Seasme Wafers

In the early 90's my dad was an undergraduate student at UC Davis and as a family we would often visit the coffee house, where each of us kids got to choose a cookie. I can't remember what cookie I usually chose, but it probably wasn't this sesame wafer cookie - my tastes running towards something big, dark and rich looking at time.

Two years later my dad graduated and we moved away. I can vaguely remembering my mom buying the cookbook that the coffee shop had published before we left and over the years she tried various recipes from it. This was a keeper from the very first time she baked it.

The dough is a rather unassuming sugar cookie that completely transforms when you cover it in sesame seeds. The sesame seeds add a toasted, chewy element that is sheer perfection - I promise.

The recipe originally called for 1/2 butter and 1/2 crisco and now I make it with all butter. Unlike the molasses crinkles, getting the final product texture right with this substitution wasn't a big deal. I think in part because not being dark colored cookies, it's easier to see when they are done and not let them get over cooked.

As usual with a all-butter cookie recipe, I find the temperature of the batter prior to baking is critical. After forming the balls chill in the freezer for 5-10 min before baking - it makes a huge difference. If you don't the cookies will spread and be hideous and weird. I like coating them with sesame seeds BEFORE chilling, because otherwise the dough isn't quite sticky enough to pick up enough sesame seeds to coat the ball.

The copy of the recipe I have now is a re-typed version of the original and somehow the sugar was left out of the ingredients.... even though the instructions say clearly to cream the fats and sugar. Based on typical cookie ingredient ratios, something in the 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 c. range should work. When I remade the recipe recently for this blog, 1 1/2 cups of sugar worked just fine.

What you need

1 c. unsalted butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/8 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Enough sesame seeds for rolling, ~1 cup.

How to git 'er done

Oven preheated to 375 degrees

Cream fat and sugar.

Mix in egg and vanilla.

Premix dry ingredients and then add to wet mixture.

Roll into dough balls about the size of a walnut. Coat with sesame seeds and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Partially flatten with a flat-bottom glass. Chill dough for 5-10 minutes (I usually do this on the cookie sheet in the freezer).

Bake ~10 minutes, until golden brown on the bottom.

To make a freezer batch I roll the balls and freeze without the sesame seeds (otherwise they just fall off in the freezer during storage). To bake Let the dough balls thaw while oven preheats, and then roll in the seeds. Doesn't pick up as many, but is still sufficient. Bake for ~12 minutes.

Makes ~2 dozen cookies

Adapted from the UC Davis Coffee House Cookbook