits all the flavour and texture buttons. These would make such a delightful treat to offer visitors too. IF there were any left! Yum. 🙂
I appreciate your comment, thank you Kellie!
I just picked up tahini to make hummus but I love the flavor so much that it’s easy to see why you baked cookies – I must try these!
Thank you Laura! My resident chocolate lover adores these cookies!
what a gorgeous cookie, Deb! I love halva, so these would be a win, for sure.
Thank you Shannon! This is a fabulous cookie!
Mmmm these look so yummy Deb, and I love that delicious Steinbeck quote too.
Thank you for the wonderful comment Jane!
These look marvelous! Another clever recipe to add to the list to try, Deb!
Thank you Carol, I appreciate your generous comment!
I love seseme cookies but have never made them. Thank you for providing me with a recipe that looks fantastic. I wish I could eat one of those cookies right now.
Thank you Gerlinde! These cookies are easy to make and just as easy to devour!
These look divine. I adore halva and Maida Heatter is one of my favorites. Her chocolate book I have is practically coated in flour, chocolate, etc. These cookies will be tested at my house for sure. XO
Thank you Valentina! Maida Heatter’s recipes are outstanding!
Hi Deb!
Halva is one of my all time favorite things to eat in this world, not that I would have any first hand knowledge of favorite foods in any other worlds…love your truly inspired cookie recipe 😉
Thank you Patty! The marble halva is a favorite of mine.
A healthy cookie to devour without feeling guilty. I love this idea!
Fresh, homemade cookies are so fabulous! Thank you for commenting Denise.
These look delectable. What a refreshing alternative to a butter cookie.
Thank you Lynda! The tahini gives these cookies a wonderful flavor.
Deb, what a gem of a cookie! It reminds me of a cookie my mom would make for us when we were little. Most of my siblings were put off by the sesame seeds and opted for other selections. They had no idea what they were missing. It just so happens I have on hand all the ingredients necessary to bake up a batch of these sweet seeded rounds, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Thank you so much for the gracious comment Mary! My resident chocolate lover can’t get enough of these great cookies!