Linga (cookie)

Thin sesame biscuits with the seeds toasted before they go in, not after.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

• 150 g sesame seeds
• 200 g plain flour
• 120 g dark muscovado sugar
• 100 g butter, soft
• 1 egg
• 0.5 teaspoon baking powder
• 0.25 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons milk

Method

1. TOAST THE SEEDS BEFORE THEY GO IN, not after. In a dry pan over a medium heat, shaken constantly, 4 to 5 minutes, until they are gold and popping and smell strongly nutty. Raw seeds baked into a biscuit never develop that: the biscuit is done before they are, and all you get is texture.
2. Hold back 50 g of the toasted seeds for the outside and let the rest cool completely before mixing.
3. Cream the butter and muscovado 3 minutes, then the egg, then the milk.
4. Flour, baking powder, salt and the 100 g of cooled seeds in, worked to a soft dough. Chill 30 minutes.
5. Roll teaspoons into balls, then roll each ball in the reserved seeds so the outside is well coated.
6. Flatten each one to 4 mm with the base of a glass. THIN IS THE WHOLE POINT -- these are meant to snap, and at 8 mm they are a soft cookie with sesame in it.
7. Well apart on lined trays. They spread.
8. Bake at 170C for 12 to 14 minutes, until the edges are distinctly darker than the middles.
9. Leave them on the tray 5 minutes to firm before moving. Straight off, they bend and tear.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes