Z's Cup of Tea

When my family started SCD, all candy – even the natural sort, sweetened with fruit juices – was out. We had to make our own, so candy became a real treat and, how I remember it, kind of an occasion. I haven’t made a lot of candy as far as variety goes due to the chemistry involved with traditional, conventional candy and the dietary restrictions of SCD, though I’m always working on extending my forte. I hope to have more candy recipes here as time passes (we’re already pretty good on the marshmallows front.)

There’s nothing much to say about these sesame snaps. Requiring few ingredients, they’re very simple and very easy to make, and they’re done within a relatively short period of time. Soon after making, they’re quickly eaten up. In this batch’s case that you see here photographed, I ate most of it, perhaps three quarters. What can you do when it’s left out in the open? I pretty much started eating it after I took the photos.

The last photo just before the recipe, below, I’m particularly proud of. I like love all the photos in this post actually, but this last one is my favourite because it was unplanned and came out that way. A happy accident. I like the macro, how most of the photo is blurred/out of focus, drawing the eye to the very front and you can see the detail of the sesame seeds. As I was showing my sister these photos, while we were looking at this last one, I said, “I love accidents.”

My sister: “Zoe, be specific about what kind of accidents you mean!”

Me: “I mean happy accidents. Serendipity!”

The ever-improving and expanding recipe index I’ve done the recipe index over again and improved it more. Once again, I re-organized it (in progress), adding some new categories that will hopefully aid in your navigation in addition to my labeling recipes either SCD and or GFCF. I had some issue with the nut-free category as far as coconut is concerned (coconut – nut, fruit, or seed?) but I rolled with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency‘s ruling out that coconut doesn’t currently fall under the category of tree nuts as most people with tree nut allergies can safely eat coconut.

Sesame Snaps

Use the amounts based on what you have on hand. A general rule of thumb is to use half the amount of honey in proportion to sesame seeds. For this batch pictured, I used 1/2 cup sesame seeds and 1/4 cup honey with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Adding coconut milk or coconut cream adds a slight creaminess, without a trace of coconut flavour, and leaves a smooth taste on the tongue, although this is optional and doesn’t take anything away from making awesome, homemade sesame snaps. (The sesame snaps pictured were made without the addition of coconut milk, by the way.)

Note: if you only have roasted sesame seeds on hand, those work, too.

Ingredients:

1/2 to 1 cup raw, white sesame seeds
1/4 to 1/2 cup honey
1/2 to 1 tsp. salt
1/2 to 1 tbsp. coconut milk or coconut cream (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a baking or cookie sheet with parchment paper. Mix the sesame seeds, honey, salt, and coconut milk (if using) together in a bowl. Spread with the back of a spatula on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until you can smell the honey and sesame seeds, and golden brown in colour. As seen in the photos, it will spread. Remove from oven and cool, allowing to set. (To make the setting faster, you can put it in the freezer for about 5 to 7 minutes, until hardened.) Cut into squares or rectangles, or just break off in irregular shapes. They are soft and sticky, so be sure to have a piece of parchment or wax paper in the vessel you wish to serve or display them in. If you want them crunchier, stick back in the freezer for a few moments, long enough to harden but not become frozen. Enjoy!