I do hope you’re enjoying the cookie content so far!
The idea for today’s cookie occurred to me one day when I was parking my car near Veniero's bakery in the East Village. I decided to pop in for one of my favorite treats, a Regina Biscotti (or two), a not-too-sweet Sicilian cookie, also called Reginelle. These and the quaresimali are my go-tos at this famous 129-year-old institution. I was deep in thought about this year’s cookies at the time, and I wondered how it would be to add some very non-traditional tahini to these simple sesame-crusted cookies in keeping with the sesame theme and flavors.
Cookies are a simple creation by nature, meant to be whipped up on a whim, and enjoyed in the moment, but sometimes they can become a little complex to make, especially if they have multiple components or a finicky technique. I myself have created a few of these in the past! This year's cookies have all, by coincidence, fallen into the “easy” category, but that doesn't make them any less delicious. These pass the more-ish test, and they are perfect with coffee, tea, or sweet wine, like Vin Santo. Dip or don’t, it’s up to you.
This cookie has exemplary keeping qualities, and is a prime candidate for shipping, if that’s what you’re doing. They have enough presence to fill a tin on their own, or maybe mix them with other biscotti from past cookie seasons, like these, or these, or these, for an Italian-themed collection.
If you’re into crunchy, you’ll be into these. They are tinged with the bright taste of orange zest that lingers pleasantly in your mouth, as well as anise seeds that give them a special flavor. If you are convinced that you hate anise, I give you permission to leave it out, but I promise you it’s subtle, and gives the cookies a complexity that I really want you to try! Good ol’ vanilla adds its cookie-ness, and the tahini adds a mysterious background flavor that borders on savory and makes the texture more delicate than the original.
I also love the way these look! I hope you’ll try them!
Tips for success
If you want to make these by hand, soften the butter, cream in the sugar and flavorings by hand, whisk in the eggs and vanilla, and fold in the dry ingredients. Ditto this procedure if you want to use a hand mixer or stand mixer.
As always, zest your orange directly into the food processor (or bowl) so you capture all that flavor.
If you’re in a hurry, you can skip the chilling step. It’s not absolutely essential, but it makes the dough easier to handle.
Use a scale (you’ve got one, right?) to portion out the cookie dough, not only so they are of a uniform size, but so they bake uniformly. It becomes a fun game to see how close you can come to 23 grams each time.
When coating the cookies, use one hand to take the cookies out of the milk, and the other to remove them from the sesame seeds to minimize coating your fingers.
Tahini Regini
Makes about 2 dozen
½ cup sesame seeds
2 cups/256 g all-purpose flour
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon/112 g granulated sugar
Grated zest of 1 large navel orange
½ teaspoon anise seeds
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons/56 g cold unsalted butter, cut up
3 tablespoons tahini
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup whole milk
Heat oven to 350℉. Toast the sesame seeds on a small sheet pan, shaking occasionally until evenly one shade darker, 12 to 16 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool.
Combine flour, sugar, orange zest, anise seeds, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and tahini and pulse until fine crumbs form. Add the eggs and vanilla and pulse until a dough forms. Transfer to a bowl, knead a few times to make sure everything is well mixed, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for about 30 minutes (or as long as 2 days ahead).
Pour the milk into a shallow bowl, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Pinch off a ball of dough (23 g if you’re weighing), and roll it into a round ball between your palms. Then roll back and forth between your palms to form it into an oval shape.
Plop it into the milk, and then into the sesame seeds. Coat the dough ball with sesame seeds by gently shaking the bowl. Repeat with all of the dough, setting the coated cookies about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.
Bake both sheets, placing one in the top third and the other in the bottom third of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until turning golden at the edges and on the bottom. Reverse positions of the baking sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time.
Remove cookies from the baking sheets to a wire rack to cool completely, then store airtight for a week or two. You can freeze them for longer.
Editor: Molly Ramsey
sesamaniac is my new favorite term! I feel so seen
'Sesamaniac' is a word that describes me perfectly... these look beautiful as they are but do I dare make these with black tahini (we just got some to make your marbled tahini cookies)?
-Diana