good for what ails you (and a great gift, too)

i'm having one of those

evenings

in which, 

i'm out of sorts.

i've had a perfectly nice

couple of days.

excellent in fact,

enjoying shabu shabu

and a beverly hills 90210

marathon

with jenn

(think: pilot),

then sushi with my family

and a cozy day today,

swapping stories

of our first memories

with my mom and sister

while hiding out

under blankets.

(my first memories, 

by the way,

involved:

crackers that i wasn't allowed

to eat thanks to a severe childhood

egg allergy,

the wooden spoon on a

vanilla-chocolate dixie cup,

and one i forgot to mention earlier,

shaking a baby food jar 

filled with cream,

to make butter.

all food, my mom 

pointed out.)

it was perfectly lovely .

and yet, 

when i got home tonight,

i wanted to

do nothing more

tonight than curl up

with

a blanket

and my sulky self.

thank goodness,

i remembered i hadn't

yet told you about these

sesame cookies that 

are long overdue for

a write-up.

they're cute, sweet, easy,

and i'll give them an 

extra point

for getting me off the couch.

i made a batch weeks ago,

when we were visiting

our friends,

colleen and christian,

in philadelphia.

the last time we stayed

with them,

i brought a basket

filled with tropical, 

hard-to-find-fruits -

a gift obviously brought on by

my growing fascination

with our themed thursday nights.

this time, i thought about

it for 30 seconds 

and said,

spare them the drama,

bake cookies.

and i knew which ones.

after my last 

need-to-make-cookies obsession,

i had been left with

a second place contender,

these tahini-laced spheres.

--

come to think of it,

i was cranky the 

day that i made these.

i had to be at work early -

like six in the morning early -

when i left later that afternoon 

it was raining

so hard that i felt 

forced to sit in car

for 15 minutes before

daring to drive

and then when i finally

got home,

i realized i had

left my cell phone in the car

and i had

already removed my soaking

wet pants and sneakers.

i briefly considered 

waiting for the weather

to clear, grabbing a basket,

and picking

up a bunch of

kiwiberries.

but i took a rare nap,

watched some bad

daytime tv

and was good to go.

the next day, i was 

relieved to arrive

at their doorstep

sans a prickly pear.

--

these cookies, luckily,

don't take much convincing.

butter and eggs are creamed

together with sugar

and tahini,

then blended with flour.

once chilled,

you roll into balls,

dunk in sesame seeds

and bake until golden.

simple. 

and funk-minimizing.

they're relatives of a

peanut butter cookie,

for sure, but,

they have their

own unique creamy-crunchiness,

and

the hulled

seeds on the outside

provide a unique

coating.

if you've ever tasted

tahini on its own, 

you know

that its, well...rather,

um...it makes peanut

butter seem like a refreshing

glass of milk.

here, the butter and sugar

certainly change the

stick to the roof of 

your mouth factor,

but freshly baked,

i think they're still

a little...thick.

i was happily surprised

the next day,

when i discovered that

cooling, sitting

and settling

does wonders

to mellow the texture.

also, lucky for me tonight,

still cranky, yet

at least not mournful

that i've wasted away 

the hours,

is that while the recipe

says the cookies

are good for five days,

i've learned that

you can enjoy one,

three weeks

(yes, three - don't judge me)

later, 

texture and flavor, 

still in tact,

and perfect for a little

pick-me-up.

sesame seed cookies

adapted from gourmet magazine

make sure that you stir the tahini very, very well to help incorporate the oil. if you have to, dump it into a bowl to stir before measuring. one thing that i considered with these, was removing a couple tablespoons of granulated sugar from the body of the cookie and instead of tossing it with the sesame seeds before rolling. if you try it, let me know. also, the original recipe, created for the holidays, instructed to coat the cookies in luster dust. it was a little fancy for my needs. plus, while i'm willing to snack on these, i have issues with the warning posted with the original recipe: "luster dust is nontoxic. however, the fda recommends that it be used for decorative purposes only."

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup well-stirred tahini

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup sesame seeds, preferably hulled

in bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

in bowl of an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat together butter and sugar 3 minutes, or until pale and fluffy. add tahini and vanilla extract; beat 30 seconds more, or until completely blended, pausing to scrape the bottom of the bowl. reduce speed to low; add flour mixture in 2 batches, mixing until a crumbly dough forms. transfer dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a disk. chill dough 1 hour, or until firm.

arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. heat oven to 350˚f. line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

transfer sesame seeds to small bowl. 

roll dough into 1-inch balls. roll balls, one at a time, in seeds to coat; arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. bake 12-15 minutes, or until cookies are puffed and starting to crack, switching position of sheets halfway through. cool 10 minutes on pan; transfer to rack and cool completely.