Lebanese Sesame Cookies #BakingBloggers

This month, Sue of Palatable Pastime told the Baking Bloggers that for February: "Share your baked Middle Eastern food with us, sweet or savoy. It can be a main dish, dessert,  pastry, anything as long as part of it is baked." Here's the #BakingBloggers virtual Middle Eastern bakery...

• Apricot Pistachio Cake from Food Lust People Love
• Basbousa Cake from Pandemonium Noshery
• Cottage Cheese and Veggies Borek from Sneha's Recipe
• Easy Middle Eastern Puff Pastry Cheese Bourekas by Fatih, Hope, Love & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Laffa Bread from Making Miracles
• Lebanese Sesame Cookies from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Mana'eesh (Palestinian Flatbread) from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Parda Pulao - Iraqi Parda Plau from The Schizo Chef
• Roast Chicken Shwarma from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Umm Ali from Caroline's Cooking

Lebanese Sesame Cookies 

Given that I could go sweet or savory for this challenge, I was tempted to make a version of stuffed grape leaves. The Greeks call them dolmades; the Turks call them dolma; and the Lebanese call them warak enab. No real differences that I could see. And I've already made them stuffed with quinoa and beef, with the addition of pumpkin puree, and even with lentils and chestnuts. So, I wanted to go a different route. I made a Persian version of baklava, called baghlava, but the photos were not pretty. So, I'll try again soon. 

So, for today, I'm sharing an easy, biscuit-like cookie that isn't really sweet enough to satisfy a real sweet tooth. But I find them irresistable; I enjoyed dipping them into espresso.

Ingredients makes 3 dozen 1-1/2" biscuits

• 2-1/4 C flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 C butter, softened
• 1/2 C organic granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 t pure vanilla extract
• 1 T whole milk + more for finishing
• 1/4 C raw sesame seeds or more if you want to completely coat the cookies
• Also needed: baking sheets, parchment paper

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk together the flour and baking soda and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream the softened butter with sugar until lightened and fluffy, approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and 1 T milk until well-combined.

Slowly add in the flour mixture and beat until it comes together into a stiff dough. Roll the dough into thick ropes and cut into 1" segments. Place them about and 1" apart on the prepared baking sheets and gently flatten the top of the rope.

Brush the cookies with milk and sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds. Place the sheet in the oven and bake for 16 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and cool the cookies completely. They will harden as they cool and be delightfully crisp.