Black Sesame Lace Cookies (OR CANDY) and an Award!
February 22, 2009 at 2:40 pm | In Candy, Cookies | 24 CommentsTags: 5-Spice, Black Sesame seeds, Candy, chocolate mousse, Cookies, Ginger, Honey, Sesame, Sesame candy, Sesame Seeds, Triple Award, white chocolate
I love sesame in all forms, whether it be in seeds, oils, pastes, body lotions, face masks etc.. LOL While mulling over whether to order General Tso’s or Sesame chicken on the Chinese take-out menu the other night, I decided to go with the heat and save the sesame for sweet, as in those crunchy honey sesame candies I’m sure you’ve all had at some point in your lives.
My ‘Amish’ preparation photos
I started surfing the web to find a good recipe for those yummy treats, my most fond memory being grabbing handfuls and handfuls of them from the jar they were kept in at a local penny candy store (Yes, an actual penny candy store existed within the last 20 someodd years) when I was a child. Naturally, ab0ut 5 billion results for this candy came up, but the first one to catch my eye was actually a cookie at Epicurious.com. Remember, it had to be a simple recipe I could fit into my 1970’s hand me down electric fondue pot, as I still can’t stand at the stove and cook, and this one fit the bill. OK, now we’re doing cookies..or are we??
Here’s the deal, the batter for these cookies firms up and can be cut into delicious candies which..TASTE EXACTLY LIKE THOSE HONEY SESAME CANDIES..albeit softer and chewier. However, I decided to use most of the batter for the cookies, adding my own twist to them by using black sesame seeds and adding a little five spice powder to the cooked batter. Sandwiching some of them with white chocolate–ginger ganache didn’t hurt, nor did rolling some of them into cigars and little cannoli like tubes (while they were still warm and pliable – the duration a little longer than the tuile cookie !) then filling them with white chocolate and dark chocolate mousses, hurt either!
If you love sesame, thes are the cookies for you. Not only are they gorgeous and versatile, but they’re light and crispy sesame goodness OR soft and chewy sesame candy that more than rivals those crunchy candy store memories.
Before I post the recipe for these amazing cookies, I must brag about my award 
Sometimes the things you least expect in life come knocking on your door. In this case, one came knocking at my blog. I received an award. I never thought my scrappy little blog would attract anything more than a few comments – but lo and behold, Angela, from A Spoonful of Sugar thought of my blog when passing on the Triple Award. Thank you so much, Angela, as I’m incredibly flattered and more than honored to pass it on!`
The rules for each recipient are as follows:
- Include the award logo in your blog or post.
- Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
- Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
- Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.
Here are the wonderful bloggers I’m passing this award to:
- Marika of Madcap Cupcake
- Ingrid of 3 B’s …. Baseball, Baking, & Books
- Deb of The Culinary Adventures of Deb Szajingarten
- Rita of Clumbsy Cookie
- Rivka of Not Derby Pie
- Monica of The Sour Plum
- Lisa of La Mia Cucina
- Helen of Tartelette
- Lisa of A Blog About Food
- Lisa of I Must Have A Lot of Time on my Hands
- Jenny of Jenny Bakes
- Ruth of Adventures in Amateur Baking & Cooking
- John of Eat4Fun
- Esther of The Lilac Kitchen
- Lesley of Gourmand or Gourmet
- A and N of Delectably Yours
Long list, but believe me, there are a thousand more I’d love to pass this on to. However, I want to keep this entry a little more brief than my last one! Hmmm..it’s close!
Black Sesame Lace Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 cup black sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon 5 spice powder (optional)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line 2 large baking sheets with a silpat or parchment paper.
2. In a 1-quart heavy saucepan (or electric fondue pot lol) bring confectioners’ sugar, butter, honey, and water to a boil over moderate heat, stirring, and boil 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and stir in sesame seeds, flour, 5-spice powder and a pinch salt until mixture is combined well. Cool batter to room temperature**. Form and bake cookies as directed below OR roll into cylinders and cut into candies, which can be wrapped decoratively if desired, or eaten immediately!
3. Roll level 1/2 teaspoons dough into balls and arrange 4 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake cookies in batches in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, 7-8 minutes, or until cookies are flat and golden or in this case,sort of golden in between the black sesame seeds. Transfer parchment with cookies to racks to cool. Cool baking sheets and line with fresh parchment between batches.
Makes about 60 cookies, 30 sandwich cookies and uhh, a lot of candy!
** If you want your cookies super lacy like the photo of the lone cookie above, don’t let the batter set to the point where you can roll it into balls cleanly – or form it into candy.
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Thanks for the award I’m honoured you thought of me particularly as I’ve only recently found your blog. Those sesame cookies/ candies sound fantastic and should convert to gluten free very successfully. We love sesames here too !
Comment by estherreeves — February 22, 2009 #
Thanks Lisa!!! I am honored to be on this list! I will do you proud and pay it forward
Comment by Deb — February 22, 2009 #
Lisa… You have a great looking blog and you’ve put a lot of work into it. Thank you for thinking of my blog for the award.
John
Comment by John (Eat4Fun) — February 22, 2009 #
Not only do you have the COOLEST NAME EVER but you continually blow me away with your creativity when it comes to your baking.. I love coming to see what you’ve made next
Congrats to you on your award- it’s very deserving!
And thank you for passing it along to me, sweets.. you’ve put a big silly grin on my face first thing this Monday morning!
Hugs!
Lis
xoxo
Comment by Lisa — February 23, 2009 #
These black lace cookies are delicate and perfect-looking! I’m a huge fan of anything with sesame seeds, so I can’t wait to try these!
Comment by Elyse — February 23, 2009 #
Congrats on your award and thanks for passing it along!!!!
That’s really impressive that you’re able to make all of that despite not getting into your kitchen.
Btw, Devon read Jason’s posts. He’s going to comment tonight as he ran out of time last night. (bedtime) I wish you could have heard his mutterings to some of what Jason wrote…..too,too funny! He’s pretty impressed that you have Jeter on your header.
~ingrid
Comment by ingrid — February 23, 2009 #
Esther, John, and Deb – Thank you, Thank you and Thank you..and you’re all very welcome!
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Elyse – I’m glad you’re going to try them! Let me know how they turn out for you!
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Ingrid -Thank you! However, it’s getting harder and harder to do it, believe it or not. I can’t do things the way I want to since I can’t just get up and grab things as I go along, so it’s resulting in a lot of sloppy results..not to mention the photos. Can’t get behind a tripod or set up a photo with pretty props, plus, I have no natural light to begin with, and my one Lowel Ego light is not really cutting it. Oh well, I have to remember this is temporary!
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That said, I can’t wait to see what Devon writes! That is too cute that he’s impressed with DJ in my header
Comment by lisamichele — February 23, 2009 #
These look so delicious – you know I love those sesame candies!! I will have to make a version of these
Thanks so much for the award – you’re a sweetheart! I hope you are healing up well 
xoxo
Comment by madcap cupcake — February 24, 2009 #
Thank you for the award! I’m delighted to be included in the sites that you enjoy. And thank you for sharing this list.. what a lovely group of foodies! I’m adding a few more blogs to my list of favorites.
Your black sesame lace cookies look delicious. As soon as I get my hands on some black sesame, my oven will be rolling.
Comment by Monica — February 24, 2009 #
Wow, I’m honored! Especially since I’ve been, ahem, ignoring my blog of late.
Thank you Lisa!!
Love the sesame seeds.
Lesley
Comment by Lesley — February 24, 2009 #
Thank you! The cookies look lovely, and A will be elated that his love for Yankees is bearing fruit in ways he had not fathomed
Comment by A&N — February 24, 2009 #
Lisa they’re soooooooooo perfect! I can almost feel the crunch on those! And thanks so much for the nice award!
Comment by clumbsycookie — February 24, 2009 #
Wow, these are beautiful! I’m bookmarking the recipe right now.
Comment by BitterSweet — February 24, 2009 #
How many times can I say yum, before I’m annoying? What did you fill those temptuous tuilles with?
Comment by Catherine — February 26, 2009 #
Hi I just came across this ice cream recipe and though of you
http://icecreamireland.com/2009/02/24/black-sesame-ice-cream/
I really understand you saying it is getting harder and harder for you currently. I remember when I had SPD just wanting to scream at times because I just wanted to be able to cook one thing without pain or being unable to get to something or knowing I’d be bedridden the next day if I tried. Hang in there.
Comment by Esther — February 26, 2009 #
LISA, I MADE THESE LAST NIGHT AND NOT ONLY WERE THEY A HUGE HIT, BUT EVERYONE WANTED THE RECIPE1 THEY ARE SO LIGHT BUT WITH SO MUCH FLAVOR! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE RECIPE!
Comment by Dana — February 26, 2009 #
It was so good seeing you the other night, but where were these cookies-slash-candies???? I luv, luv, luv sesame, you know that! Your site looks great!
Comment by Denise — February 26, 2009 #
Hello there, fellow daring baker.I would have traded my plate with yours without any doubt.Your cake and ice cream looks amazingly good)
Comment by awoz — February 28, 2009 #
hello again
these cookies looks very yummy iam going to try them
Comment by Arlette — March 1, 2009 #
ooooh how neat!!
(btw – unfortunately TWD is not taking new members right but keep your eye out on the homepage – every once in while they open it back up for a brief period of time and you can join!)
Comment by Jaime — March 2, 2009 #
estherreeves – I forgot to mention, they definitely can be converted to gluten-free with ease! Some super fine almond flour, perhaps?
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Catherine – I did a ton of different things with the tuiles, which you can see in my Tuileapalooza entry. one being a limoncello curd meringue filling. As for the black lace sesame cookies, white chocolate-ginger ganache and white and dark chocolate mousses for the ‘tubular mon!’ ones lol
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Esther Thanks so much for the link to the recipe for black sesame ice cream! I bookmarked it and am looking forward to trying it. Also, I start outpatient therapy next week, so that should help get me back into the kitchen soon..I hope (twice a week home therapy is not enough – and I just can’t inflict pain on myself with the intense 90 degree bending! – someone who knows what they’re doing has to help me along for that!). although it took Tiger Woods 8 months to heal from a lesser knee injury and surgery! EEK!
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Lesley – I’d noticed you hadn’t been around in a while. I Hope you get back into it soon..love your blog and recipes!
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Jaime – That figures! Oh well, I’ll just pilfer the reciipes until something opens up ;D
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Denise – You know I have to bribe my ‘helpers’..LOL Those babies were gone within an hour! lol
Comment by lisamichele — March 2, 2009 #
Thank you Lisa!!! That’s so sweet of you to pass on the award to me! I’ll get around to following through – eventually… but I wanted to at least make my way over here to thank you!
That recipe is fantastic too – cookies, but if not, candy? That’s incredible!
Comment by Lisa — March 5, 2009 #
Thanks Lisa! I think we should start a “Lisa Club” for all my creative, talented friends named Lisa! I picked up the black sesame seeds at the commissary last week, so I’m ready to make these now. I think this is something my Dad will really like.
Thanks for the award and compliment!
Comment by lisasdblog — March 24, 2009 #
I’m trying to figure out where to find black sesame seeds just so I can try this! Lovely, absolutely lovely.
Comment by MandyM — August 12, 2009 #