These biscuits were inspired by some I bought at the Japan Centre last year: little brown, crisp, buttery biscuits with bits of adzuki bean. They were ridiculously moreish and I scoffed the lot at my work desk in under an hour. I had to recreate them and after a bit of investigation discovered that they were just smaller, slightly overbaked langues de chat (cat’s tongues). This and finding toasted black sesame seeds at the Japan Centre led to a modification of that biscuit.
Inspired by this post, I made spoon shapes to give away for Christmas – they’re much cuter than the original shape and would also be adorable presented with a scoop of ice cream. For myself, I made little one-bite dots that disappeared alarmingly quickly…
Oh, and they’re perfect with a cup of tea!
Black Sesame Langues de Chat
adapted from Bouchon Bakery’s recipe.
makes about 48 traditionally shaped ones.
4 tbsps/60g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed icing sugar (85g)
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup/75g flour
black sesame seeds
Cream the butter, sugar and salt together until well combined and very creamy and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract and the egg whites, adding them one at a time and combining well after each addition. Fold in the flour until well combined. Stick the mixture into the fridge for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180C.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone line. Fill a piping bag with a 1/4 inch tip or a plastic bag (snip the corner after filling) with the batter and use to pipe lines (for a traditional shape) or blobs (for circles) or lines with a large blob at the end (for spoons) on the baking sheet. (See the photos.) Leave at least 3cm between the biscuits as they’ll spread a lot. Sprinkle with black sesame seeds. Bake for about 8-10 minutes or until the edges are just tinged brown; don’t be afraid to let those edges brown – if not, they insides may still be a bit chewy. Halfway through baking, turn the baking sheet around – I found that this helped with even baking in my oven. If you’re using two baking sheets at the same time, switch and turn the sheets around halfway through baking.
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. I doubt they’ll last that long!
Sun, 24 Jan, 2010 at 20:19
they looks really delicious, Su-Lin, they would be lovely with my morning tea. x shayma
Sun, 24 Jan, 2010 at 20:25
Looks great with coffee or tea on a very cold morning.
Sun, 24 Jan, 2010 at 21:43
These look both tasty and cute (in a perfect with a cup of Darjeeling kind of way). The sesame must add a lovely nutty edge.
Sun, 24 Jan, 2010 at 22:57
I can understand why you would eat a lot, they look wonderfully delicious!
Sun, 24 Jan, 2010 at 23:38
They are just too cute!
Mon, 25 Jan, 2010 at 01:10
i love how these biscuits bake thin with a lovely golden brown outer ring! gorgeous. and anything goma i adore. 😉
Mon, 25 Jan, 2010 at 17:20
Wow, they look very elegant, I love the addition of black sesame seeds too. I wonder how they would taste with adzuki beans, i love making adzuki beans ice cream.
Tue, 26 Jan, 2010 at 02:50
how adorable, and they sound delicious. Interesting recipe that I’ve just got to try!
Tue, 26 Jan, 2010 at 11:21
Love the spoon shapes – they’re very cute.
Tue, 26 Jan, 2010 at 22:42
These look great – and not too complicated as well. And rather handily, I have some leftover egg whites in the fridge… 😉
Wed, 27 Jan, 2010 at 18:33
Thanks, everyone! I really did prefer the black sesame to the “original” adzuki bean only because I felt the bean didn’t add much in terms on flavour. But perhaps this recipe can be modified such that the adzuki bean flavour really does come forward.
Sun, 31 Jan, 2010 at 09:57
Well done! They’re absolutely gorgeous, super-cute!
xox Sarah
Tue, 5 Nov, 2013 at 05:31
Hi Tamarind and Thyme,
We are looking for Langue du Chat” biscuits maker who can provide us this biscuits for our stores in Australia. I was wonderinf if you would be interested.
Please get back to me in this email: taationgco@yahoo.com.
Thanks,
ALfred