Black Sesame Pinwheel Cookies
These Pinwheels black sesame cookies are inspired by the Indian energy bars or winter specialty called Kachariyu. These festive spiral cookies are perfect for holiday season. Sweet, buttery and nuttiness from black sesame is what makes them so delicious.
Plain dough and black sesame dough rolled together makes mesmerizing swirls. Since I have tried Tahini Cookies by Susan Spungen, I am fan of tahini flavored cookies. I also love Kachariyu.
A little bit info about Kachariyu- Gujarati Kachariyu recipe is a winter tradition. It’s made from sesame seeds, dry coconut, dates, nuts and spices similar to energy bars. All these ingredients are supposed to bring warmth to the bodies specially during winter season. The name Kachariyu means to grind, and all the ingredients are ground along with sesame seeds and therefore its named Kachariyu. In India, Kachariyu is often sold in blocks like fudge or energy bars.
These spiraled cookies with two flavored doughs rolled together with basic ingredients make these cookies super easy. Did I mention, these are eggless? Do not get intimidated by how they look, they are surprisingly easier to put together. Make sure to follow the instructions and tips.
The whole process is very easier, and I have used food processor, the most important part is to chill the dough three times. I will explain that in a minute. Once completely made and chilled, all you must do is slice and bake them. What I love about slice and bake cookies, that you can make the dough, form the log and freeze it ahead of time and whenever you are ready to make them just remove them freezer and bake them.
What are Pinwheel Cookies?
As the name suggests, pinwheel cookies are made with two different or sometimes three different colors and flavors of dough, rolled, sliced, and then baked that creates these cyclidic patterns. They taste like sugar cookies with black sesame bringing out the nutty flavor.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the pinwheel cookies are very basic and simpler easily available at home like all purpose flour, butter, sugar, salt, baking powder, vanilla and because these are eggless, I have used just a little milk. Butter should be at room temperature; not cold nor liquid and use unsalted butter always in baking.
The other part of the cookies is the black sesame seeds. I made paste from black sesame seeds kind of tahini using seeds and some neutral oil. I then proceeded to incorporate the paste with some of the prepared cookie dough.
Storage
You can freeze unbaked log for 3 months at least (just make sure to wrap it up tightly in plastic wrap and foil to avoid those freezer smell) or baked cookies can stay up to a week or two in an airtight container at room temperature.
Tips to consider
- Use unsalted butter and butter should be at room temperature.
- Dough will look dry, use your hands to mix and bring it together. There is enough butter and liquid. Don’t be tempted to add more.
- When rolling the dough make sure its perfect rectangle and no crackly ends. (Check picture)
- I freeze the dough once its was formed, then after rolling it out in rectangle and once it was shaped into log. Soft dough will not yield good results, it will be sticky to work with. Dough will not keep its shape if its not chilled. Big reason it needs to be chilled. 😊
- Once you form log, the end pieces will not be as pretty, but still bake them away. You will have scraps to eat. Never waste.
- Two tablespoon of milk is more than enough. I have skipped eggs in this recipe for to accommodate eggless people.
- Rolling part- be gentle while rolling, make sure to roll tightly and give it a good squeeze to make sure the center is tightly rolled, or else it will leave some gap. You want to avoid that. Do not worry about the shape while rolling, you can perfect it in next step.
- You can roll the cookie log in some colorful or black demerara type sugar.
Black Sesame Pinwheel Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all- purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp milk
- ¼ cup black sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- Colored or coarse black sanding sugar optional
Instructions
- In a food processor, beat sugar and butter together. It should look light and fluffy. Add in vanilla extract.
- In another bowl, mix dry ingredients flour, salt and baking powder. Give it stir. Gradually add the dry ingredients in the butter mixture.
- Mix until its combined, it might still look dry, add milk. Pulse the food processor few times and remove the mixture in a bowl. Mix and form dough with hands. As I said it might look dry but will come together.
- Remove about half cup dough and leave it aside.
- Transfer the remaining dough into a parchment paper and form a rough disc or small rectangle. Cover it and chill it for 10 minutes or until its slightly firm.
- Meanwhile, in the same food processor. Take black sesame seeds and sugar and pulse it until it becomes paste. It will stick to the edges of the food processor and look sticky. Add in one tbsp of oil and pulse little bit more. Stir in between to make sure it is combining well. In this paste, add the reserved half cup of dough. Pulse/mix to combine and it will form our sesame seed dough.
- Bring out the plain dough from freezer, roll out into a rectangle on parchment paper. Roll dough between two parchment paper for easier rolling. Now, place the black sesame dough with your hands evenly, leaving ½ inch on sides. Make sure the dough looks smooth. Use spatula or fingers to press.
- Starting on the long side of the rectangle, carefully and gently roll the dough into a tight roll. Try to not leave gap in the middle. Parchment paper will come handy while rolling. If your dough is too soft place it for few minutes in the freezer and if its too hard then leave it for few seconds.
- Once the dough is rolled, wrap in same parchment paper, roll few times, smooth out the log by rolling couple of times back and forth and cover it in same parchment paper refrigerate until its firm at least 20-30 minutes or overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Unwrap the dough log (if using sanding black sugar, roll the whole log into sugar back and forth until sugar sticks to it and then slice them, if not using the sanding sugar, then proceed with slicing. Using a very sharp knife slice ¼ inch rounds and place them on prepared baking sheets 1 inch apart. They do not spread a lot, but they do spread a little bit. So, you want to make sure they are not touching each other.
- Bake the cookies for about 15-17 minutes or until they are cooked through. They will look pale to light pink color specially the plain dough. They will still feel soft though, they firm up once cooled down.
- Remove cookies on cooling rack and let them completely cool down.
- Serve them or store them in an air tight container.
Notes
- Use unsalted butter and butter should be at room temperature.
- Dough will look dry, use your hands to mix and bring it together. There is enough butter and liquid. Don’t be tempted to add more.
- When rolling the dough make sure its perfect rectangle and no crackly ends. (Check picture)
- I freeze the dough once its was formed, then after rolling it out in rectangle and once it was shaped into log. Soft dough will not yield good results, it will be sticky to work with. Dough will not keep its shape if its not chilled. Big reason it needs to be chilled. 😊
- Once you form log, the end pieces will not be as pretty, but still bake them away. You will have scraps to eat. Never waste.
- Two tablespoon of milk is more than enough. I have skipped eggs in this recipe for to accommodate eggless people.
- Rolling part- be gentle while rolling, make sure to roll tightly and give it a good squeeze to make sure the center is tightly rolled, or else it will leave some gap. You want to avoid that. Do not worry about the shape while rolling, you can perfect it in next step.
- You can roll the cookie log in some colorful or black demerara type sugar.