It’s amazing how long low-priority things can stay on my to-do list. I bought some black sesame butter in LA about 2.5 years ago, meaning to bake with it, and I just… never got around to it. It sat in my pantry so long that it eventually expired, and I had to buy some more. But after failing to use it for so long, I was determined to get straight to it with the fresh jar. When my order arrived, I started plotting a recipe immediately. I have more ideas planned, but I wanted something simple that would give me a sense of how it is used in baking.
Sesame is a pretty distinctive (albeit subtle) flavor in my mind, and despite it being pretty subtle, it somehow works well in both savory and sweet situations. My brother was very skeptical of the black butter paste, and argued that sesame is not a flavor. To him, it’s a flavorless seed on a hamburger bun. While he never conceded that he could taste sesame as a distinct flavor, or even enjoyed it, that did not stop him from consuming several of these blondies.
When I asked him if he had any further remarks on these blondies, he said “I think they were perfectly fine, and I question why the fiction of sesame seed was necessary to preempt the construction of a tasty blondie.”
The nutty sweetness of the brown butter was a good pairing with the sesame. Brown butter, usually associated with sweets, can add a nutty depth to an otherwise plainly sweet baked good. Sesame adds another element of “savory” and almost-nuttiness to these blondies, and then is balanced out by the purely sweet chocolate. It works well! If anything, I think it could have used more of the black sesame swirl, but I wasn’t sure how they would balance out and didn’t want to overdo it.
While these may not look the most appealing (some jet black splotches on top of blondies, admittedly, doesn’t look great), I think they serve well to convince any sesame skeptics in your life.
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PinIngredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 14 Tablespoons unsalted butter, browned + slightly cooled
- 1 and 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or, a chopped chocolate bar)
- 1/4 cup black sesame spread
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch square pan or line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the finished blondies out. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the browned butter and brown sugar together until combined. Then whisk in the egg, extra egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk or stir until combined. The batter will get pretty heavy and thick. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Evenly spread batter into the prepared pan. Dollop tablespoons of black sesame spread on top, and swirl it gently with a knife.
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out *mostly* clean. A couple moist crumbs are ok, as long as it’s not wet. Remove from the oven and cool blondies completely in the pan set on a wire rack.
- Cover and store leftover blondies at room temperature for up to 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for 1 week.