I have been eyeing this recipe for the longest time. The flavors intrigue me and that’s sometimes what draws me to a recipe. It looked gorgeous in the magazine and I had bookmarked it to try for a future blog. So this is my Coffee, Black Sesame and Kinako Cookie recipe.  There are plenty of variations on this but the two key flavors to keep are the black sesame and kinako.

The original called for matcha, but neither my wife nor I are big matcha fans. But coffee, well that’s a whole different ball game. I substituted instant espresso powder for the same quantity of matcha in the recipe. Feel free to revert to the matcha if you like (or maybe do a matcha, coffee and black sesame cookie – YUM, next round). If you haven’t ground black roasted sesame seeds before, grind them for this cookie recipe. The aroma when you open up the grinder is completely intoxicating – I’ve become a fan of this new-to-me ingredient in this form, can’t wait to experiment with other recipes. Kinako is roasted soybean flour and used in a lot of Japanese cooking. I got mine at an Asian grocery store in my neighborhood. It has a unique taste – a delicious unique taste, which I also can’t wait to try in other recipes. 

If you can’t find kinako though, don’t sweat it, although not the same taste, I have read (but haven’t tried) that you can use almond or peanut flour. And of course you can make you own kinako – google it! But it is worth the search so don’t just give a cursory once over in your grocery store. I hate to say it, but in the “Ethnic (International) Aisle” of your grocery store you should find it. Is there really a need to label it as such – really?! – Asking for a friend! Also, if you look at the recipe below, you will see I switched midstream from grams to tsp/tbsp measures.  Sorry, but I was following a recipe which gave both and when I didn’t get the same weight as the recipe, I changed to tsp/tbsp measures so the recipe below yields spectacular results.

A little finicky to make – oooh my favorite – NOT!, but so worth it. Simply make the dough, weigh it (or eyeball it) and divide it into three portions. Flavor one with the espresso, the other with more kinako and the third with ground black sesame seeds – three flavors, one dough! The dough is sticky to work with when just made so using some parchment paper, I rolled mine into logs and refrigerated for about 30 minutes. After that, just sliced each roll, made each into a ball and gently smooshed them together. Dipped this in sugar and placed on the baking sheet. I wanted to be precise (yeah, I couldn’t believe it either) so I used a scale and used 10g of each dough. The result was a big cookie – 30g pre baked weight yielded cookies with a 4″ diameter, they expand so you might want to try a smaller weight, maybe 5g per flavor – your call. Get fancy with the combining of the cookie doughs, I tried a couple of different variations – see the photographs. Unlimited as per your imagination – deliciousness by you!

Do try these cookies, nothing else required with them. Wear a mask, wash your hands, get vaccinated and above all, be safe! As always – enjoy!

Ingredients
200g butter
150g white sugar
50g brown sugar
1 egg
210g all-purpose flour
4 tbsp kinako powder
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp kinako powder
2 tbsp instant espresso powder (or matcha)
2 tbsp black sesame, ground – I used my coffee grinder
50g caster sugar or white sugar, for rolling

Directions
Make the dough by sifting together the dry ingredients—flour, kinako powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl – set aside
Beat the butter and sugars in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until fluffy – medium speed about 1 minute
Add in the egg, and beat until mixed – about 30 seconds
Add in the dry ingredients and mix gently, until no more streaks of dry flour remain – don’t overmix
Transfer the dough to a scale and divide into 3 portions, place each in a bowl
Add the espresso to the first bowl, the additional kinako to the second and the ground black sesame seeds to the third
If you find the dough sticky to work with, using parchment or plastic wrap, roll into logs and refrigerate for about 30 minutes until firmer
Remove from the fridge and cut each roll into 10g portions (or less – see comments above)
Gently press them together and coat them in the sugar – place on the baking tray
Heat your oven to 350f and bake the cookies for 12 – 14 minutes, mine took 13
Cool completely before storing

Well Why Not!
Change up the flavors – use freeze dried strawberries or some other freeze dried berry
Substitute almond flour for the kinako
Try lemon, orange and raspberry extracts
Use lemon, orange and lime zest to flavor and color each of the dough balls