BLACK SESAME SHORTBREAD…a fusion of flavours!
Emilie Barnes
Black Sesame Shortbread Cookies…
‘Cookies with a heart, from the heart’!…
So, after reading Diva’s delicious post, pretended to pull on my boots. Further pretended that I was walking down to Sainsburys. In reality, pushed my feet into a pair of slip-ons & drove down to our local Sainsbury…Reliance Fresh, which in all fairness, is an answer to many prayers, including Black Sesame ones! The store can’t be compared to Sainsbury, but has done well to offer much variety under 1 roof. Imagine my sheer shock when I nonchalantly checked out the spice shelf there & found black sesame seeds…thought I was still dreaming!! Have even found slivered pistachios there in the past,which is something unheard of here in India!
A fusion of flavours…shortbread which is so Scottish & black sesame which is so Asian!
I’d call this a cookie across cultures…
…an intercultural cookie? 
Sesame seed is one of the first recorded seasonings. It grows widely in India and Asia. These tiny seeds come in shades of brown, red and black, but the most common color is a pale grayish-ivory. Sesame seeds have a nutty, sweet aroma. The black sesame seed is less common and has a more concentrated flavor than other sesame seeds. Black sesame seeds are especially good on salmon and other fish.
Black sesame appears frequently in Chinese, Japanese and Korean dishes where meat or fish is rolled in the seeds before cooking for a crunchy coating. Black sesame is an ingredient of gomassio, the Japanese tabletop condiment, and other colourful rice and noodle dishes. 
The recipe from Diva’s Sugar Bar (thank you Diva, these were great & very different too!)
Ingredients:
Flour – 2 cups
Salted butter – 225g / softened
Powdered sugar – 1/2 cup
Black sesame seeds – 3 tbs (generous) ; half ground (I did this in the pestle & mortar)
Vanilla extract – 1/2 tsp
Pinch of salt
Vanilla sugar, for sprinkling (Diva used castor sugar)
Method:
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Whisk together the dry ingredients.
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Beat the butter till just soft and creamy. Add the vanilla extract, beat.
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Now add all the dry ingredients and mix together.(I find it best to use your hands from here on and mesh all the butter and dry ingredients together, kind of like how you’d make scones but without the rubbing as you don’t want too much air in these guys…Diva’s expert advice).
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Press everything together to form a dough ball and then gently form them into discs. Wrap each disc with clingwrap and fridge for 1hr, or until just firm. (Took a lot longer in our 40 degrees+ C…a hot Indian summer?)
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Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and grease 2 cookie trays.
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Roll out flat to your desired thickness on a lightly floured work surface ; keep the thickness preferably just under 1cm. Cut out with cookie cutters.
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Place on greased tray and sprinkle with vanilla sugar.
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Bake for about 15min or just before the edges get too brown.
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Cool on wire rack. Eat them slightly warm with a steaming cup of tea!
Heave ho,heave ho…off to Ruth’s we go!! Another successful bookmarked recipe I’ve managed to try! YAY!! This is off to Ruth’s Kitchen Experiments for her Bookmarked event…
Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
31 Comments
Happy cook
Thos shortbreads looks delicious.
Where you playing around with the seasame seeds.
I see a funny ghostly smiley pic on the right side 🙂
Purnima
Wot art n all wt b.s seeds! The shorbread looks great..another recipe, to keep me on my toes..hmmm(hv tagged u..easy one, no compulsion to take up :D) hows ur palm doing now?? the pics here n collage r absolutely gorgeous!
Bellini Valli
I love all your photos Deeba even the “”poppy seed gremlin”. Ha! These are bookmarked for sure for some real fusion cooking:D
Passionate baker...& beyond
Thanks HC, Purnima & Val…had fun playing with the seeds. Inspired by ‘Scream’ by Munch…the poppy seed gremlin!!
Passionate baker...& beyond
Thanks HC, Purnima & Val…had fun playing with the seeds. Inspired by ‘Scream’ by Munch…the poppy seed gremlin!!
Kalai
You are so creative, Deeba! You made a skull with sesame seeds?? Too good! The cookies look delicious, too! 🙂
meeso
Wow, black sesame, it sounds so unique and delicious!
diva
gorgeous pictures deeba! and i’m glad my recipe pleased you 🙂 i’m gutted these were polished off so quick as i really miss having a box of them to compliment my many cups of tea.
x
nicisme
Oh yum! And that’s what I thought when I spotted them on diva’s blog too!
They look really crisp and beautifully baked to perfection.
Asha
Beautiful! Love the artwork with black Sesame there!:)
Susan from Food Blogga
I’ve only had black sesame seeds in savory dishes. I’d love to try them in cookies though. What a brilliant idea! And your little black sesame guy is too cute, Deeba. 🙂
familiabencomo
Please pour me a spot of tea! I have one more small task & then I’m done for 10 weeks – school’s out today. Wanted to drop by my favorite site so that you know I’m still alive. These cookies look so good! You & Diva have such a flare with flavors & the photography really brings them to life.
Tanti baci, my friend,
Amy
Pearlsofeast
very nice pictures and looks great playing with sesame. I am sure it will be tasting great.Great job Deeba.
Ann
Beautiful photos and what an intriguing idea!
Ann at Redacted Recipes
onesilentwinter
oh how lovel;y- the photographs are wonderful!
Manggy
Hi Deeba! Nice to hear there’s a grocery with a little more variety, finally. Maybe you can make some of the treats of your other Asian neighbors? Like… Mine? Yaaay!
I’m not too familiar with the taste of black sesame, but the shortbread reminds me of black pepper crackers, which can only mean happy thoughts for me, hahaha 🙂 Freaky alien!
Ivy
I’ve never tasted black sesame seeds before. Shall start looking for them. Your shortbreads look lovely, so do your photos.
Cham
U r really having fun while baking that is cool… Love those shortbread they look delicious 🙂
Aparna
Deeba, I liked thses cookies. They look cute and I love sesame seeds.
Mike of Mike's Table
I’ve never baked with black sesame seeds before but it looks like you made some great looking shortbreads out of them. And lol@ the face photo…
Ruth Elkin
Hey PB. What a great recipe! I love the sound of black sesame in shortbread.
You had lots of fun with the photos for this too.
Thanks for submitting it to BR. I’ll have it in the round up next week.
Bharti Khemani
I’m not a shortbread fan but the black sesame seeds seem to be a nice twist. Lovely pics!
ashaan
First time visitor. Loved going through your blog. Great pics and recipes. should try out some.
thanks
Asha
chriesi
What a fantastic idea! They look delicious.
d
where are you deeba???
sesame cookies not up my street, but i made your zebra cake and posted! it was amazing. so easy. so amazing looking. and with milk and no butter and also the 1 cup of whole wheat fliur that i added, healthy too. (i made it half maida half atta). i emailed you and posted it in my blog – please look!
d
Nina's Kitchen (Nina Timm)
You put a big smile on my face with those shortbread photos – you are so talented with the camera!!!!
Ivy
Deeba, I have something for you at my blog.
Lisa
Well, I’m bookmarking this recipe 🙂
my food affair
mmm..yum! i love black sesame!! i will definitely have to try your recipe!! thanks!
Divya
Deeba,thought about you on my trip to a shop called Nuts’n’Spices,in Chennai.not sure whether they have branches outside chennai,if they do,pls chk out the shop.they have stocked everything,right from choc chips,demerara sugar,castor sugar,cooking chocs-milk,semi-sweet and dark,butterscotch,slivered almonds and pistachios..to name a few.was sooo amused that came out buying nothing..;-)
btw..your sesame shortbread looks yum..can i have a bite pls..??