Sicilian Sesame Seed Cookies

🧂 Ingredients

• ½ cup sesame seeds
• 130 g 1:1 flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 65 g unsalted butter

  Plant butter, shortening or lard
• 50 g sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp orange extract or orange blossom water
• 4 tbsp (60g) milk or plant milk
• 1 egg

  for egg wash (can use milk)

Instructions

• 1 Preheat oven to 350°. Place a rack in the center of the oven.
• 2 In a large skillet, add the sesame seeds and on medium heat, lightly toast them.
  Keep moving the pan around as they’re getting a little color, you don’t want
  them to get too brown. Turn them out onto a parchment lined baking tray to cool.
• 3 Line two more baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• 4 In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.
• 5 In another large bowl, by hand or with an electric mixer, beat together the
  butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and mix to combine.
• 6 Add in the flour mixture a little bit at a time. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl
  to combine well. Add in the milk a tablespoon at a time, until you have a soft
  dough.
• 7 Dump out the dough onto a clean work surface. Work the dough just a bit until it
  is smooth and cohesive, adding a little flour if it’s needed to bring the dough
  together.
• 8 Wrap the dough in plastic and rest for 30 minutes at room temperature
• 9 Roll the dough into ropes that are approximately ¾ inch thick. Brush with egg
  wash and roll them in the toasted sesame seeds. Cut into 1 – 2 inch pieces
  depending how big you want your cookies to be.
• 10 Space out the cookies 1-inch apart on the baking sheets (depending on how you
  cut them, this should make about 22-24 cookies).
• 11 Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until they’re golden brown.

Nutrition Info