My black sesame sugar cookies are soft and chewy with hints of nutty, earthy flavors. The dough can be made with either black sesame paste or powder and comes together within 10 minutes! And if you want, you can decorate them as rocks from Over the Garden Wall, like I did. 🙂
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❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The texture is my favorite! The cookies are soft, chewy, and melt-in-your-mouth.
- It’s perfect for black sesame lovers. This recipe uses my favorite black sesame butter, which adds delicious nutty, earthy notes to plain sugar cookies.
- You won’t need any special equipment. Simply mix everything in one bowl with a spatula, scoop, and bake.
Interested in more black sesame recipes? Try out my white chocolate black sesame cookies or black sesame chia pudding with Oreos!
Ingredients
To make the best black sesame sugar cookies from scratch, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Using melted unsalted butter makes the cookie dough really easy to mix by hand. Plus, it helps yield super soft cookies.
- I used black sesame butter, which is the star of this recipe! It adds a unique depth of flavor, making the cookies taste nutty and earthy.
- Adding in both baking powder and baking soda gives us the exact texture and rise we’re aiming for!
- You can use either vanilla extract or vanilla paste (1:1) in this recipe.
- To decorate the cookies, I used white and milk/dark chocolate melting wafers and oil-based food coloring. Alternatively, you can use chocolate chips or candy melts.
For the full list of ingredients and measurements, see the recipe card below.
💡 Baking Tips
- Weigh your ingredients! One of my favorite kitchen tools is a kitchen scale because it’s more accurate than measuring by volume. If you use cups, spoon the flour in gently, then level it with a knife or spatula.
- If chilling the dough for longer than 30 minutes, I pre-scoop cookie dough into balls, closely line them on a parchment tray, and chill them. When it’s time to bake, I break off the dough balls, roll them in sugar, and bake. Pre-scooping is easier on my hands and wrists than working with chilled, firmer dough.
- For rounder cookies, place a large circular cutter or mug on top of a freshly baked, warm cookie. Move it around in a circular motion until your cookie is perfectly round! This step is totally optional and purely for plating purposes! 🙂
How to Make Soft Black Sesame Sugar Cookies
Step 1: Mix sugars, melted butter, black sesame butter until combined. Stir in an egg and vanilla until smooth.
Step 2: Add dry ingredients and mix until no dry spots remain.
Step 3: Use a cookie scoop (2-3 tablespoon capacity) to gather dough, then roll into granulated sugar. Place cookie dough balls on lined baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Bake at 325°F/162°C for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are set.
Step 4: Let cookies cool on sheet for at least 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Decorated with melted chocolates and enjoy!
For full instructions, see the recipe card below.
Black Sesame Sugar Cookie FAQs
Black sesame is similar to white sesame, but is much more nuttier and toastier in flavor. It can come in the form of whole seeds, powders, or even as a paste.
Black sesame is commonly used in Asian cuisines and balances well with the sweetness of desserts.
Yes, but it won’t be a sugar cookie anymore! You can add about ½ cup of mix-ins, like chocolate chips, M&M’s, etc. You can also check out another recipe I have—brown butter black sesame cookies with white chocolate chunks.
Storage
- Room temperature: Store cooled black sesame cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freezing instructions: Store cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
- Reheating instructions: Allow frozen cookies to thaw at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Or, reheat in the microwave at 10-second intervals.
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Thank you so much! -Bianca ❤️
📖 Recipe
Black Sesame Sugar Cookies
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Equipment
- 1 small plate for rolling dough in sugar
- 1 medium mixing bowl for dry ingredients
- 1 large mixing bowl for mixing dough
- 1 Medium cookie scoop 2-3 tablespoon capacity
- small microwave-safe bowls, optional for rock design
- Piping bags optional for rock design
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 ⅔ cups (208 g) all-purpose flour if using black sesame powder instead of paste, use 1 ¼ cups (156 g) instead
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (3 g) fine sea salt
Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter melted and room temperature
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (55 g) brown sugar light or dark, packed
- 3 tablespoons (42 g) black sesame paste or 3 tablespoons (24 g) powder
- 1 tablespoon (13 g) vanilla extract or paste
- 1 (50 g) egg
For rolling:
- ⅛ cup (25 g) granulated sugar
Decoration for face:
- 3 tablespoons (45 g) white chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) milk or dark chocolate chips
- oil-based food coloring see steps
Instructions
For the cookie dough:
- In a large bowl, use silicone spatula to mix melted ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, ¼ cup (55 g) brown sugar, and 3 tablespoons (42 g) black sesame paste until combined.
- Add 1 (50 g) egg and 1 tablespoon (13 g) vanilla. Mix until smooth.
- Add in all of the dry ingredients: 1 ⅔ cups (208 g) all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking powder, ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda, and ½ teaspoon (3 g) fine sea salt. Mix until no dry spots remain.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or up to 2 days.
Scoop & bake cookies:
- Preheat oven to 325°F/162°C and line two baking trays with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl or plate, add ⅛ cup (25 g) granulated sugar for rolling the cookie dough balls.
- Use cookie dough scoop to gather dough (2-3 tablespoons). Roll into granulated sugar and place on lined baking tray, spacing cookies about 3-4 inches apart.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes. Let cool on pan for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire rack.
For the rock faces (optional):
- Add 3 tablespoons (45 g) white chocolate chips to small microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until fully melted.
- Use about a tablespoon of melted white chocolate for the whites of the eyes.
- Dye some melted white chocolate with blue oil-based food coloring. Use this for the eyes.
- Dye some melted white chocolate with yellow oil-based food coloring. Use this for the lips.
- Melt 1 tablespoon (15 g) milk or dark chocolate chips in another bowl, and use this for the inner mouth.
- Dye remaining melted white chocolate with red oil-based food coloring. Use this for the tongues.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Weigh your ingredients! One of my favorite kitchen tools is a kitchen scale because it’s more accurate than measuring by volume. If you use cups, spoon the flour in gently, then level it with a knife or spatula.
- Room temperature: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freezing instructions: Store cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. You can also freeze cookie dough balls for up to 3 months and bake from frozen, adding 2-3 minutes to the bake time.
- Reheating instructions: Allow frozen (already baked) cookies to thaw at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Or, reheat in the microwave at 10-second intervals.
This recipe is very easy to make and one of the ways to use up my huge bag of black sesame powder! All of my friends who tried a cookie loved it—even if they never even had black sesame before.