Around this time last year, I provided what I referred to as my “top five holiday baking recipes.” But as it turns out, I was lying. Rather, it was my “top five holiday baking recipes at that particular moment in time,” because really, who can stick to just five?
This may also have been written before I received as a gift The Gourmet Cookie Book — a beautifully photographed book published by the much missed, now-defunct Gourmet magazine — which has the best cookie recipe for every year of the magazine’s existence, spanning from 1941 until 2009. As the editor’s introduction notes, the book provides an interesting cultural history of American culinary indulgence, from the comfort of a wartime cinnamon-sugar snap to the 1980s decadence of a chocolate meringue biscuit.
The recipe from 1954 features the deceptively humble “Benne Wafer” (“benne” being the African word for sesame, which was reportedly brought over to the southern United States by way of African slaves). Benne wafers have long been a favourite in the South (particularly South Carolina), but I had never laid eyes on them until I started flipping through this book in search of new ideas for holiday baking this year. And I now declare this — wait for it — my top holiday baking recipe of all time! Until next year!
These wafers have all of the right moves to be an ideal holiday baking gift: They’re quick and easy to whip up — they bake for a mere six minutes per batch; they’re a unique departure from the more traditional flavours of the season; and they can be stored for up to two weeks in an airtight container, meaning you can make a mega-batch and portion them out over the holiday season to friends and family without risking stale cookie delivery.
Oh, and also, they are addictively delicious: imagine what a fresher, more delicate sesame snap might be like, if it wasn’t a rock-hard, overly sweet, tooth breaking piece of candy. That’s what these are: crispy on the edges, slightly chewy in the middle, and rich with the nutty flavour of toasted sesame seeds and a slight hint of salty caramel. You might want to double the batch, because you’ll regret not keeping some for yourself.
I’ve adapted the recipe only slightly by adding my “tips” section below. After intensive Internet research and a few tests at home, I came to appreciate that following the tips will help avoid any unnecessary baking disasters with these. The most common mistake seems to be putting too much batter into each cookie, resulting in a blob problem — multiple cookies baking into each other — which leads to a sticking problem (if this happens to you, my advice is to break it all up into pieces and have it over vanilla ice cream. You’re welcome).
Happy Holidays!
Benne wafers
(adapted from The Gourmet Cookie Book)
Makes approx. 50 cookies
½ cup sesame seeds
1.5 tbsp cold butter
1 cup light brown sugar (aka “golden yellow sugar”)
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp all purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1. In a large pan, toast the sesame seeds lightly on medium heat until they start to turn golden brown and become aromatic. Remove to a large bowl to cool as you prepare the batter.
2. Cut the cold butter into a few pieces, then mix with the brown sugar until blended in using a stand mixer or electric beater.
3. Add beaten egg, flour, salt, vanilla, and sesame seeds. Stir until combined. Chill dough for about 30 minutes and preheat oven to 350F.
4. Drop batter by ½ teaspoonfuls onto a Silpat, or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Make sure to leave at least 2 inches between cookies to allow room to spread.
5. Bake in batches for 6 minutes, or until the edges become browned. Allow to sit on the sheet a few more minutes to harden up, then remove to a cooling rack.
Tips:
- The original recipe doesn’t call for toasting the seeds, but it makes a difference and is well worth the small effort. Make sure you keep an eye on them as they can go from toasted to burnt quickly!
- It’s important that the butter you start with is cool or cold. If you have a stand mixer, go ahead and use butter right from the fridge; if not, you can let it soften on the counter for 20 minutes or so, but don’t use room temperature butter.
- Similarly, make sure to chill the dough for at least 20 minutes to make it a little easier to handle.
- If you are like me and prefer your sweets with a side of salt, use a more generous amount of salt (maybe a ½ teaspoon)
- If you have a Silpat (a silicone, non-stick baking sheet), or have been waiting for a reason to get one, this is the kind of recipe it is perfect for. For some reason, while the cookies will still easily come off parchment, they melt into perfect circles on a Silpat, whereas the ones on parchment were decidedly more… oblong. Still delicious, but you may not get the shape you want.
- Use small amounts of batter! This is also key to getting a well-shaped wafer, and helps avoid the cookies running into each other as they spread and being difficult to remove.
Sara Chan is a Toronto-based entertainment lawyer, food enthusiast, unprofessional home chef and even less professional food photographer. Her favourite food group is pork. Sara’s column appears every other Tuesday here on lawandstyle.ca.