Best Benne Cookies Recipes

BENNE COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream together the butter and the brown sugar. Beat in the eggs. Sift together the baking powder and the flour and mix in. Stir in the sesame seeds and vanilla.
• Drop by teaspoon on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for about 25 - 30 minutes.

BENNE WAFERS - CHARLESTON'S CLASSIC SESAME SEED COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• If using sesame seeds, rather than authentic benne seeds, toast seeds in dry skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 3-5 minutes or until lightly browned. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until well mixed, light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Make it extra fluffy to add volume to the dough so you get the full number of cookies out of it! Add the eggs one at a time, beating well to combine after each egg.
• Sift together flour and baking powder. Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture. Stir in benne or sesame seeds and vanilla extract.
• Drop dough by scant 1/2-teaspoons-full (I did a little less than 1/2 teaspoon to make them more bite-sized, since the dough spreads quite a bit) onto parchment paper about 1 inch apart. If desired, spoon dough into a ziplock bag and trim off the corner, or into a pastry bag, and pipe tiny amounts onto the parchment paper instead of using spoons.
• Bake for 7-9 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove cookies onto a rack to cool.
• Store in an airtight container or separate into baggies as gifts or favors.

SESAME COOKIES (BENNE WAFERS)

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar together.
• Then mix with other ingredients.
• Drop teaspoon sized balls on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet about 2" apart.
• Bake in a 325° oven for 7-10 minutes.
• Makes 6-dozen.

BENNE CAKES (SESAME COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325°F.
• Lightly spray cookie sheet with oil.
• Mix together the brown sugar and butter, and beat until they are creamy.
• Stir in the egg, vanilla extract, and lemon juice.
• Add flour, baking powder, salt, and sesame seeds.
• Drop by rounded teaspoons onto the cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are browned.
• Enjoy!

BENNE' COOKIES

Steps:

• Wash sesame seeds in a fine sieve, then parch in the oven, stirring occasionally, until seeds are thoroughly dry. This takes between 7 and 10 minutes.
• Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, then add flour (which has been sifted twice) and put the parched seeds in last, mixing well in the batter.(This mixture should be thin enough to drop easily from a spoon. If not, add a tiny amount of water, mixing in well.)
• Grease pans thoroughly then drop a teaspoonful of batter for each cookie as this will spread in the baking, leave about three inches between each spoonful. Cook in moderate oven from five to eight minutes-until cookies are a light brown. (Watch carefully while cooking, to prevent too rapid browning. This amount of batter should make about forty cookies.

BENNE CRESCENT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• Spread seeds on a baking sheet. Toast at 300 degrees for 15 minutes until toasted evenly or golden brown.
• Beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in mixing bowl until creamy. Blend in the vanilla, maple syrup and salt. Stir in the flour and benne seeds and mix well. Roll into cylinder, wrap in plastic film and chill for 1 hour or more.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Slice into 1/8-inch thick rounds (approximately tablespoon size), roll and shape into crescents and bake cookies on nonstick or parchment-lined baking sheet until light brown, approximately 12 minutes. Cool slightly and roll warm cookies in confectioners' sugar.
• *Cook's Note: Buy hulled raw seeds in bulk from a natural foods store.

BROWN SUGAR BENNE COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. To make the cookies: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease it lightly and set aside.2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda until well blended.3. In a large saucepan over low heat, combine the shortening and water, stirring occasionally until the shortening melts. Remove from the heat and stir in the brown sugar. Stir in the sesame seeds until blended. Stir in the flour mixture. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet. (If the dough begins to thicken, form the cookies with your hands.)4. Bake until the cookies are set and are no longer shiny, about 12 minutes. Let the cookies firm and cool slightly on the baking sheet before transferring to a rack to cool completely (or slip the parchment paper with the cookies onto the rack to cool).Serving Size: 2 cookiesVariationTo make Sweet Pumpkin and Sesame Seed Cookies, follow the main recipe, stirring in 1/2 cup lightly toasted pumpkin seeds with the sesame seeds. (Toast the pumpkin seeds as you did the sesame seeds.) Proceed as directed.From Holiday Baking. Text copyright © 2005 by Sara Perry. Photographs copyright © 2005 by Leigh Beisch. All rights reserved. First published by Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco, California.