Seed Cookies

Sesame seed cookies are an Italian-American Christmas favorite, also known as biscotti regina or just simply Italian sesame cookies. The dough is treated like a pie crust at first, with shortening cut into the dry ingredients before the wet goes in. That cold-fat-cut-into-flour technique is what gives the cookies their characteristically tender, slightly crumbly texture.

This is a serious-batch recipe. Twenty dozen cookies (240 total) is what 2.5 pounds of flour produces, making it the kind of recipe Italian grandmothers pull out for holiday cookie boxes when they need to feed an army of relatives. The dough handles well and rolls easily once everything is mixed.

The sesame coating is the signature finish. Rolling each cookie in sesame seeds before baking creates a nutty, toasted exterior that pairs beautifully with the soft interior. The seeds toast as the cookie bakes, releasing their oil and aroma.

Pro Tips

• Toast the sesame seeds lightly before rolling for deeper flavor. Untoasted seeds taste raw.
• Don’t skip the buttermilk. Its acid activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.
• Let the margarine come fully to room temperature so it incorporates evenly with hand-kneading.
• Cut all the dough portions to equal size for uniform cookies that bake at the same rate.

Variations

• Use butter in place of margarine for richer flavor.
• Add a half teaspoon of anise extract along with the vanilla for traditional Italian flavor.
• Halve the recipe for a more reasonable 10-dozen yield.