Homemade Sesame Seed Flour Biscotti, delicately flavored biscotti of toasted ground sesame seeds, that make for the perfect twice-baked biscuit.
Sesame Seeds
Sesame seeds are a big deal in my home. Tahini paste, better than peanut butter, is what makes sesame seeds such a big deal.
As tiny as they are, the sweet-nutty flavor is simply delicious in both savory dishes and sweet recipes.
Just ask the millions of viewers that watched me make Tahini Custard Pie on The Great American Recipe show, on PBS!
This recipe is one of my top visited recipes on my blog!
Homemade Tahini is so easy to make, as is Sesame Seed milk, made the same way as making homemade Almond Milk or any other nut, grain or seed milk.
Sesame seed tahini is also what makes hummus taste so amazing; whether it’s traditional Hummus or Beet Hummus.
What Is A Biscotti
Once, while staying at a home in Calabria Italy, I noticed these very hard, almost ‘dried toast’ looking slices the family would pull out of a metal bread box at breakfast time.
They dunked them in their coffee, they crushed them in a small bowl, poured milk over them and ate it like cereal. What was it?
It was very dry, homemade biscotti, a centuries old biscuit, cookie, toast!
The point in having ‘very dry’ biscotti is that it would keep for a long time and not get moldy because the moisture has been baked out of them.
Biscotti Flour Variations
I can’t think of anything I enjoy more in the afternoon, when I need that 4:00 pick-me-up, than to have a biscotti to dunk in my afternoon tea or coffee.
I’ve enjoyed such a variety of types of biscotti, made with as many flour combinations as we would make for cookies or muffins.
And while I think of this sesame seed biscotti more as a Middle Eastern flavor, seeing how sesame seeds and tahini are in many recipes, there is an Italian version I adore too.
Having grown up in a Mediterranean home, in which nuts and seeds were a dominant ingredient in our cooking, Chestnut flour is often used to make a biscotti.
However, I plan to try making a biscotti in the Autumn with my newly discover flour made from the acorns in my yard!
Chestnut biscotti is simply made by swapping out the sesame seed flour, in this recipe, for chestnut flour, and then follow the recipe as it is.
Sesame Seed Flour
Biscotti has been around for a very long time, and I decided I needed to make a biscotti out of sesame seeds, instead of almonds, the traditional biscotti.
In a spice grinder, simply place sesame seeds, lightly toasted for additional flavor, or not toasted for the delicate flavor of sesame seeds, and grind to a powder, known as sesame flour.
Home ground sesame flour can be used in a variety of ways for both baked goods, or simply to dust over fish or poultry before sautéing.
Sesame seed flour is also being swapped out from almond flour in many keto diet baking recipes.
Store in the fridge or freezer, to keep it fresh.
Nothing is more ‘Dunk-able’ than a Biscotti! It holds up beautifully when dunked in:
- Coffee/Espresso
- Tea – Bourbon Chai Tea Latte Cocktail is rich with chai spices steeped in black tea, milk of choice and good bourbon, for a warm winter’s sip.
- Hot Chocolate – Real Old Fashion Hot Chocolate is real: cacao, real sugar, real milk (of choice) simmered into a real old fashion hot chocolate sip.
- Milk – East meets west in this Warm Autumn Golden Milk Cocktail, as it is made with coconut milk, fresh turmeric root, spices and an anise flavored liqueur.
Sesame Seed Biscotti and Cookies
The funny thing about a biscotti is that the ingredients appear to look much like a cookie dough recipe.
Especially, if you are like me, and love lots of nuts in your cookies, and not very sweet.
I think that I could never run out of cookie dough combinations: Acorn Cookies, Almond Cookies, Black Walnut Cookies, Chestnut Cookies.
The thing that all of my nut or seed cookies have in common, is that I use the nuts or seeds to make into flour, giving them a beautiful texture and unique flavor.
How To Make Sesame Seed Flour Biscotti
What makes biscotti totally different from baking cookies, is that biscotti needs to be baked twice.
First, the batter is made, shaped into a loaf and baked until it becomes firm, left to cool and then sliced.
The slices are then placed back on the baking sheet, face up, and baked until they look toastie, turned over and baked the same way on the other side.
This baking process dries out the moisture in the biscotti, making them the perfect hard ‘toast-like’ biscuit for dunking.
Ingredients Needed
- Sesame seeds
- Sugar
- Egg
- Butter
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Salt
- Powdered sugar
Equipment Needed
- Spice grinder or small coffee grinder, much like this one I use to grind my small seeds.
- Mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
- Cookie sheet
- Parchment paper
- Cutting board
- Serrated knife – a must for breads and biscotti baking.
- Oven
Homemade Sesame Seed Flour Biscotti
Equipment
- rimmed baking sheet and parchment paper
- Food processor or blender
- spice grinder
- Serrated knife
Ingredients
- 1 cup Sesame Seeds ground to a flour
- 2 tbsp Whole Sesame Seeds for topping
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- 8 tbsp Butter melted
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- Powdered sugar – for final dusting, (optional)
Instructions
- Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
- In a food processor place the butter, ground sesame seeds, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Pulse a few times to break down the butter and mix it with the ground sesame seed flour.
- Add the egg and pulse. Add the flour and baking powder and whisk until it forms a dough ball.
- Place the entire sticky dough onto prepared cookie sheet and shape into a log. Wrap and chill the dough on the baking sheet for 30 minutes or over night.
- Preheat oven to 350. Bake the biscotti log for 30 minutes. Cool.
- Cut into ½ inch slices.
- Place cut side down of each slice, on the parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
- Bake again another 20/25 minutes or until golden.
- Dust Powdered sugar and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
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I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.