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Black Sesame Cookies
Chewy sugar cookies with the flavor of the year.
WORTH ITTastes sophisticated, bakes like a snickerdoodle - the highest flavor-to-effort ratio on this site.
tested 2026-07 Weighed, not scooped - this dough punishes extra flour with cakey cookies.
Ingredients
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- 115g (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
- 50g (1/4 cup packed) brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 50g (3 Tbsp) black sesame paste (or make your own - see notes)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 160g (1 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 2 Tbsp black sesame seeds, for rolling
Instructions
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- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two sheet pans with parchment.
- Beat butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, .
- Beat in the egg, then the black sesame paste and vanilla, until evenly slate-gray.
- Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt; mix into the wet ingredients just until no dry streaks remain.
- Roll 2-Tbsp balls, then roll each in a mix of granulated sugar and black sesame seeds.
- Bake until the edges are set and the centers still look slightly underdone. They crackle as they cool.
- Cool on the pan - they finish setting there - then move to a rack.
Notes
- DIY paste: toast 70g black sesame seeds in a dry skillet 2-3 minutes until fragrant, then blend with 1 Tbsp neutral oil and 1 Tbsp honey until smooth-ish.
- Black sesame paste (often labeled 'kuro neri goma') is at Japanese and Korean groceries - unsweetened is what you want here.
- Underbaking is the chew. If they look done in the oven, they're overdone on the counter.
When it goes wrong
- Cakey, puffy cookies → too much flour or overmixed; weigh the flour, stop at no-streaks.
- Spread into puddles → butter too soft or pans hot; chill dough 15 minutes between batches.
- Bitter edge → seeds over-toasted; black sesame goes from fragrant to acrid fast.
- Dry, crumbly dough → paste was stiff old-jar sludge; stir the jar's oil back in first.
rcpbx original