Sesame Crisps

After hours of rolling puff pastry from scratch one weekend, and then the intense stress that led up to my first attempt at macarons the weekend after, a quick and simple recipe like these sesame crisps is exactly what appeals to me. These crunchy, light biscuits have a wonderful nutty flavour from the toasted sesame seeds and are perfect with a cup of tea. I only had white sesame seeds, but black sesame seeds would work fantastically as well. The important part about this recipe is making sure you toast the sesame seeds just right, so they have a lovely toasty flavour but aren't burnt.

I love how satisfying these are for the snack-monster in me, they were so easy and quick that I didn't mind quickly throwing them in the oven after making a spring lamb dinner. Usually I'm so lazy that I can only ever be bothered to make a nice dinner or bake up something sweet, but not both on the same night. But the best thing about biscuits is they require minimal effort, ingredients that I almost always have in my kitchen, and hardly any washing up. So while my love of baking grows and leaves me willing to spend hours and hours in the kitchen, I still love easy peasy cookies like these because I know in my early baking days this is something I would have made over and over whenever I was craving something to nibble on. You know what I mean right?

Sesame Crisps
(from Le Cordon Bleu Complete Step-by-Step)
90g butter, softened
140g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 medium egg
100g plain flour
8 tsp sesame seeds (black and/or white)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line or grease a large baking sheet. Toast sesame seeds in a small frying pan over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring and shaking the pan often to prevent burning, until the seeds are lightly browned.
Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, salt and baking powder together until well combined. Add egg, beat until well combined. Using wooden spoon, stir in flour and baking powder until well combined.

Stir in toasted sesame seeds. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons, about 7-8cm apart, onto baking sheet. Bake biscuits about 8 minutes, until set and edges are golden.

Remove baking sheet from oven; let biscuits cool on sheet for about 30 seconds to set slightly. Using a spatula, transfer to wire racks to cool ompletely. Repeat with remaining biscuit dough. Store biscuits in tightly covered containers.