Chinese Sesame Cookies

I remembered when I was a child, I heart a type of Chinese sesame seeds cookies.  It had been so long that I could hardly recall the texture of this cookies anymore.  I only remembered if I saw it being served, I would certainly had some.  I did a search on the web and found one recipe from About.com and the picture of the sesame seeds cookies resembled the one I remembered.  So, of course I got to give this recipe a try.  But not sure why my cookies turned out looking different (mine had flat top)?  The one thing I changed was used all butter instead of half butter and half shortening.

I wanted contrasting colors so I tried a few with black sesame seeds.  This cookies is delicious, fragrant with the smell of sesame seeds and very crispy.  But not quite like the one I remembered.  Nevertheless, we were all in loved with this cookies, my girls couldn't stop snacking on it.  I don't think this batch can last through Chinese New Year.  The longer it kept, the smell of sesame seeds grew stronger.

If you are looking for a new CNY cookies to bake this year, this can be it.  :-)

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #3 : My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011) hosted by Jess of i3ss kitch3n.

This recipe was adapted from About.com Chinese Food with slight modification.

Ingredients:

(A)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt

• 3 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
• 1 cup or 2 sticks of butter, soften
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. almond extract

• White sesame seeds, as needed

Method:

1.  Sift (A) in a bowl.  Add toasted sesame seeds, whisk well.

2.  In a large bowl, use an electric mixer and beat the butter and sugars until incorporated.  Add egg and almond extract and beat until blended.  Stir in flour and mix well with a spatula until a dough is formed.  The dough will be soft.

3.  Divide the dough into four and form each into a logs.  Wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until harden.

4.  Preheat oven to 325'F.  

5.  Take out the log, one at a time and cut the log into pieces.  Dip each piece into a plate of sesame seeds and place on a parchment lined baking sheet 2 inches apart (as the dough will spread during baking).  After you finish with a tray, you take one more log out and do as previously mentioned until you finish all the dough.  If you find the sesame seeds hard to stick, just dip the piece in water first before dipping into the sesame seeds.  But I don't find this as a problem, the white sesame seeds stick very well (this step needed if black sesame seeds is used). 

6.  Bake for 15-17 minutes.  Cool completely on wire rack before storing in an air-tight container.

Note:  My dough shape before baking is about the size of the Quarter coin.  When baked, it expanded.  For this size, it yields about 110 cookies.