Cardamom and ginger add brightness to these tahini-enriched Sesame Cookies. Since they’re tiny and not overly sweet, these cookies are slightly dangerous.

My husband, who clearly understood my unvoiced intentions, suggested hot fudge sundaes, but that didn’t grab my interest either.
I wanted something just slightly sweet with a bit of crunch. Since nothing on hand was going to make me happy, I began searching Epicurious for a recipe that would gratify my craving. I found it almost immediately: Sesame Cookies.
As the first batch came out of the oven, I didn’t wait for them to cool.
The dough, which includes tahini, imparts just the kind of savory backdrop that I was looking for in a sweet treat. And rolling the dough in sesame seeds not only gives these cookies an attractive appearance, it delivers the pleasing crunch I’d hankered for at the beginning of my quest.
While the cookies took care of my immediate need for something sweet, I didn’t feel completely satisfied with them: the bitterness of the tahini stood out too much in the sweet-savory combination.
On a whim, I kneaded some ground cardamom and freshly grated ginger into the remaining dough, and the experiment paid off. The cardamom and ginger added enough brightness to detract from the bitter flavor.
Since they’re tiny and not overly sweet, these cookies are slightly dangerous. When I start to eat them compulsively, I just pretend they’re crackers.
And really, because of their savory undertones, I can almost pretend to believe myself. I’ve consumed two batches in the last week, and now that my cupboard’s bare once more, I’m off to bake them yet again, thereby prolonging my delusion.
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