No Bake Korean Sesame Seed Cookies
They’re incredibly easy to make and quick to boot!
These Korean sesame seed cookies are called “tasik” or “dasik” (다식). And they’re traditionally served during Seollal (Korean New Year’s). Back in the dynastic period, only nobility ate these cookies. Despite being easy to make, they look elegant and are essentially a tea cookie. So be sure to eat them with your pinky raised! 😉
In addition to Seollal, dasik is made for birthdays, weddings, and other special events. You’ll usually see them piled high in cylindrical towers (“goim” 고임). It’s quite impressive to see, which is the point. They’re supposed to symbolize bounty and wealth. And they’re way beyond my skill level. A leaning tower of dasik wouldn’t be quite as effective!…Maybe with some glue…. 🤔
But you don’t need to make a tower to enjoy dasik. Actually, you don’t need much at-all! That’s why I love them! Since there’s no use of any heating elements, even my toddler can help! He’d like it even better if I used a mortar and pestle (that’s the traditional way), but I’m too impatient for that. So I use the blender!
Also, traditionally, the cookies are made using a beautiful wooden dasik mold. But I don’t have one and I don’t like having things that only serve one purpose. So I got these cookie molds that I can use for any type of cookie. But you can use cut-outs or none at all and just roll them into balls instead. It’s all up to you!
The recipe below yields six cookies using the cookie mold I have. But yours may defer.
Equipment
Medium bowl
Cookie mold (or you can roll them into balls)
Ingredients
Roasted sesame seeds – 1 cup
Rice syrup – about 3 tablespoons (Honey is fine too.)
Directions
- Using a blender, grind up the roasted sesame seeds until the seeds release oil. It’ll turn into a powdery paste.
- In a medium bowl, add the roasted sesame seed paste and rice syrup. Mix well until it becomes a dough.
Powdery dough - With sesame seed oil on your hands, to prevent sticking, divide the dough into about 1″ in diameter sized balls.
- Grease the cookie mold with sesame seed oil.
- Press a dough ball into the cookie mold. Or smooth down flat and then press your cookie mold down. It just depends on the type of cookie mold you’re using.
- Carefully remove the shaped cookie from the mold. Arrange on a plate and enjoy with some tea or coffee!
Notes
You can use white or black sesame seeds. The important thing is that they are roasted/toasted. I’ve also heard of people using other types of powders to make dasik such as rice, beans, ginger, and chestnuts. Pretty much if you can make it into a powder, then you can add rice syrup or honey to it and mold it into dasik!
In addition to using different powders, you can experiment with a pinch of cinnamon and a dash of salt. And let me know how it goes in the comments!