Recipe from Zoe Kanan
Adapted by Alexa Weibel
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus chilling
- Rating
- 4(209)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This complex and earthy cookie comes from Zoe Kanan, the pastry chef at Simon & the Whale restaurant in New York, and proves the notion that ingenuity is often born of necessity. While working in Hong Kong on a collaborative dinner with Yardbird restaurant, Ms. Kazan found herself with a glut of specialty ingredients at her disposal. Inspired by the experimental flavor combinations for which her mentor, Christina Tosi, is known, Ms. Kanan added black sesame paste, seaweed and sesame seeds to a tahini chocolate chip cookie recipe she’d been developing. Deeply chocolatey and extremely savory, the result —this cookie, created for the 2019 NYT Food Festival — is perplexing at first bite and addictive after that. —Alexa Weibel
Featured in: Finding the Deliciousness in New York City
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Ingredients
Yield:22 cookies
- 1½cups/190 grams unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1½cups/140 grams dark rye flour or pumpernickel flour
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- ½packed teaspoon baking soda
- 1½teaspoons fine sea salt
- ¾cup/165 grams dark brown sugar
- ⅔cup/135 grams granulated sugar
- ½cup plus 2 tablespoons/140 grams unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2large eggs plus 1 yolk
- ⅓cup plus 1 tablespoon/105 grams black sesame paste, such as Kevala Black Sesame Tahini, or regular tahini
- 1tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 13ounces/370 grams 65 to 70 percent dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- ½cup/5 grams kizami nori (toasted and shredded seaweed) (see Tip)
- 1cup/120 grams black sesame seeds, to coat
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (22 servings)
380 calories; 24 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 36 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 18 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 178 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Preparation
Step
1
In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and rye flours, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt; set aside.
Step
2
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat both sugars together on medium speed to blend. Add butter and beat on medium until beginning to lighten and starting to become creamy, about 2 minutes.
Step
3
Add the eggs and egg yolk one at a time to the butter mixture, beating until incorporated, then add the black sesame paste and vanilla, and blend just until combined.
Step
4
Add the flour mixture all at once, and use a sturdy rubber spatula to fold it into the butter mixture until about halfway combined, and the mixture goes from a shaggy mess to a semi-combined dough. Scatter the chocolate and seaweed on top and fold just until dough forms. (A gentle touch is necessary, as overmixing can cause the dough to separate and crumble.)
Step
5
Add the black sesame seeds to a shallow bowl. Using a ¼ cup measuring cup, portion the dough into about 22 balls (60 grams each). Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll it between your palms until rounded, then gently roll it into the sesame seeds until coated all over. Arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet and transfer to the refrigerator to chill at least 4 hours. (You can prepare the dough balls up to one week in advance; transfer to a lidded container or loosely cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate.)
Step
6
When ready to bake, heat the oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the cookies a few inches apart on a large baking sheet and bake until they have spread out slightly but are still puffed in the center, about 12 minutes. Once you’ve removed the baking sheet from the oven, gently tap the center of each cookie down using the bottom of a ladle, pressing just until you’ve created a slightly indented crater. (This technique helps ensure a gooey and chewy center.)
Step
7
Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store, covered, at room temperature, up to 2 days.
Tip
- If you can’t find kizami nori, you can use any supermarket variety of toasted and salted nori or standard seaweed snacks; simply cut them into short, very thin strips.
Ratings
4
out of 5
209
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Cooking Notes
inspirian
What if I don’t have the patience to for it to cool for four hours? What do I do then?
Brandon
Follow the recipe by weight, not volume! Notice there’s a 50g difference between the rye and all purpose flours because they weigh differently than the 1.5 cups by volume. By using the correct ingredients (no subs) and by weight, these cookies came out lovely- subtle, complex, nutty, a little savory, and very chocolatey! Not a cookie I would make for a family get-together say, but certainly one I’d make to enjoy on my own or for those that love unique twists in desserts.
Hannah M.
I veganized these and the complex & unique flavors turned out amazing! Definitely recommend these to satisfy those period cravings (if you menstruate) as they contain a lot of the microminerals your body needs then. Instead of 2 eggs and 1 yolk, I used 3 tbsp ground flax seed whisked with 9 tbsp water, earth balance instead of dairy butter, and coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar. Follow the weight measurements! Chilled the dough whole first then formed balls and rolled in sesame seeds.
ea
Definitely do 30-35 grams for balls because otherwise it would be way too big. These are delicious.
MW
1/4 cup of dough makes a very big cookie. Came out about 4" wide. I used two cookie sheets to accommodate them. Also, no harm increasing the amount of chocolate--no harm at all :)
Amy K
I love these - haven’t had the wherewithal to find black sesame tahini so just ground up black sesame seeds. Tasty after only cooling for an hour before cooking too. My kids 3 and 6 like them too - so I don’t think the taste too weird - I think I gave one to my father-in-law who has meat and potatoes tastes too and he liked them also, I think the seaweed just adds salty umami.
Lilian
Love this recipe, and the inclusion of rye! A great use for black sesame butter/paste. But must make the dough by ingredient weight. I used Eden's black sesame butter, and untoasted Maine nori (ground up somewhat in a food processor). Rolled the balls in regular sesame seeds (as I did not have black). Would use more nori next time, perhaps reduce the sugar, and perhaps even leave out the chocolate (to further emphasize the sesame and seaweed flavors).
Linda
These cookies are too different for me. The chocolate and tahini is delicious but the lingering taste of seaweed is unpleasant. I think you have to really like the taste of seaweed on its own to enjoy these cookies. I baked them at half the size mentioned which makes a nice size for all the flavors.
Nicole
These cookies are AMAZING! A few notes: I did ~35g per cookie, otherwise 60g seemed too big. Seaweed gave a great complexity, can’t tell what it is in the final product. Like another reviewer said, people couldn’t figure out what it was, but highly enjoyed them. I cut a large piece of nori into strips, but might try using a coffee grinder next time.
Amy
This was the cookie recipe that got me back to baking. I was so bored of making the ‘same old’ and this combination was just too intriguing for me not to try. It turn out super sesame-y but not in a bad way (unless you don’t fancy sesame). I wanna save some for future me and some lucky friends - any idea if it’s better to freeze the dough or the baked cookie?
senorfuzz
These are savory-sweet magic. However, it felt cruel to make these in front of family and then tell them they had to wait until tomorrow to eat them. An upside to making them with flax eggs is that the batter can be eaten raw to calm hungry onlookers.
Hannah M.
I veganized these and the complex & unique flavors turned out amazing! Definitely recommend these to satisfy those period cravings (if you menstruate) as they contain a lot of the microminerals your body needs then. Instead of 2 eggs and 1 yolk, I used 3 tbsp ground flax seed whisked with 9 tbsp water, earth balance instead of dairy butter, and coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar. Follow the weight measurements! Chilled the dough whole first then formed balls and rolled in sesame seeds.
Sharanya
For some reason my cookies came out of the oven super crumbly and I’m not sure why..maybe over baked? Flavors were great but a shame the cookie didn’t stay together. I have frozen the rest of the dough so hopefully will solve the problem. I used Guittard’s choc chips so didn’t get the gooey chocolate through, but felt like a fun, adult chocolate chip cookie!
Brandon
Follow the recipe by weight, not volume! Notice there’s a 50g difference between the rye and all purpose flours because they weigh differently than the 1.5 cups by volume. By using the correct ingredients (no subs) and by weight, these cookies came out lovely- subtle, complex, nutty, a little savory, and very chocolatey! Not a cookie I would make for a family get-together say, but certainly one I’d make to enjoy on my own or for those that love unique twists in desserts.
issalek
too big and too chocolate-y; not worth it
Adam
Does anyone know why there is a huge discrepancy between the weight/volume of the flours? everywhere I’ve looked indicates that 1 1/2c of either flour should weigh 180g.
Cheryl Singapore
This cookie took me 1hr to prep. 1hr 30min to make. I bought ingredients easily and cheaply from local baking supply store. Totally worth the effort. I made 40g balls and the cookie ends up being about 3inches wide. Tastes like I bought it from an artisanal store.
tashasurferrosa
Quite good, I’ll just sprinkle the sesame seeds next time, rolling the dough resulted in too much sesame seeds for my liking.Used buckwheat instead of rye. Cookies weren’t as rich in colour, might experiment with some black cocoa next time. The seaweed flavour was subtle and interesting.
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