My mom was an experienced cook, gifted with a natural sense of timing and flavors. For years her prize appliance was a stainless steel state-of-the-art Thermador range with grill top and convection oven. Later, she frequently preferred to fire up a huge countertop toaster oven instead.

A highly practical, early environmentalist, Mom viewed the larger oven as wasteful and inefficient for her smaller jobs.  On my visits I viewed this as odd—I figured that somehow her food would taste better cooked in the bigger, fancier unit.

Since we are our parent’s children, I eventually ‘evolved’ and came around to her way of thinking. I had shifted in my cooking, too.  I rarely needed big pans of food. (In fact, my current convection toaster oven is even smaller than hers.)

This caused a whole chain of events to occur. I was in the market for smaller pans and down-sized recipes.  I was on the look-out for one-bowl recipes with fewer ingredients, all which help move the process along.

My food portions went down, too:  it’s either that or eat the whole thing.  I learned about small batch baking:  food is ready fast.  I can be in and out of the kitchen with a plateful of goodies in very little time.

I knew I was on the right path when a small funky cookie jar happened across my path.

Although fewer cookies fill up the tiny jar in a hurry, typically a batch lasts well beyond a week or two.  Even better, cookies on display are a warm welcome for drop-in friends.

Tahini Cookies, Small Batch

Ingredients

• ½ cup tahini
• ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.  Line a baking sheet with silpat or parchment.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together tahini and sugar.  Whisk in 1 egg to lighten, then stir in the vanilla and salt.
3. Combine the flour and baking soda and stir into the mix, blending until smooth.
4. Using tablespoon scoop, drop onto baking sheet. Sprinkle tops with sesame seeds.
5. Bake 15-16 minutes until set and edges begin to brown. Transfer to rack to cool.  Yield 1½ dozen cookies.