Sweet Red Bean Cookies

When D first gave me her list of “to make” Japanese foods, she ended with “red bean ice cream, of course.” So I took that idea and ran with it, and I ran right into these sweet red bean cookies.

Of course. I really wanted to make it. I really, really did. After all I love ice cream SO much.  I had the ice cream maker canister in the freezer and everything, but in the end, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It’s just too cold out. I can get behind ice cream at almost any time. Even if it’s 20 degrees out (like when Mom and I went to Ghiradelli over Christmas for hot fudge sundaes). But it was TWO degrees today. Two. And that, my friend, is my ice cream limit.

However, I couldn’t shake the red bean theme from my head, and since I had lots of time on my hands thanks to another adult snow day, I came up with Sweet Red Bean cookies.  Most red bean cookie concoctions are ravioli-like; a sweet, chewy rice flour dumpling filled with the red bean filling, but I wanted to try something a bit different so I hodgepodged a few cookie recipes to come up with this one. Plus, I got a shiny new mixer for Christmas that I had yet to use.

Thanks, Mom!

The result?

Good!  I surprised myself with this one. While taste-testing the batter (come on, who does NOT eat cookie dough? Those who possess more self-control than I…), I feared the red bean flavor would be lost, and the result would taste like nothing more than a sugar cookie. However, once they were out of the oven and cooled, I was pleased to taste a subtle yet distinct sweet red bean flavor, complemented by the sesame seed coating.

Crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, these cookies were a success.

So, maybe not Japanese in reality, they are Japanese in spirit, and that’s what counts.

Sweet Red Bean Cookies

Chrissy

These red bean cookies contain sweet and creamy adzuki red beans create a different kind of cookie- cakey and crunchy at the same time!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Japanese

Servings 24 cookies

Ingredients

  

• ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup sweetened red bean paste available at Asian or other ethnic grocers
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp powdered ginger optional
• pinch ground cloves optional
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cup toasted sesame seeds divided

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and airy, about 5 minutes.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.
• Add the red bean paste and salt. Incorporate well.
• Add in the baking soda and flour and mix until just combined. Add 1/2 cup sesame seeds.
• Roll about 1 TB of the batter into a ball. Roll the ball in the remaining sesame seeds, as desired.
• Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet about 1- ½ inches apart
• Bake 14-16 minutes until lightly golden.  Let sit on the baking sheet about 3 minutes before moving to a rack to finish cooling.

Notes

Reader's notes: Let sit in the freezer for one week before eating- they're better this way! Also, ginger and cloves heighten the taste!

Keyword cookies, dessert