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!
Turbinado & cane sugar
Both turbinado sugar and cane sugar contains some molasses, with turbinado 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
Chewy Black Sesame Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 113 g butter (1 stick of butter)
- 80 g turbinado sugar or light brown sugar
- 40 g cane sugar granulated sugar is ok
- 25 g egg about 1/2 egg
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 240 g bread flour
- 45 g black sesame powder
- 20 g toasted black sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- generous pinch of salt
- extra turbinado sugar and black sesame seeds to roll the cookie in turbino or any coarse sugar
Instructions
- Cream together butter and sugar. 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, toasted black sesame seeds, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar) and fold it into butter mixture.
- Combine turbinado sugar and toasted black sesame seeds together in about a 2:1 ratio. Divide the dough into 6-8 equal size balls and roll it in the sugar mixture. Place it on a plastic-lined plate and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Transfer the chilled dough onto a lined baking sheet giving about 4 inch gap in between.
- About 7 minutes into the bake pick up the pan in the oven from one end and drop it. This will create ripples in the cookie and cause it to spread. Rotate the pan and repeat on the other side. Continue baking and repeat about 3 minutes later. Bake the cookies until the edges have browned and the top has set, a total of about 15 minutes.
- Let cool for about 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring it to a cooling rack. Enjoy!