This is the year of the dog and since I’ve got a lot of time on my hands, I’ve decided to be a little creative and make something different. I wanted an Asian twist to my usual cookie dough recipe to be included into my Chinese New Year menu so I’ve decided to add roasted black sesame powder. It is relatively easy to make these cookies but as I was rolling out the cookie dough, I’ve realised that the recipe could be simplified by using cashew nut halves for the ears instead of having a separate cookie dough – that would save half the time. Anyhow it is always fun trying out new things.

After the cookies were baked, I asked my friends what does it look like. One said dog and the other two said koala. Seriously koala? When I looked at it closely, those with shorter ears do look like koalas whereas those with longer ears looked like dogs. Just happened that I made these cookies a day before Australia Day so it could not be more apt!

Nutrition per cookie (one batch makes 50)

Ingredients

1. 140g unsalted butter (room temperature)
2. 100g caster sugar
3. 220g plain flour
4. 20g roasted black sesame powder
5. 1 tsp baking powder
6. 2 egg yolks
7. 1 tsp vs
8. 50 pieces of round chocolate chips
9. 20g white chocolate melted

Directions

Preparation time: 45min
Baking time: 15min

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
3. Add in the two egg yolks and 1 tsp of vanilla essence and continue to cream
4. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the creamed mixture. Fold it in until a dough forms
5. Separate out 100g of cookie dough, cling wrap it and place it into the fridge to chill (preferably overnight, if not in the freezer for an hour)
6. Fold in 20g of roasted black sesame powder into the remaining cookie dough, cling wrap it and place it into the fridge to chill (preferably overnight, if not in the freezer for an hour)
7. Once chilled, roll out the black sesame cookie dough into tiny balls and place them on the parchment paper
8. To make the ears, cut out tiny pieces of the plain cookie dough and roll it into an oval shape. Using a knife, cut it into half and place it in the middle of the black sesame cookie ball (It is important to place it in the middle as the cookie spreads when baking so the ears would spread out to the side if not placed in the middle). If you choose to use cashew nuts, just half the cashew nut and place it in the middle of the cookie ball
9. Add in either a white chocolate chip or a dark chocolate chip below the ears for its nose
10. Place it in the oven to bake for 15min or when the cookie turns golden brown
11. Leave it to cool on a cooling rack
12. Place the white chocolate in the microwave in bursts of 30 seconds until it melts
13. Prepare a round piping nozzle and place it in boiling hot water (this is to prevent the white chocolate from cooling down and hardening in the nozzle)
14. Prepare the pipping bag and nozzle and place the melted white chocolate into the pipping bag
15. Carefully pipe two dots as eyes

There you have it! Cute little doggo/koala looking cookies for snacks!