If you like black sesame, you would love this! These black sesame sugar cookies are perfectly thin and chewy with slightly crisp edges and intense black sesame flavor.
The secret to the chew is in the ingredients.
Bread flour
Bread flour has a higher protein content than all purpose flour which gives you chewier cookies. King Authur posted an interesting experiment on this that is worth the read!
Light brown sugar & cane sugar
Both light brown sugar and cane sugar contains some molasses, with light brown sugar sugar containing the higher amount of the two. This gives the cookie a caramel flavor and chew without the overpowering flavor that comes with brown sugar.
Baking soda
In my Puffy & Chewy Sugar Cookie post, I discovered that by using of baking soda in leavening instead of baking powder, you can create chewier cookies. Why? When baking soda is added in cookies, it reacts with the acidic ingredients (honey, brown sugar, cream of tartar, sour cream etc) creating carbon dioxide (air) and at the same time, increase the acidity of the dough which reducing gluten formation keeping the cookies soft, promotes spreading allowing the cookies to evenly cook and crispen. You can read more about the effects of baking soda here and here.
Cream of tartar
Theres two reasons to add cream of tartar to cookies: Firstly, cream of tartar is an acidic element and therefore will interact with baking soda for leavening. Second, it inhibits sugar from crystalizing which gives cookies a soft and chewy texture. You can read more about how cream of tartar is used in bakes by visiting Crazy for Crust.
Looking for more cookie recipes? Check these out:
- Earl Grey Tea Biscuits
- Kinako Black Sesame Shortbread Cookies
- Almond Cookies
- Chocolate Espresso Bean Sourdough Discard Cookies
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Some of my essential cookie-making tools:
Chewy Black Sesame Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 226 g butter (2 sticks of butter)
- 160 g light brown sugar
- 100 g cane sugar granulated sugar is ok
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 240 g bread flour or all purpose flour
- 50 g black sesame powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- generous pinch of salt
- toasted black sesame rolling the cookies in
- turbinado sugar for rolling the cookies in or any coarse sugar
Instructions
- Cream together butter and sugars. Add in the egg and beat it until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Combine together the rest of the dry ingredients together (flour, black sesame powder, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar) and fold it into butter mixture.
- Line a medium-sized tray (jelly roll pan size) or plate with plastic wrap. Using an ice-cream scooper or spoon, divide the cookies out into 12 equal sized balls and place them in the tray. Cover the top with plastic wrap and refrigerate the cookies for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare your cookie sheet.
- Remove the cookies from the fridge and let it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. In the meantime, combine turbinado sugar and toasted black sesame seeds* together in about a 2:1 ratio. After the cookie dough has rested, roll them in the sugar mixture and place it on the cookie sheet about 4 inches apart.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or when the edges have browned and the top has set. About 7 minutes into the bake, lift the baking sheet a few inches off the rack in the oven and drop it. Do this 3 times. This will create ripples in the cookie and cause it to spread. Rotate the pan and let it bake for another 3 minutes before repeat this dropping.
- Let cool for about 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring it to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
