This Italian Sesame Cookie Recipe is based on www.ItalianRecipeBook.com ‘s recipe for Italian Sesame Cookies. Maybe due to using a different brand of flour than what the recipe writer used I had different results and my dough was so dry I couldn’t make cookies out of it. I cut the recipe in half too because it made far more cookies than I can even give away. Then to half of the recipe – I added more butter, a Tablespoon of water, a whole lemon zest instead of a half and maybe due to my oven I had to bake the cookies 25 degrees F higher to make them come out. In the end I wound up with delicious not-too-sweet cookies. I made about 34 cookies (with 1/2 of the original recipe) I can see eating one or two cookies for a serving……so I’ll estimate about 20 servings.

Ingredients for around 20 servings

1 3/4 cup flour

4oz unsalted butter – room temperature and slightly melted

1 Tablespoon water

1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon sugar

1 egg

1 lemon – just the zest

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of sea salt

1/2 cup sesame seeds

Directions

Set Oven to 375 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet or sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl mix together all the ingredients except for the sesame seeds. (flour, butter, water, sugar, egg, zest, baking powder, salt)

The dough gets rolled into small logs (something between a pen size and your pinky. Make each log almost as long as your thumb. Dip the log in water and sprinkle and roll in sesame seeds. Space some on baking sheet and Repeat till done.

The baking sheet goes on the middle rack till lightly browned. Ovens do differ some. In my oven this took 25 minutes.

Italian Sesame Cookies

A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!!! To www.ItalianRecipeBook.com for sharing their Italian Sesame Cookie Recipe so I could come up with what I got here!

I made pizza a few times before here but I usually don’t measure and tried to explain what I do the best that I can. I always made two pizzas at a time because it is just about as easy to make two as one and then you have leftover pizza for at least another time or times. Home made pizzas are made different than Pizzeria Pizzas…….The home oven just doesn’t get that hot and is electric or gas……For a home made pizza you can add olive oil to the dough and cook the crust first at the highest heat that you can. The second baking should be done on a stone to try to get a crisp crust. Serving size is always impossible to determine. I don’t know if you want one slice or four slices……So that means between 16 servings and 4 servings depending on if everyone eats one slice or 4 slices……….I’ll rough guesstimate……I’ll say the two pizzas will be at least 6 servings.

Ingredients for at least 6 servings

2 cups 110 degree F water

1 Packet yeast – 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 Tablespoon sugar

Directions

This goes in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

You wait (up to an hour) till you have a nice thick foamy top.

Then you add

16 ounces flour (today I used all purpose)

1 Tablespoon sea salt (I prefer course sea salt)

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit at least an hour.

Then you add another 16 ounces of flour. Knead and knead and knead forever……or at least 6 minutes.

You won’t use all the flour but will use most of it. some the dough will sit in and you cover your dough ball bowl with plastic wrap again and leave it alone for a few hours. I start my dough between 7 and 8 am and use the dough between 1 and 2pm.

Preheat your oven for as high as it goes……….(Mine goes to 550 degrees F)

My pizza pan and my pizza stone can’t handle 550 degrees so I use a baking sheet that I first spray lightly with nonstick spray to avoid sticking……Then I spray with olive oil….and sprinkle the sheet tray with semolina.

The dough gets sandwiched between parchment paper and plastic wrap. I roll it with a rolling pin. Then peel the plastic wrap off and flop the dough over the pan and peel the parchment paper off.

Pat the dough to fit better in the pan…….Place on a middle rack for 7-8 minutes or until lightly brown on the ends.

If you have a pizza stone….You can leave the oven door open to cool off the oven a bit and when it’s down to around 300 degrees you can put your pizza stone in and heat it up to around 450 degrees (to PREFERABLY MANUFACTURES DIRECTIONS) for about an hour and top the dough to your liking till melted….maybe only 5 minutes…not much more.

ENJOY!!!!!

(below is pizza with fresh mozzarella cheeses, pesto, sauce, tomato, basil

A few other pizzas I did.

Have Fun!!!

Enjoy!!!

I’m so proud of myself…..I came up with a tasty apple pie filling and kicked it up a notch with something maybe nobody already thought of before……..yuzu kosho…..That amazing wonderfully mostly citrus-ee…..a little heat and more….condament. It really makes apple filling pop if you got the flavors just right……First I pre-baked a nice thin crust. I made the filling. I made a walnut crumb topping and then I put them all together and baked it off. I make very thin crusts on pies. If you are not a fan of a thin crust then you are welcome to double the crust recipe but timing will differ. Depending on serving size this make around 8 servings.

Ingredients for around 8 servings

3 1/2 lbs green apples – peeled, cored, cut in small wedges

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3 Tablespoons corn starch

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 lemon – just the fresh juice for the filling******** and save the zest for the walnut crumb topping********

2 Tablespoons sweet butter – cut into small cubes like small peas

1 teaspoon yuzu kosho

1 cup flour – for crust

1/4 cup canola oil – for crust

1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar – for crust

1/6 cup water – for crust

1/4 teaspoon baking powder – for crust

3 1/2 Tablespoons cold butter – grated – for topping

1/2 cup walnuts lightly crushed – for topping

1 yolk – for topping

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest – for topping

1/4 teaspoon lemon extract – for topping

1/2 cup flour – for topping’

3 Tablespoons corn meal – for topping

1/4 teaspoon sea salt – for topping

1/6 cup sugar – for topping

1 1/2 Tablespoons brown sugar – for topping

non stick spray

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Make the filling. In a large bowl mix together the apples, sugars, corn starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, lemon juice, butter, and yuzu kosho. Pour this mixture into shallow pan or pans and cover with foil. This goes in the oven for about an hour or until cooked.

Make the crust.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, oil, vinegar, salt, water, and baking powder. Roll this out very thin and place in a sprayed 8-9 inch pie pan. (I roll mine on parchment paper with plastic wrap over the dough to get it very thin) This gets pre-baked in the oven for 15 minutes.

Make the topping – In a medium bowl combine the butter, walnuts, yolk, lemon zest, extract, flour, corn meal, salt, sugars. Dump this on a baking sheet and bake it about 25 minutes.

To. pastry shell add the apple filling. Top the filling with the walnut crumble put this back in the oven for around 20 minutes.

ENJOY!!!!!!