Benne Wafers / Sesame Seed Cookies

 

 

 

      Benne wafer is a thin crispy cookie, made with toasted sesame seeds. There is a story behind the making of these simple and delicious benne wafers. One day I found this very simple recipe for making benne wafers and decided to give it a try, as I am always after easy to cook recipes. The preparation and everything was real easy, done without much time, but...but I cant explain the horror I felt when I peeped into the oven 2 mts after I placed them inside. It was a total mess. The wafers had spread out on the whole pan. They were really flat and stuck to the pan. I almost cried and had a tough time cleaning up the mess after trying out each batch of the real simple cookies(I had tried it with double the ingredients that I have mentioned below and I hadn’t used a parchment paper that day). To my surprise, the cookies turned out super yummy. Those who tasted it also felt the same way so I didn’t mind giving it a second try. I got a different recipe from here which used lesser flour and butter than the previous recipe I tried. I tried it out yesterday and it turned out great! The recipe is really simple that anybody can try it. Trust me, its really worth it. I halved the ingredients and toasted the sesame seeds to enhance its flavor. Other than that I almost followed the recipe exactly. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients (Yield - Around 3 dozen cookies)

1. Sesame seeds - 1/2 cup (toasted)
2. All purpose flour - 2 tbsp (I used almost 3-3.5 tbsp flour)
3. Unsalted butter - 2 tbsp, softened
4. Brown sugar - 1 cup
5. Egg - 1
6. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
7. Salt - 1/8 tsp

 

Method

 

1. Toast the sesame seeds in a pan until light golden brown. It will take about 6 - 8 mts at medium heat.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Beat the butter and sugar with a hand mixer.

3. Now add the egg, flour and vanilla essence. Mix well and stir in the toasted sesame seeds. Add more flour if the mixture is very runny.

4. Drop by tsp onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 9 - 11 mts or until the edges are brown. Transfer the parchment paper with the cookies to a rack for cooling. The cookies will come off easily from the parchment paper when they are completely cooled. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tips: You can get sesame seeds really cheap at Asian stores.

 

Update (7/5/10) : I have tried this recipe a couple of times now and every time they turned out to be great, a big hit each time!!!