Triple-Sesame Tea Cakes
Updated June 4, 2024
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:2 dozen cookies
- ¾cup/185 grams unsalted butter
- ¾cup/150 grams granulated sugar
- ½cup/120 grams tahini or sesame paste
- 1teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2cups/256 grams all-purpose flour
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch of fine salt
- Sesame seeds, for coating
Preparation
- Step 1
Set the oven to 350 degrees. Add butter, sugar, tahini and sesame oil in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with hand-held beaters and a mixing bowl). Beat well at medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Step 2
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. With mixer running, slowly add flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix at low speed until well combined.
- Step 3
Pour sesame seeds into a small bowl. Using your hands, pull out a walnut-size piece of dough, then roll it into a ball. Press into the sesame seeds, then place 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Step 4
Bake until golden but not too dark, about 20 minutes. Cool before transferring to a platter or cookie tin.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Dbee
Wait! What? Directions say to "roll it (the dough) into a ball. Press into the sesame seeds..." Flattening it? Or leaving the dough in a ball and pressing seeds into all sides? Please be specific!
Crispy Feelings
He's saying to take a walnut-sized piece, roll it into a ball, coat with the sesame seeds and plae the ball on the sheet.
Jared
These would taste the same, but be more visually interesting with black sesame seeds.
Linda
This recipe worked perfectly for me. I made sure to beat the ingredients well, and the dough was easy to form and rolled well in the sesame seeds. Taking my cue from the picture, I didn't try to flatten them so much, just a little push with my thumb as I placed them on the sheet. The baked cookies were delicious -- sandy, but delicate, with a lovely nutty, sesame flavor. They are a wonderful foil to matcha ice cream!
Karen in Montreal
Some tahini is much drier than others, so I'd try adding a bit more tahini or a bit more sesame oil, if the dough came out too crumbly to roll into a ball. Or even a tablespoon or two of water, although that might shift the shortbready texture a bit.
Karekin
Believe it or not, if you eliminate the flour, you can get a very nice sesame/tahini crisp by increasing the tahini to 1 c, sugar to one c, no butter, no sesame oil....roll the balls in sesame seeds and bake. They stay fresh for weeks....
Jean
This was a very coarse, dry dough--like large, coarse bread crumbs until I used a great deal of force to press it together. Forming them was frustrating. Again, a great deal of force to press flat enough to capture the seeds and sit evenly on the baking sheet. They kept crumbling. I pressed the dough into a large tablespoon, twisted it free, KEPT MY HAND CUPPED AROUND IT, pressing it as flat as I could. Ultimately, only 2 went to pieces in the oven. Tasty, but FRUSTRATING-NO! FUN
Erica
Made exactly following the recipe and they are just wonderful with a nice cup of tea sitting by the fire. Perfect! Many thanks.
Richard
Oy vey! He means a plain old whole walnut.
Cat
Buy it toasted. It's a common ingredient in some East Asian cuisines and it's widely available. It's great to integrate into salads, other non-Asian dishes. It's a pantry staple for me. Just make sure to keep it in the fridge so it won't go rancid.
Esther Lee
I don't have a mixer any more, but my stick blender plus a fork did the job. My "walnuts" were evidently too big because I had to cook them 25 minutes. But they are delicious. I did press each one into the sesame seeds to get them to coat. And then reform the balls. It is a great recipe.
Cie
Used Asian toasted sesame paste. Slice-and-bake method worked very well. I cut my frozen logs into fat slices, rolled the coins in sesame seeds and baked. Five stars!
Otis
An unusual cookie that positively must be served with some form of citrus, as the recipe suggests. By themselves, I felt they were lacking something (I think lemon or orange zest might be the ticket). But paired with an orange and it is an entirely different cookie. The earthy quality of the cookie is a lovely complement to the bright citrus flavors. I did find them to be a tad dry. Not a critique of the recipe, as I think my tahini had less oil than others. Just something to be mindful of.
Carol Hawran
Recipe works fine; easy for me however I’m a professional, so I know how to cream fats and sugars, add dry ingredients, and adjust the dough as another reply indicates, etc. I found the rolling easy, dough was pliable however applying the sesame seeds was more time consuming than making the shortbread dough. I added dipping the dough balls in an egg white mixed w/a Tbsp of water much faster and seeds adhere more thoroughly. Taste delicious! Take time to cream the
HW
Really enjoyed making and easting these--a simple but beguiling cookie. I put the seeds into a saucer and simply pressed the ball of dough (once) into the seeds, so the seeds end up only on the top and the ball ends up slightly flattened. Turned out exactly as in photo.
AKS
Really tasty and kind of elegant. Note.. they can be a little messy though with the sesame seeds when you eat them.
Diorellish
Anybody have any thoughts on whether you could press this dough into an 8x8 inch pan, coat the top of it with sesame seeds, and turn this into bars like you would a shortbread? Everybody's reports sound like it's too fussy as individual balls of dough.
Nancy
This came out beautifully and I didn’t change a thing. Perfect cookie for a cup of tea. I plan to try them again hand try some variations, orange zest and maybe a tiny drizzle of chocolate.
Jo
nice, but not amazing. I used extra tahini and less butter and sugar and they came out just fine. Perhaps my tahini was a bit bitter. Prob worth sourcing a really great one.
Karen in SF
These are easy, delicious and got raves from our guests! Had no trouble at all with the dough being crumbly, but after reading the notes I made sure to include plenty of the oil from the tahini. If your tahini is dry, perhaps add a bit more sesame oil. I used black sesame seeds because that's what I had in the pantry, and they were fine. I think a mix of black and white would create a fun look. Definitely a keeper recipe!!
merg
I made these gluten free by using a one for one swap with almond flour. The batter was not at all crumbly, so very easy to pinch off and form into balls. I rolled half the batch in regular sesame seeds and half in a mix of black and regular seeds. Nice to have both to share with my book group. Walnut size balls do make the result a tad large. Using almond flour also makes for less time in the oven. Great simple recipe that comes together quickly
Mindi
I worked about 1 tablespoon of grated orange zest into the sugar, otherwise followed the recipe exactly as written. Really lovely, and a great project for a rainy Sunday afternoon.
King Arthur
What kind of walnut? African or European?
Sir Robin
Blue...no, green!
c.mere
Made in 2 batches and I opened the oven door a few times checking doneness during the first one. The second was closed the whole time and got much more of the crackly texture. Delicious!
mrlukens
A near-copy of the sesame cookies served at the tea house in San Francisco's Japanese Tea Garden, and we loved them. I formed the dough with a small ice cream scoop, rolled in sesame seeds (used over 1/3 cup for the whole batch so they resembled the photo, could have used less), then flattened lightly with the back of a measuring cup. They spread not at all. 20 minutes left them a little over-baked; 18 was just right. Recipe made 4 dozen, not 2 dozen, so we got to eat twice as many :-)
frankeee
These were great, despite my overcooking half of the batch. I had the impression that the sesame oil would overpower the cookies. Wrong.
sarah
These are so good! Easy and sweet but not cloying. Omitted the salt and used good salted butter, sprinkled with coarse sugar instead of sesame seeds, and used a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop. Next time I’m going to add a splash of vanilla as someone else suggested.
Britt
Rather sandy (as expected) but great flavor. I added 30g extra sugar, orange zest, and a bit extra sesame oil to offset the extra sugar. The dough came together nicely. Based on other comments, I flattened half the balls and left the other half but honestly both were fine. Needed 25 min in my oven. Also added chili crisps to the last quarter of the dough as an experiment - delicious!!! Such a nice flavor combination, the sweet and spicy together.
Margaret
These are fantastic Middle Eastern melt-in-your-mouth cookies. Use weight not volume for great results. Use quality butter. Add 1 gram of salt. Use brown tahini made out of unhulled, roasted sesame seeds and a bit of salt. (Pale salt-free tahini is too bland for this recipe.) For authenticity add 1 tsp. of ground cardamom which is common in Middle Eastern pastry. Cardamon matches perfectly with the recipe. Enjoy!
PJ von Tannenbaumkopf
This has become a favorite recipe, beloved of family and friends, and they do go perfectly with tea or coffee. I use a bit less sugar than the recipe called for (120 g), which suits my taste better. Do be sure to let them cool before handling; they are very crumbly when hot out of the oven.
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