I first made and loved these black sesame-espresso shortbread pinwheel cookies months and months ago and knew I’d be including them in my 2019 Christmas Baking, which, now that it’s December, has begun! I made these as part of the Food52 Holiday Swap – swirly cookies have a special place in my heart at Christmas (see these chocolate peppermint pinwheels), as does shortbread (see here, here, and here), and these are a sophisticated take on both with their smoky black sesame and espresso flavours and perfectly crisp, light texture.

To make these pinwheels, you mix together one simple dough, then add ground black sesame seeds and ground espresso to one half. If you can’t find black sesame seeds or don’t have a spice grinder, tahini would be a good substitute – use about 3 tablespoons and omit the water. You won’t get the same colour as from the black sesame seeds, but the ground espresso will still provide plenty of contrast for the swirl.

Black Sesame-Espresso Shortbread Pinwheels

Adapted very slightly from The Kitchn. Makes about 4 dozen cookies. Click here for a printable PDF of the recipe.

In a spice grinder, grind 4 tbsp black sesame seeds until fine and pasty.

Place in a small bowl and mix together with 2 tsp finely ground espresso and 1 tsp warm water. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together until light:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Turn the mixer off and add 2 cups all purpose flour, then mix on low speed to combine, scraping down the bowl to ensure even mixing.

Remove half the dough from the bowl and place on a piece of parchment paper. Add the black sesame-espresso mixture to the dough in the bowl and mix well to combine. Place the sesame-espresso dough on a second piece of parchment paper.

Cover the plain dough with a second piece of parchment paper and evenly roll out to a 8″ x 11″ rectangle. Peel off the top piece of parchment paper, place it on the sesame-espresso dough, and roll out to a 8″ x 11″ rectangle.

Stack the sesame-espresso dough, still sandwiched between the 2 pieces of parchment, on top of the plain dough and place on a baking sheet. Chill for about 30 minutes, until firm enough to handle more easily.

Remove the dough from the fridge. Peel the top parchment off the sesame-espresso dough and stack the 2 doughs on top of each other, lining up edges as precisely as possible. Trim the long edges.

Tightly roll up the dough from one long edge into a log. Wrap up in parchment paper and chill for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350˚F (325˚F convection) with 2 racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Take the chilled cookie log out of the fridge. Unwrap it and set the parchment paper aside, then cut the cookie log in half lengthwise.

In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 cup turbinado sugar and 2 tsp finely ground espresso. Sprinkle it evenly over the reserved parchment paper, then roll each of the cookie logs in it, pressingly firmly to adhere.

With a sharp knife, cut the logs into 1/4″ thick slices and place them on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about a half inch of space between them.

Bake in the preheated 350˚F (325˚F convection) oven for 7 minutes, then rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom and back to front and bake another 5-7 minutes, until the edges are firm and the cookies are just set in the centre.

Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.