Sesame Cookies

1 1/2 c. almond flour
1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. kosher salt

1/2 c. tahini

1/2 t. vanilla extract

4 T. maple syrup

2 T. toasted sesame seeds

2 T. toasted black sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk together dry ingredients.

In a separate, smaller bowl, combine the tahini, vanilla, and maple syrup.  Stir.

On a small plate or shallow bowl, combine the sesame seeds and set aside.

Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir together until a uniform dough forms.

Scoop and roll the dough into 1 inch balls, then place them in the sesame seeds.  Roll around to cover completely.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and use the bottom of a glass to gently flattento 1/2 inch thickness.

Bake for 8 - 9 minutes until the surface of the cookie/bottom of the cookie is just beginning to turn light golden in color.  Be careful not to overbake.

The cookies will be very fragile when taken out of the oe so cool on the sheet tray for 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Yield:  about 18 cookies

Nonna Tell Me a Story - Lidia Bastianich

Lidia's Christmas Kitchen
Illustrated by Laura Logan
RP Kids (Running Press), 2010
$15.95
56 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Diagonal yellow striped "tablecloth" with small cookies whose recipes are given at the end of the book.

Nonni Lidia gathers her five grandchildren around her and tells the story of finding a juniper tree in the woods and decorating it for Christmas when she was a child in Italy. The family didn't have much, and they decorated the tree with candies and fruits, homemade cookies, strings of bay leaves and dry figs.

When the time comes for the grandkids to help Nonni trim the tree, they feel the store-bought decorations are not sepcial enough. So they all set to work cooking and creating the decorations in the same way Nonni had when she was a young girl.

The last third of the book are cookie recipes - more than a dozen really yummy ones. And the last two pages give hints for decorating the tree with fruits, nuts, Christmas cookies, first aid cotton, and cinnamon sticks.

Apparently Lidia Bastianich is a famous tv chef. Not the type of show I watch - but I bet it's fun. The book's the kind of book I read - it's great.