My memory of Benne Wafers starts with a tin in my grandmother's pantry. It was a big one -- the kind meddling kids like myself found fascinating. I was up for anything labeled "wafers" but my grandmother told me first, stop going through the pantry. And second, that Benne Wafers are sesame seed cookies and that the tin was empty. I did not believe her on both counts.
Years later, I learned that benne seeds really are sesame seeds. Enslaved West Africans carried them to the American South, where they had long grown and cooked with sesame, or "benne." The seeds didn't take hold in Texas, but they thrived in the warm coastal climate of the Carolinas and Georgia and became part of the region's cooking. Eventually Charleston, South Carolina became especially known for its very thin, crisp benne seed cookies, which bakers still make today.
Charleston's Benne Wafers
Now here's where things diverge. The famous Charleston Benne Wafers are thinner and more fragile than these. These benne seed wafers are slightly thicker and with a snap. The recipe is from a friend who passed away recently at the age of 97. She got it from a lady who made the cookies for United Daughters of the Confederacy meetings in North Carolina. So these are still a very Southern cookie, just thicker than the Charleston variety.
Dough Consistency
The recipes for thinner versions have you spoon the dough onto baking sheets where they spread. This recipe gives you a thicker dough which you can shape into cylinders and slice and let spread naturally or pat down thin and cut with a tiny round cutter (I use the top of an olive oil bottle). The olive oil top worked very well for me so give it a try if you have one. Rubbing the inside with a little of the oil helps the cookies pop right out.
At some point in the near future I'll add a recipe for the very thin ones, but I'm a fan of these and prefer them a little less sweet. These are still sweet, but they won't fall apart in a bag. I'm keeping them in a bag stuffed into a tin in the freezer.
Recipe
Benne Seed Wafers
Ingredients
- 1 cup tightly packed brown sugar (220 grams)
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened (Plugra) (170 grams)
- 1 extra-large egg (56 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, stir well and spoon into cup (250 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt (Morton kosher), reduce to ½ if using salted butter
- 1 cup toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- With an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until light and creamy.
- Scrape the side of the bowl, then add the egg and vanilla. Beat for another minute.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, then add to the batter and beat with the lowest speed of the mixer to make a soft dough.
- Stir in the toasted sesame seeds. Divide dough into 4 sections and roll each section into a long cylinder/tube about ¾ inch in diameter. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 300°F. Have ready two large parchment lined baking sheets.
- There are different ways to assemble these cookies. You can simply cut ¼ inch thick rounds off the cylinders and smash them down a tiny bit or you can break off large chunks of the dough, pat down to a little over ⅛ inch thick and use a very small round cutter or something like an olive oil top to cut rounds. The second method will give you the most uniform cookies.
- My friend baked her cookies at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes. You can try that if you'd like. They will brown quickly, but maybe too quickly in modern ovens.
- I prefer baking at a low and slow 300 for about 18 minutes or until they are golden brown. Slide the parchment paper off the sheet (they'll still be soft at this point) and let them cool completely on the counter. They will crisp as they cool. Store in an airtight container or a tin and keep it in the freezer.
- If you are not getting enough caramelization using 300 degrees F., you can raise the heat to 325F. and start checking at 14 minutes.
Anna says
The trick with the bottle cap is to make sure it still has a little oil stuck to the top. The little cookies will pop right out. Rolling into a ball and pressing down would be just fine too. As for the toasted sesame seeds, I usually use un-toasted but Santa Clause brought me a bag of pre-toasted ones (Ziyad)so I've been using them. I'll have to try them in the Biscotti Regina! Also, were the sesame cookies you ate as a child Stella D'oro brand? Those are so good, but I haven't had any in a while.
Darlene says
About a month ago, I bought a fresh container of sesame seeds to make your Biscotti Regina/Sesame Seed Cookies. They turned out well, although I would like to try them next time with toasted sesame seeds, as that is what was used in Italian sesame cookies I had as a child. I'm excited to toast the remaining seeds and use them in this recipe. I'm surprised that you achieved more uniform cookies by patting the dough and using the bottle cap to cut (although the bottle cap use is ingenious!). I've never heard of this type of cookie, and I'm looking forward to trying it! Thanks for the background story.