I’ve been wanting to make a black sesame dessert for a while now and I finally got around to it! Although the two sides may appear to be at odds, rest assured white and black sesame exist in harmony under the watchful eye of master kung fu panda. Nutty, buttery, and full of sesame flavor, these melt-in-your-mouth Black and White Sesame (aka. Panda) Cookies are sure to delight!

Black & White Sesame (Panda) Cookies

Makes ~30 cookies

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
• 80 g all purpose flour
• 20 g almond flour
• 30 g granulated sugar
• 20 g white sesame seeds, roasted or          20 g black sesame seeds, roasted
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 egg yolk
• White sesame seeds for sprinkling or      Black sesame seeds for sprinkling

Directions

For the white sesame cookie dough:

1. In a food processor, process together the flour, almond flour, sugar, sesame seeds*, and salt. Add in the cubed butter and process until homogenous. Add the egg yolk half and process until the dough comes together.
2. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and roll it out into a log ~2″ in diameter. Wrap the log tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until slightly firm.

*Note: If your food processor is large, but you also have a smaller bullet blender, I’d suggest grinding your sesame seeds in your bullet first to ensure a fine grind.

For the black sesame cookie dough:

1. Do the exact same thing as for the white sesame cookie dough, but use black sesame seeds this time. (I purposely made the white sesame cookie dough first so I wouldn’t have to wash the bowl of the food processor in between batches)

For the two-tone look:

1. Unwrap and cut each log in half lengthwise. Press the white and black sesame halves together. Tightly rewrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.
2. Preheat oven to 350 F. Work with one log at a time, keeping the other log in the fridge. Unwrap the cookie dough, cut the log into 1/4″ thick discs, and place discs on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle white side with white sesame seeds and black side with black sesame seeds. Gently press seeds into the dough. Optional: if you have a panda stamper, now would be the perfect time to use it! You’re dough will likely get soft as you’re stamping the cookies, so make sure to put them back in the fridge to firm up as needed. Refrigerate stamped cookie dough for 30 minutes prior to baking for best stamping results. 
3. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Repeat with other log. Let cool before serving.