Ingredients
- 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spoon flourinto dry-measure cup and level off)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons (1 - 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 12 pieces
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Egg wash: 2 large eggs well beaten with a pinch of salt
- 2 cups untoasted sesame seed
- cookie sheets or jellyroll pans covered with parchment or foil
Directions
- Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 325°F.
- Combine the flour,sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with themetal blade. Pulse several times to mix. Add the butter and pulse repeatedly until the butter is finely mixed in, but the mixture is still cool and powdery.Add the 3 eggs and vanilla and pulse repeatedly until the dough forms a ball.
- Invert the bowl to a floured work surface and carefully remove the blade. Briefly knead the dough 2or 3 times to make it smooth. Shape the dough into a rough cylinder. Use a bench scraper or knife to divide thedough into 8 equal pieces.
- Roll one piece ofdough into a rope about 15 inches long. Cut the dough into 3-inch lengths. Repeatwith the remaining pieces of dough, lining up the little cylinders of dough onthe left side of your work surface.
- After all the cookies have been formed, place the egg wash and sesame seeds, each in a shallow bowlnext to the cookies, and place the baking pans to their right.
- Drop one of the cookies into the egg wash and use a fork to turn it over so that it is completely covered. Use the fork to lift it out of the egg wash, letting the excess drip off over the bowl and place it on the sesame seeds. Use a second fork to roll the cookie around in the sesame seeds to cover it completely. Use the fork to transfer the coated cookie to one of the prepared pans, lining up the cookies so that they are about 1 1/2 inches apart all around. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
- Bake the cookies until they are risen, firm, and the sesame seeds are golden, about 30 minutes.
- After the first 15minutes, place the pan from the lower rack on the upper one and vice versa,turning the pans back to front at the same time. If you know that your oven gives strong bottom heat, bake the pan on the lower rack stacked on a second one for insulation. Slide the papers off the pans to cool the cookies.
Tips/Techniques
Storage: Keep thecookies between sheets of wax paper in a tin or plastic container with atight-fitting cover.
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