Black sesame seeds
If you have been following my blog or my YouTube channel, you must know that I love using black sesame seeds in my bakes. Black sesame swiss roll and black sesame chiffon cake are just two of my favourites. If you are not a cake person, these black sesame pastry sticks might be the ONE recipe in which you can incorporate black sesame seeds into one of your bakes.
I’m sure this pastry recipe will surprise your taste buds. It’s savoury and has a unique nutty flavour which comes from the black sesame seeds. These black sesame pastry sticks are perfect snacks for gatherings with friends or family, an extra ingredient to add to all the laughs and drinks.
“National Pastry day – 9th December!”
What you’ll need
- Softened unsalted butter – needs to be beaten until fluffy in texture and pale in colour in order to get the melt in your mouth texture
- Sea salt – to enhance the savoury flavour
- Cooking cream – helps to create the flaky and puffy texture
- Cake flour – to create a tender texture
- Black sesame powder – to achieve the distinct black sesame flavour
- Black sesame seeds – to produce that nutty flavour when you bite into it
Black sesame powder
You can either use a store-bought one or make your own. When I lived in Singapore, I used to shop for this unique ingredient for Asian bakes in a very famous local baking supply shop. However, since relocating to the UK, I usually buy this ingredient online here instead of making my own. It’s so much easier than grinding it yourself. If I can save some time for myself, why not?
If you can’t find the powder in your country, don’t worry. You can read my blog Black Sesame Chiffon Cake to learn how to grind your own black sesame powder.
Alight, the problem of finding black sesame powder is resolved!
So what are we waiting for? Let’s start!
Watch the video tutorial instead
How to achieve the delicate texture
The steps to make these pastry sticks are pretty straight forward, nothing fancy, I promise!
But … in order to get the delicate and flaky texture, there are a few points you do need to pay a bit of attention to.
- If you use salted butter, you can omit the sea salt. I use unsalted butter and add sea salt into it because I can have complete control over the saltiness.
- Be patient at the beating stage, you need to beat the butter until it becomes fluffy in texture and pale in colour. This is a key stage.
- Take out the chilled cream just before you need it; at its most chilled, it can give the pastry sticks a flaky and puffy texture.
- Mix the wet ingredients (butter and cream) with the dry ingredients (flour, black sesame powder and black sesame seeds) by hand to avoid over-mixing the dough. This also prevents the dough from forming too much gluten and acquiring a tougher texture.
- Make sure the dough is hard enough to hold and soft enough to cut. It can prevent the dough from breaking while cutting it into a stick.
- My baking time is just a reference, so much depends on your own oven. Keep an eye on your first batch because the last thing we want is to burn them. The edges of the sticks should turn golden brown and a bit dry on top.
- Last, but not least, let the bakes sit on the baking tray for about 5 minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack because if you move them straight away out from the oven, they tend to break easily.
There you have it, as I always say, I am 100% sure that if I can do it, so can you!!!
Give this recipe a try, let me know if you have any questions in the comment box, I’ll answer them as soon as I can.
Black Sesame Pastry Sticks
INGREDIENTS
- 60 g unsalted butter (soften)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 50 ml full-fat cream (chilled)
- 100 g cake flour (sifted)
- 20 g black sesame powder
- 30 g black sesame seeds
INSTRUCTIONS
- Sift the black sesame powder in a bowl. Set it aside.
- Place the softened unsalted butter and sea salt in a mixing bowl.
- Beat at medium low speed using a hand held mixer until the mix becomes fluffy in texture and pale in colour. You may need to stop the mixer once or twice at this stage and scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the butter is well beaten.
- Add the chilled cream into the mixture and continue to beat until everything is well combined.
- Place a sieve on the mixing bowl and sift in the cake flour, then remove the sieve.
- Add the sifted black sesame powder. Mix well, using a silicone spatula until everything is well incorporated and you can't see any flour.
- Add the black sesame seeds and continue to mix well until the seeds are well distributed.
- Sandwich the dough in two sheets of baking paper.
- Gently roll out the dough into an approximate size of 26 x 18 cm and in 5 mm thickness.
- Place the rolled dough on a baking tray and chill it for 30 to 60 minutes in the refrigerator.
- When the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 170°C.
- When the dough is ready, take the chilled dough from the fridge and place it on a chopping board. Peel off the top sheet of baking paper and place it on a baking tray.
- Trim off the edges of the dough using a sharp knife in order to get straight even pastry sticks. This step is totally optional.
- Cut out each stick in the size of 13 x 1.5 cm and place it on the lined baking tray, spacing them about 1 cm apart. Use the knife as a guide to straighten each stick.
- when finished cutting, bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown and dry on the surface.
- Let the pastry sticks sit on the baking tray for 5 minutes before transferring them onto the wire racks to cool down completely.
- Enjoy! It really is a perfect snack for any occasion.
VIDEO TUTORIAL
NOTES
- Watch my video tutorial to see the whole process in motion.
- For your reference, my black sesame pastry sticks took 17 minutes to bakes. Please keep an eye on yours because every oven is different.
- I found it is easier to use a spatula to transfer the delicate baked pastry sticks onto the wire racks, be careful doing this.
- If you use salted butter, you can omit the sea salt.
NUTRITION
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More tasty recipes for your next bake
- Black sesame Swiss roll – a pillowy soft cake for anyone who like black sesame flavour
- Black sesame chiffon cake – 100% no shrinking airy fluffy cake
- Choux pastry with black sesame pastry cream – a fusion bake using French pastry with a touch of Asian flavour
Keep baking! 😉
