Sesame-Almond Tiger Cookies

I kept my Christmas list pretty small this year, keeping it mainly limited to immediate family. Two people who also made the list were my grandma and cousin Gavin - we went down to visit them in Vancouver for Christmas.

I was originally going to bake up a batch of shortbread when I came upon this recipe in Red Cook (a lovely blog featuring Chinese and Chinese-inspired recipes), and immediately remembered that my mom has had a bowl of ground black sesame sitting in the fridge for months (I'd been meaning to make black sesame ice cream all summer!) and how much my grandma liked the almond cookies we brought back for her from Macau last year. I liked how this recipe carried on the Christmas "tradition" of baking cookies, but with a bit of a Chinese twist.





  


I should probably let you in on a little secret though - my dough came out dry, dry, dry... I don't know if it's because I used tub margarine instead of butter, or I messed up a measurement somewhere, or it's just Calgary's arid climate, but if you look closely at the picture above, I had more cookies that crumbled than actually stayed together. By the time I realized it was necessary to knead in a bit more water, it was too late; I had already layered the two different colours of dough and could only "salvage" the cookies by kneading the dough into a speckly, grey mass. As you can see, I managed to cut out enough striped cookies to cover the top layer of cookies, all the cookies underneath are grey and unattractive (but still delicious!)


My cookies also came out unexpectedly hard (maybe I sliced them a little too thick and left them in the oven a little too long?) My mom wasn't sure if I should give the cookies to my grandma because she sometimes has trouble chewing with her dentures. My grandma, however, was a great sport, breaking up the cookies first with her hands and then even complimenting me on how crisp they are. "I have no trouble chewing crisp things," she said, "It's always the tough, chewy stuff I have trouble with.

Sesame-Almond Tiger Cookies
Recipe originally from Red Cook
Makes about 3 dozen

Common Dough:

• ¾ cup (185 mL) unsalted butter or margarine
  
• 1⅓ cups (335 mL) white sugar
  
• 1 egg
  
• 2 cups (500 mL) flour
  
• ½ tsp (2 mL) baking soda
  
• ¼ tsp (1 mL) salt

Almond Add-Ins:

• ¼ tsp (1 mL) almond extract*
  
• ½ cup (125 mL) almond flour

Sesame Add-Ins:

• ½ cup (125 mL) black sesame powder**
  
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) white sesame seeds

1. Sift the flour with the baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until well blended. Mix in egg. Add the flour mixture and blend until the dough is smooth. At this point the dough will be moist but not sticky.
   
2. Divide the dough equally into two portions. Use a scale to make sure they are evenly divided. Blend the almond flour and extract into one half of the common dough then set aside. Blend the black sesame powder and white sesame seeds into the other half of the common dough and set aside. If you are using an electric mixer, blend them in the above order so that you don't need to clean the bowl in between. Otherwise, the black sesame powder will not discolour the almond dough. If you are using a spoon/your hands, do the same thing so you don't have to wash your spoon/hands in between. Now, check to make sure your dough is still moist! If it is dry and crumbly, now is the time to knead in some water or more butter, whichever you see fit.
   
3. Divide each flavoured type of dough in half again, then divide each half into thirds. Alternately layer the almond and black sesame dough to form a long irregular rectangular block. Shape the dough into a long cylinder of about 1.5" (4 cm) in diameter and roll up in parchment paper. Repeat the process with the rest of the dough. Refrigerate the cookie dough cylinders for at least four hours before cutting.
   
4. When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Unroll the parchment paper from the dough and slice the dough into rounds about ⅛" (less than 0.5 cm) thick. Place the round dough on baking sheets and bake for about 8 minutes or until the edges just beginning to turn brown.
   
5. Cool the cookies and store in airtight jars until ready to serve.

Nutrition Info (per cookie): 115 calories, 6 g fat (3 g saturated), 16 mg cholesterol, 13 g carbohydrate (0.4 g fibre, 8 g sugar), 2 g protein, 37 mg sodium.

*You can buy ready-made almond flour (or almond meal) in the baking aisle of the grocery store, or make it by pulverizing blanched almonds in a blender or food processor.
**You can buy black sesame powder in Chinatown or Asian supermarkets. You can also make it by toasting a cup of black sesame seeds in a frying pan over medium heat for about two minutes, then pulverizing the seeds in a blender or food processor.