Daily Cooking Quest

Home / All Recipes / Chinese / Black Sesame Seeds Cookies

Black Sesame Seeds Cookies

These buttery, crunchy, nutty, toasted black sesame seeds cookies are perfect for sesame seed lovers. I always bake these for CNY, and they are great for year-round.

Sesame seeds are super common in Asian desserts, and it is not surprising that we even have them as cookies.

I bake these black sesame seeds cookies annually to celebrate Chinese New Year, but they are great for just about any time of the year. If you love sesame seeds, definitely give these cookies a try.

Black Sesame Seeds Cookies
Black Sesame Seeds Cookies

Ingredients for black sesame seeds cookies

These cookies only use common ingredients. We will need black sesame seeds, all-purpose flour, unsalted butter, egg, ground almond, powdered sugar, and salt.

Black sesame seeds vs white sesame seeds

I use black sesame seeds to bake these cookies. I generally prefer black sesame seeds in my dessert since I find them more fragrant compared to plain sesame seeds. But if all you have at home is the plain version, don’t hesitate to bake these cookies with plain sesame seeds.

Whole seeds vs. ground seeds

In this recipe, we use 40 grams of toasted black sesame seeds. You have two options on how you want to incorporate them into the dough:

  1. 100% ground sesame seeds
  2. 25 grams ground sesame seeds + 15 grams whole sesame seeds

You get delicious cookies regardless of your choice, but visually option 2 is prettier since you can still detect whole black sesame seeds in the final cookies.

Black Sesame Seeds Cookies
Black Sesame Seeds Cookies

Step-by-step to bake sesame seeds cookies

Mix all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, ground almond, and ground black sesame seeds.

Add chilled butter cubes, use a pastry blender (or 2 butter knives) and mix until the dough is crumbly.

Add whole black sesame seeds and egg yolk, mix and form into dough.

Cut into two portions, shape each portion into a log (or a block) of 6 inch long. Wrap each log/block with saran plastic, and chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 180 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cut each log of cookie dough into 24 pieces (each piece is 1/4 inch thick). If you bake the whole recipe at once, you get 48 cookies in total. Arrange on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until the edges are brown..

Cool the cookies in the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Gently remove the cookies and cool on wire rack. Once the cookies are completely cool, store in airtight containers.

Black Sesame Seeds Cookies
Black Sesame Seeds Cookies

Icebox cookies

These black sesame seeds cookies fall into the category of icebox cookies. So once you form the dough, you can shape it into a log (most typical shape). If you don’t feel like baking the cookies now, you can refrigerate the cookie dough log(s) for up to 3 days!

When you feel like baking them, remove the log(s) from your fridge and cut into thin 1/4 inch slices. The most convenient is to shape the cookie dough into 6 inch logs. One log should be cut into 24 slices of 1/4 inch thick slice each.

Black Sesame Seeds Cookies
Black Sesame Seeds Cookies

Black Sesame Seeds Cookies

5.0 from 18 reviews

Author: Anita Jacobson

Categories: 

Cuisines: 

Ingredients: 

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

Serves: 48 cookies

Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 160 gram (~ 1 1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
  • 75 gram (~ 2/3 cup) powdered sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 40 gram ground almond
  • 25 gram toasted black sesame seeds, ground
  • 1 stick (113 gram/4 oz.) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
  • 15 gram toasted black sesame seeds, intact
  • 1 egg yolk

Instructions

  1. Mix all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, ground almond, and ground black sesame seeds.
  2. Add chilled butter cubes, use a pastry blender (or 2 butter knives) and mix until the dough is crumbly.
  3. Add whole black sesame seeds and egg yolk, mix and form into dough.
  4. Cut into two portions, shape each portion into a log (or a block) of 6 inch long. Wrap each log/block with saran plastic, and chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
  5. Preheat oven to 180 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  6. Cut each log of cookie dough into 24 pieces (each piece is 1/4 inch thick). If you bake the whole recipe at once, you get 48 cookies in total. Arrange on the prepared baking sheet.
  7. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until the edges are brown..
  8. Cool the cookies in the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Gently remove the cookies and cool on wire rack. Once the cookies are completely cool, store in airtight containers.
Indonesian Pantry
Indonesian Kitchen

Comments

  • Sandi Sandi says:

    What a creative way to use black sesame seeds!

  • Dannii Dannii says:

    I love that these aren't like your standard cooking. Definitely trying these.

  • Adrianne Adrianne says:

    I can see myself getting a block of roaring 40s blue cheese and eating it off these crackers, yum! This is such a unique recipe. I love the visual appeal of the ingredients as well. Cheers!

    • Anita Anita says:

      I have never tried pairing Chinese cookies with cheeses, but you get me thinking Adrianne. Great idea!

  • Shadi Hasanzadenemati Shadi Hasanzadenemati says:

    We made this the other day and everyone loved it.

  • Edyta Edyta says:

    I love this recipe. it's so easy to make and the black sesame seeds are incredible.

  • Haley D. Williams Haley D. Williams says:

    Sesame seeds in cookies taste so good!

  • Tara Tara says:

    Black sesame seeds are a favorite of mine! I love that you used a mixture of ground and whole seeds. Such beautiful cookies.

  • Victoria Kabakian Victoria Kabakian says:

    These cookies look great, and so easy to make. I love the flavor of sesame seeds, and am intrigued to try this recipe.

  • Katie Katie says:

    So unique and flavorful!

  • Jenn Jenn says:

    These are crispy with just the right sesame flavor - they're a hit with everyone in my family!

  • Maike Maike says:

    I am super intrigued by this recipe. It sounds so good. And I just checked our pantry - we actually have black sesame seeds!!! I'll be making these tonight. Thank you so much for the inspiration.

  • Patrice Patrice says:

    I've never tried sesame seed cookies before but these look great. Always love to try something different!

  • Bron Bron says:

    So good!! Light texture and nutty flavour!

  • Dina Dina says:

    Hi Anita, really want to try making this as I love all about black sesame 😊 Just wondering is ground almond the same with almond meal/almond flour? Or is it grinding almond flakes? Thank you for your reply.

    • Anita Anita says:

      Hi Dina, you can use store-bought ground almond/almond meal/almond flour. You can also start with whole almonds/almond flakes and grind them in a food processor. Both will work. :)

  • Sandra Sandra says:

    Hi, tried your recipe and the cookies were really good! However the shape of my cookies weren’t that great , it wasn’t round after the dough rested in the fridge. The base was flat. Can I use a cookie cutter straight away after I have formed the dough? And then put them in the oven without any refrigeration? Please advise. Thanks for the lovely recipe!

    • Anita Anita says:

      Hi Sandra, I find that if you fill a baking pan with rice, then place the wrapped cookie dough logs on it, the round shape is more retained.

      If you want to use a cookie cutter to create cute/pretty shapes, it is better if you chill the dough first (1-2 hours). Once you are ready to bake, roll the dough on a floured surface to about 1/4" thick, and use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes, arrange on a baking sheet, and bake. :)

  • Angeline Angeline says:

    The cookie is crispy with nice aroma of black sesame seed. Yum.

  • Helen Giles Helen Giles says:

    To make nut free would I just increase the flour amount to compensate the removal of almond?

    • Anita Anita says:

      Hi Helen, that should work. :)

  • Susan Segal Susan Segal says:

    I made your black sesame cookies the other day to bring to a dinner party, and everyone loved them. The flavor is subtle but seems to intensify as you chew. Absolutely delicious, and everyone asked for the recipe.

  • Jennifer Lou Jennifer Lou says:

    Is there anything I can use to substitute the egg? We have egg allergies.

    • Anita Anita says:

      Hi Jennifer, I am sorry I don't know what would be a good substitute for the egg yolk. I know there are many guides out there for egg replacement for vegan baking purposes, perhaps one of them may work.

      The easiest ones are to use yogurt or condensed milk as substitute. Either choice needs about 4 tbsp for 1 whole egg. Since we only use 1 egg yolk for this recipe, maybe try 2 tbsp first and only add if you feel the need if the dough is too dry to come together.

  • Linda Linda says:

    Simply amazing!!

  • Ana Ana says:

    Just made this yesterday, and OMG, these cookies are amazing! I can eat the entire batch by myself!!! The kids also loved the cookies! Will do it again!!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe: