Eat Christmas Cookies - Sesame Snap Wafers

So, Christmas is in a few days, 2009 is almost over and frankly, I have a hard time believing it. I mean, where did this year go? There were so many things I wanted to do that will just have to wait for next year, and a few will probably have to wait even longer. Maybe it's just the Holiday Season, which always makes me a little weepy, well, OK, weepier than usual, but I just seem to notice that everything is changing around me at the speed of light. The kids are growing up way too fast, and I mean WAY too fast. One minute it was Fall and the next minute there was like 2 feet of snow on the ground. on November 17th, I was stoked when Susan of Food Blogga announced the 3rd season of her Eat Christmas Cookies event and I had a whole month to choose which cookie recipe I could send in. And now, it's December 20th (What?!) and I'm once again at the last minute. How did this happen? Your guess is as good as mine.


In any case, I still love baking cookies and I have baked my fair share since the beginning of December, but they were just my "usual" cookies, cookies that can already be found either here or on other great food blogs so I'll spare you the reruns. The recipe I want to share today is one that I've wanted to try for a long time but it just got to the bottom of the list and I forgot about it. This week, I happened to have all the ingredients handy so I went for it! These are so crispy and crunchy and fragrant, they remind me of Lace Cookies but with a nuttier flavor.

Santa, I hope you like sesame seeds!!! :) Please check out the Eat Christmas Cookies round-up page for more great cookie recipes!


Sesame Snap Wafers
adapted from Robin Hood Baking Festival 1999

2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup sesame seeds*

Start by toasting your sesame seeds. I like to do this in a dry, nonstick pan, over medium heat. Watch them carefully and move them around often as they could burn easily. Toast the seeds until they're fragrant and golden. Be sure to do this a little in advance, you want them to have time to cool before you make the cookie dough.

When your seeds have cooled to room temperature, preheat your oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine the flour and baking powder; set aside.

In another bowl, cream the butter with the sugar, egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and the sesame seeds and mix well.

Drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, about a teaspoon's worth per cookie, leaving enough space between the cookies as they spread while baking.

Bake the cookies about 6 to 8 minutes, or until golden. You can leave them a little longer if you like them crispier. The cookies will be soft right out of the oven so leave them on the baking sheet a minute or so before you transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

* You can use all sesame seeds or a combination of sesame seeds, black sesame seeds and flax seeds. I used 1 cup of sesame seeds and 1/4 cup of flax seeds.