As bakers, we derive a good deal of inspiration from nostalgia. Making sweet treats is a way to commemorate your childhood, a chance to shut up that sensible adult voice in your head telling you to eat more vegetables and do your taxes with a boatload of sugar and fats.

Black sesame, commonly used in both sweet and savory preparations in Thai and Chinese cuisine, is high on my list of nostalgic ingredients. I grew up loving desserts made with black sesame, from bua loi nam king, black sesame dumplings in sweet ginger tea, to fried sesame balls at dim sum restaurants, to black sesame granola bars sold at my mom’s favorite health food store. Nowadays, eating anything that contains black sesame is sure to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

These chewy  black sesame cookies, inspired by Christina Tosi’s genius corn cookies, combines the warm, toasty, savoriness of black sesame with the buttery richness of an American style soft cookie. These treats are so comforting they are sure to satisfy your sense of nostalgia, even for memories you never had.

You can find black sesame seeds at most Asian grocery stores. You can get them pre-toasted, but I like to get them raw and toast them myself.

Makes about 30 cookies.

2 sticks butter, room temperature.
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 cup black sesame seeds
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 baking soda

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Toast your sesame seeds in a dry pan until fragrant, then grind in a food processor until you get a fine powder. Using a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until thoroughly combined, about 3-4 minutes. Add the egg, then continue to cream until the butter turns light and fluffy, another 5-8 minutes.

Add the ground sesame seeds to the butter and continue beating until evenly distributed, about 2-3 minutes. Add your dry ingredients (you are supposed to combine them together in a separate bowl first, but I’m lazy and so almost never do) and mix on low until just combined.

using a cookie scoop (i.e. a 1 1/2 inch diameter ice cream scoop), fill your lined cookie sheet with dough balls. Since you aren’t going to bake them yet, you can place them fairly close together to save room. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. These dough balls can last up to 3 days in the fridge or a week in the freezer (once they are firm enough, you can move them from the tray into an airtight bag or container to regain valuable real estate).

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375F. Arrange your dough balls about 1-2 inches apart  on another lined cookie sheet and bake them for 10-15 minutes. The cookies should spread considerably. Once the edges are firm and slightly brown, remove the cookies from the oven and let cool on the sheet pan for a couple minutes, then move to a cooling rack (or, you know, directly to your mouth. we won’t judge).