These easy Chocolate Black Sesame Cookies are delicious but super simple to make in UNDER 30 MINUTES. You simply stir the melted butter into the dry ingredients. (No stand mixer is needed, saving you precious wash-up time!) The nuttiness of the black sesame elevates the chocolate and makes it a more grown-up, not overly sweet cookie, with crisp edges and a SOFT, cake-like interior. (Vanilla extract not needed.)

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โญ Why This Recipe is a Star
- Easy: Like my brown sugar cookies, almond cookies and 3-ingredient nutella cookies, these scrumptious Chocolate Black Sesame Cookies are super simple to make. Melt the butter, then stir in into the other ingredients, scoop and bake! No mixer needed! For more easy Asian cookie recipes for fall, click here.
- Perfect grown-up dessert: they're sweet, but not too sweet, thanks to the nutty flavor and slight bitter flavor of the black sesame. If you liked my black sesame mochi cupcakes, you'll love these cookies!
Note: the baked cookies turn out almost black, so maybe not the best Chinese New Year cookie if your family is traditional!
What is Black Sesame?
Black Sesame is the sister to white sesame: they're the same thing but black sesame seeds still have their hulls.
It has a deeper and more earthy taste than white sesame, which has a slightly sweeter flavor. Although white sesame is slightly more common in the Asian kitchen, there a lot of Asian recipes which use black sesame too, such as black sesame soup and black sesame latte drink!
๐ฅ Ingredients
You will only need a few simple ingredients:
- unsweeteened black sesame seed powder: this is the star ingredient! You can buy a bottle in the Asian grocery stores, online or grind your own from black sesame seeds. Simply dry toast them till fragrant then blitz in a blender, food processor, or spice grinder. (Click through for more details- we don't want to blend for so long that it turns into black sesame paste!) You can even pound in a mortar and pestle if you have the time and inclination! I usually give measurements in Cups, but would recommend weighing the sesame seed powder and brown sugar, as they both tend to clump.
- unsalted butter: This allows you to control the saltiness of the dish. If using salted butter, omit the salt from the recipe.
- eggs: use room temeprature, large-sized eggs. (If you want richer cookies, you can just use the egg yolks and save the egg whites for macaroons.)
- chocolate fevres: I use Valrhona chocolate fevres with around 50-60% cocoa. Note that using a chocolate with less cocoa will make the cookies sweeter. Conversely, using chocolate with a higher cocoa percentage will make them more earthy. You can also use chopped chocolate. I love chocolate but be careful not to use too much, or your cookie will be too soft and crumble.
- all-purpose flour: you can substitute with self-raising flour. (Leave out the baking soda if you do so. The amount by which the cookie rises will change, depending on the formulation of the self-raising flour.
- brown sugar: I recommend weighing this as it clumps crazily, so if you rely on sccoping it, you're unlikely to get the right amount for the recipe. (The cookies will be too sweet or too bitter.)
- baking soda: NOT baking powder.
- salt: omit if using salted butter
Note: if you prefer a stronger sesame flavor, add 2-3 Tablespoons of sesame oil to your recipe and use chocolate chips instead of chocolate fevres. The chocolate chipscontain stabilisers and the chocolate won't melt into the cookie dough. (However, as a chocoholic, I find that these black sesame chocolate chip cookies aren't as nice as the original recipe, in which the chocolate melts into the cookie! They'll also look more black than the original cookies.)
๐ Variations & Substitutes
- Browned butter sesame cookies with chocolate: If you forgot the butter and left it on the stove till it browned, the recipe still works! In fact, the nuttiness of the brown butter is perfect for black sesame flavor!
- White sesame cookies with chocolate: No black sesame? You can use white sesame seeds instead! Just grind the sesame seeds up into a fine powder, as shown in this post. The flavor will be less intense and less complex but it will still still be tasty. I suggest increasing the amount of sesame seed powder by 25% and switching to white sugar (instead of brown sugar) but it's not a must.
๐ช Step-by-Step Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 350F/ 177C/ 157C fan.
- Over low heat, melt the butter. (Do not let it boil.)
2. Whilst the butter is melting, beat the eggs well.
3. In a large bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients then mix in the chocolate fevres. (I mix in the flours first, so that you can easily break down any lumps in the black sesame or sugar.)
Note: If the butter has melted before you're done, just keep it warm on the stove, using the lowest possible heat setting.
4. Carefully pour the hot, melted butter into the flour mixture and mix. (The chocolate will end up melting into the dark dough.)
5. Once the dry and wet ingredients are well-mixed, stir in the eggs, making sure the scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Note: We mix in the eggs separately from the butter, so that the hot butter will not cook the egg.
6a. Use a cookie dough scoop or ice-cream scoop to scoop the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet, parchment paper or a Silpat.
Optional: if you want to see chocolate bits in the cookies, add 1-2 chocolate fevres per cookie.
Note: They will spread in the oven so leave 2-3 inches in between.
6b. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-11 minutes till the edges are crisp but the interiors are still soft and cake-like.
6c. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely before storing. (Best enjoyed warm!)
๐ฅก How to Store
Raw cookie dough can be stored in the fridge for 1-2 days or in the freezer for up to a month. (This actually helps the flavor of the cookie develope better, than if you bake the cookies immediately.)
Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-4 days, depending on humidity. I don't recommen refrigeratingm or the soft centre will turn hard.
๐ฉ๐ปโ๐ณ Expert Tips
Tip #1: Some people say chilling the dough improves the texture and flavor of these nutty black sesame cookies. (Basically you scoop the dough then chill the dough balls for at least an hour before you bake the cookies. If not, it's hard to scoop after the dough becomes cold and hard) Personally, I find the improvement is pretty subtle, so don't worry if you don't have time to do so.
Tip #2: The cookies are pretty soft. Allow them to cool for a few minutes on the Silpat before using a fish spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to completely cool before storing.
Tip #3: For prettier cookies, garnish the top of the cookie with some white sesame seeds before baking.
Tip #4: You can grind a big batch of black sesame powder and keep it in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. (But obviously the flavor is best when it's fresh!)
๐ญ Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can make gluten-free black sesame cookies by using alternative flours like almond flour or hazelnut flour that go well with the nuttiness of sesame. (I do not recommend coconut flour, as the taste will totally change.) I am still experimenting with ratios to achieve the desired texture.
Black sesame seeds and white sesame seeds have similar nutritional profiles, but some studies suggest that black sesame seeds may have higher antioxidant content due to their darker color. Traditional Chinese medicine also believes that black sesame helps keep hair black!
Store black sesame seeds in an airtight container in a cool, dry place (preferably the fridge.) This will help prevent them from going rancid and maintain their freshness.
I'm currently testing that now- to see if the cookie holds- and will update soon. Chinese sesame paste and black tahini are different, so the taste won't be quite the same but, honestly, with so much chocolate, how can it not taste good!
๐ฅ Other Black Sesame Recipes
Enjoyed this easy Black Sesame Chocolate Cookies Recipe? Please leave a 5-star ๐๐๐๐๐rating in the recipe card below! If you REALLY liked this Asian cookie recipe, please consider supporting it by buying me some sesame seeds! ๐ (No obligation though!) Thank you and have a great day!
Easy Chocolate Black Sesame Cookies (No Mixer)
Equipment
- Pot and heat-proof whisk (or fork/ spoon)
Ingredients
- ยฝ Cup unsweeteened black sesame seed powder (125g or 4.4 oz) You can buy a bottle in the Asian grocery, online or grind your own from black sesame seeds. If grinding your own, there will be some volume loss after grinding, so grind 5% more or 6.25g/ 0.22 oz. Highly recommend weighing the sesame seed powder and brown sugar, as they both tend to clump.
- 0.4 lb unsalted butter If using salted butter, omit the salt from the recipe.
- 2 eggs room temeprature, medium to large-sized
- 1ยผ Cup chocolate fevres, around 60% cocoa Or to taste. Note that using a chocolate with less cocoa will make the cookies sweeter. Conversely, using chocolate with a higher cocoa percentage will make them more earthy. You can also use chopped chocolate. (If you substitute with chocolate chips, note that those contain stabilisers which may impact how the chocolate melts into the cookie dough. The taste won't be as nice too.) You wil need about 10-20 more if you want to see chocolate pieces in the dough, as the 1ยผCups of chocolate simply melts into the dough.
- 1ยฝ Cups all-purpose flour you can substitute with self-raising flour. (Leave out the baking soda if you do so. The amount by which the cookie rises will change, depending on the formulation of the self-raising flour.
- โ Cups brown sugar 160g or 5.64 oz. I strongly recommend weighing this as it clumps crazily, so if you rely on sccoping it, you're unlikely to get the right amount for the recipe. (The cookies will be too sweet or too bitter.)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda omit if using self-raising flour
- ยผ teaspoon salt omit if using salted butter
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350F/ 177C/ 157C fan.
- Over low heat, melt the butter. (Do not let it boil.)
- Whilst the butter is melting, beat the eggs.
- Whisk all the dry ingredients then mix in the chocolate fevres.ย
- Pour the melted butter into the dry-ingredients and mix. (The chocolate will end up melting into the dough.)
- Once well-mixed, stir the eggs into the dark dough.
- Use a cookie dough scoop or ice-cream scoop to scoop the cookies onto parchment paper or a Silpat. They will spread in the oven so leave 2-3 inches in between.Optional: if you want to see chocolate bits in the cookies, add 1-2 chocolate fevres per cookie before putting in the oven.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes till the edges are crisp but the interiors are still soft and cake-like.
Notes
Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.
Nutrition
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H says
Sounds delicious can I use tahini instead?
Zen says
Hi H, Tahini is not exactly the same as Chinese black sesame so the taste will be a bit different but still delicious! In addition, tahini is a paste and we are using black sesame powder here, so the texture will change as well.