Benne Wafers - Recipe #81

This recipe is an add-on - one that was not in my original batch of loose recipes when I began the Recipe Challenge. I've added a few others to the mix, but this was the first that I added at someone else's request. In July and August I'll be chaperoning a trip to Tanzania, visiting a school and going on safari after a layover in Amsterdam to help combat what is sure to be heavy jet-lag. As part of the preparation for the trip, our group is committed to raising funds for the school, to help them complete their science building as well as getting all of the classes out of the dormitories. In this spirit, we hosted a dinner on Saturday. While dinner was taken care of by a number of other kitchen crew, I agreed, along with two others, to make two batches of Benne Wafers to be served with ice cream.

According to the paragraph in the King Arthur Flour recipe, sesame was probably first grown in Africa before these cookies became popular in the low country of South Carolina. A tenuous connection at best, but enough that we provided them for our ¨African Dinner¨.

These had a very interesting flavor to them - incredibly rich, you won't want to eat too many in one sitting. I realized after getting toward the end of portioning the first two batches that either the quantities listed were wrong or my tablespoon portions are larger than the norm - I was supposed to make 1/3 of 200 cookies and I only had 51. Fortunately, I had just enough sesame seeds to make a third batch. I mixed the dough immediately after toasting the sesame seeds, as I was in a time crunch. I recommend not following my lead and possibly even chill the dough to keep it from spreading as much.

• 1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed (one of my co-bakers recommended dark brown sugar, so I used that)
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 c. flour
• 1 c. toasted sesame seeds

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, baking soda, and egg. Add the flour and mix till smooth. Stir in the sesame seeds.

Drop the dough by tablespoonsfuls onto parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheets. Bake the wafers in a 350 degree oven for 8 to 9 minutes, or until they're golden brown (mine took several minutes more). Remove them from the oven, allow them to cool for 1 minute on the pan, then transfer teh wafers to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: Supposedly 3 dozen 3-inch cookies, though mine made about 2 dozen

Warning: Be careful as you reuse the cookie sheets that there is nothing left to crisp on the pan - in the homestretch my smoke detector went off, which usually only happens if the oven is set to 450 or broil.