sarah kieffer's chewy brown sugar toasted sesame cookies
I’m a big Sarah Kieffer fan. The talented baker behind The Vanilla Bean Blog, she’s best known for her internet-famous pan-banging chocolate chip cookies. But I’ve been steadily baking my way through her excellent 2020 cookbook, 100 Cookies, and just love all of her recipes in there. So a few months ago, when she published a recipe that married two of my favorites from the book—her pan-banging toasted sesame cookies and her brown sugar cookies—I knew this hybrid would be pretty special. But I didn’t know how special until I made it.
This cookie feels like it defies the laws of baking. When it’s in the oven, the crisp exterior breaks open like little earthquake faults and reveals the lava-like interior. The inside of this cookie is just miraculously chewy. The brown sugar and toasted sesame combine to make a luxurious sesame caramel that has no right existing in any cookie, let alone one this simple to make. Sarah, you mad genius, you’ve done it again.
Sarah kieffer’s chewy brown sugar toasted sesame cookies
Barely adapted from Sarah Kieffer’s The Vanilla Bean Blog.
I made a few small changes here. Sarah suggests using between 1/2 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil here, but I really think the full tablespoon is the way to go so that’s what I list in the ingredients. Of course, you can always dial it back if you’re more sesame-curious than sesame-lover, but I encourage you to be bold! Secondly, Sarah has you roll the entire ball of dough in the sesame seeds, but in this case I find less is more and like to try to leave the bottom of my cookies sesame-free to avoid any bitterness from the bottoms browning. And on that note, these cookies bake at 400°F. It’s always a good idea to have an oven thermometer to check your oven temperature, but even then, I find that ovens start to get a little wonky at higher settings. So I’m incorporating a troubleshooting suggestion that Sarah makes into the recipe itself: to bake the cookies on double-stacked sheet pans. If you’re confident that your oven is accurate or don’t want to be bothered with that step, leave it out, but I find the little extra assurance doesn’t hurt.
Makes 18 cookies.
INGREDIENTS
2 cups (284 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
9 tablespoons (126 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup sesame seeds (black, white, or a combination) for rolling
Flaky sea salt for sprinkling, if desired
METHOD
Adjust an oven rack to the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Stack 2 sheet pans on top of each other and line the top pan with parchment paper. (If you have 4 sheet pans, prep them all this way so you have 2 parchment-lined, double-stacked pans.)
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg, yolk, vanilla, and sesame oil and mix until smooth. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. Use a rubber spatula to give the dough a final mix and make sure it is completely combined.
Form the dough into balls that are 55 grams (about 2-tablespoons) each. Roll the balls into the sesame seeds, covering the top and sides of the dough, but leaving the bottom as sesame-free as possible. Place 6 cookies on each sheet pan. Sprinkle each cookie with a little flaky salt, if desired.
Bake one set of double-stacked pans at a time, rotating halfway through baking. Bake the cookies until the tops are golden brown and the cookies are slightly puffed and starting to crinkle, 9 to 11 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and use the back of a spatula to gently press the top of each cookie to flatten it. Let the cookies cool a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
The cookies are best slightly warm, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. They will soften the longer they sit. The dough can be formed and refrigerated overnight, then baked the next day; they may need an extra minute in the oven if chilled. Cookie dough can also be formed into balls and frozen for up to 2 weeks; let the cookies sit out at room temperature until the oven preheats. The cookies will need an extra minute in the oven if baked frozen.