Triple-Sesame Tea Cakes

Updated June 4, 2024

Triple-Sesame Tea Cakes
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(376)
Comments
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Sometimes just a few cookies are what you want for dessert, accompanied, when in season, by a bowl of mandarins or tangerines. These sesame cookies aren’t too sweet, and citrus fruit, eaten out of hand, makes a refreshing end to a meal.

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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
Ingredient Substitution Guide
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Preparation

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Step 4

    Bake until golden but not too dark, about 20 minutes. Cool before transferring to a platter or cookie tin.

Ratings

4 out of 5
376 user ratings
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Comments

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!

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.

These would taste the same, but be more visually interesting with black sesame seeds.

These are very good. Dough is very crumbly though—I wonder if adding an egg to the batter would help?

Has anyone tried this with margarine?

This recipe was easy and fantastic, I made it 2 days in a row, I love it and have shared it. Rolling the dough into walnut size then gently flatening it while pressing it into sesame seeds was easy and quick. I made my tahini from scratch and that is also easy.

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