Black Sesame Gravestone Cookies

Halloween is in less than a week and we have made it to our penultimate spooky recipe! I feel like this month has flown by, and I’m not ready for spooky season to be over! I have been focusing on my November recipes, and it looks like we have a pretty delicious line up for fall and Thanksgiving recipes. Next to Halloween, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it gives me a chance to cook a bunch of things I wouldn’t usually.

I saved this recipe to publish for this late in the month because I feel like these would be good to pass out to trick or treaters, or display at a party. I mean, they’re a very simple cookie, but they look so cute and taste delicious.

I actually tested this recipe way back in August, and I’ve had it sitting in my drafts ever since. It’s nice to have recipes like that, where I can post it early if a different recipe falls through. Anyway, all this is to say that this is a very simple recipe, but so cute and tasty.

Describe These Cookies to Me

Taste: These have a sweet nutty and vanilla flavor that takes a classic sugar cookie to the next level. The little bit of chocolate on top adds the perfect amount of contrast, and makes these delicious dipped in a cup of hot coffee.
Texture: These have that classic sugar cookie texture, with a bit of a crumbly outside and a slightly soft inside. This makes these perfect for dipping in coffee or tea.
Ease: These are very simple to throw together. The dough is just as easy as any sugar cookie dough, just make sure you leave enough chilling time. The shaping is also pretty simple, even if you don’t have a gravestone shaped cookie cutter (I shaped them by hand).

Black Sesame

Black sesame is growing in popularity in sweet dishes, and for good reason. It gives a delicate nuttiness to baked goods, almost like a very light peanut butter taste. It works so beautifully with vanilla, and gives these otherwise pretty boring cookies a fun and different taste.

The Dough

This dough is very simple to throw together. It starts by making a black sesame sugar by pulsing together sesame seeds and granulated sugar. This gets mixed into a sugar cookie dough made from all the classic ingredients; butter, egg, flour, baking powder, and salt. Vanilla extract brings out the sweet notes in the black sesame and creates the perfect balance of flavor.

Black Sesame Gravestone Cookies

Perfect for parties and trick or treaters, these black sesame sugar cookies are a spooky step up from your classic sugar cookie! Black sesame seeds are mixed with granulated sugar in a simple cookie dough before being cut into gravestones, baked, and topped with chocolate ganache decorations.

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Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Chill Time 2 hours hrs

Total Time 4 hours hrs

Servings: 20 cookies

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup black sesame seeds
• ¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Chocolate Ganache

• 4 ounces chocolate finely chopped
• ½ cup heavy cream

Method

 

Make the dough

1. In a food processor, pulse together the granulated sugar and black sesame seeds until combined and you have a grey sugar.
2. In a large mixing bowl using either a hand or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and black sesame sugar on medium high speed until fluffy and combined. Mix in the egg and vanilla until combined. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix on low speed until just combined. The dough should be soft.
3. Separate the dough into two halves. Press each into a disk, roughly ¼ inch thick and wrap tightly in cling wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Shape the Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Cut cookies from the dough disks in the shape of gravestones (a rectangle rounded on one side.) Place the cookies at least one inch apart on the previously prepared baking sheet. Re-roll and cut the dough scraps until you have used all of it.
2. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned on the sides. Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Decorate

1. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized heat safe mixing bowl.
2. In a saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat until simmering. Once simmering, remove from the heat and pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let the mixture sit without stirring for 3 minutes to melt the chocolate before stirring to combine. The ganache should be glossy and smooth. Let it cool for around 30 minutes at room temperature or until it reaches a pipeable consistency.
3. Fill a piping bag fitted with a small round tip (I used Wilton #4) with the cooled chocolate ganache. Pipe "RIP" and whatever other details you want on top of the cookies!
4. Enjoy! Cookies last up to a week sealed at room temperature.