Black Sesame Brownies
My matcha brownie recipe is by far the most popular recipe on this blog, so I wanted to create a variation on that recipe with these black sesame brownies. Same idea but with the smoky flavor of black sesame seeds. Next to matcha, black sesame is one of my favorite dessert flavors of all time. It acts like matcha powder in desserts because it balances out sweet flavours really well, so black sesame desserts are inherently not too sweet. And “not too sweet” seems to be the ultimate compliment for desserts in my household.
Ingredients, Substitutions & Adjustments
- Unsalted butter – I used browned butter for that extra nutty flavour. I would recommend using unsalted butter (instead of salted butter), so you can control the amount of salt in your brownies.
- White chocolate – Unlike blondies, chocolate is typically used in a traditional brownie recipe, but since I wanted to see the black color of the black sesame seeds, I used white chocolate instead.
- Granulated sugar – Adds sweetness and moisture to these brownies.
- Light brown sugar – Adds sweetness and moisture to these brownies. You can also use dark brown sugar, but it will make these brownies more fudgy and sweeter.
- Eggs – Adds richness to these brownies. I would highly recommend using eggs that are at room temperature. This helps the eggs mix better with the other ingredients.
- Vanilla extract – Adds flavor to the brownies. Substitute with 1 vanilla bean or an equal amount of vanilla paste.
- Salt for seasoning
- Black sesame seeds – Adds the color and black sesame flavor. Substitute with an equal amount of black sesame powder.
- All purpose flour – This is the main dry ingredient in this recipe.
Making my black sesame brownies
First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Next, grease a 8×8 baking pan with butter and line with parchment paper. Set aside. Make your black sesame seed powder. Toast black sesame seeds for 20-30 seconds over medium heat. Pour into a spice grinder or food processor until they become powder. Set aside.
Heat the butter over high heat until it melts. Lower the heat to low and cook until small brown bits start to appear. Remove from the stove. Add white chocolate to a small bowl. Pour the brown butter over the top and stir until all the chocolate melts. Let the mixture cool for 2 minutes.
In large bowl, combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer until thick and creamy (5-10 minutes). While mixing, stream in your white chocolate butter mixture. Whisk until a uniform batter appears. Lastly, sift your flour and black sesame powder into the bowl. Using a spatula, gently fold the flour into the batter until a black batter forms. Spoon into your prepared baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, take out the brownies and slam them on the counter to get rid of some the air. Sprinkle some flaky sea salt and black sesame seeds over the top. Put the brownies back in the oven. Bake for another 15-20 minutes. Let them cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Tips on how to make the perfect black sesame brownies
- Use a light coloured pan to brown butter – It is a lot easier to brown butter using a light colored pan because it helps you see the color of the butter as it cooks.
- Use a spice grinder to break down your black sesame seeds – I would highly recommend using a spice grinder to break down your black sesame seeds. A food processor works, but it doesn’t really get your that fine powder you want. A finer powder allows you to get that dark, black color.
- Beat sugar and eggs until thick and creamy – Beating the eggs and sugar incorporates air into the brownies, creating a lift in the final product. This helps provide lift without any type of leavening agents like baking soda or baking powder.
- Smack the brownies on the counter – This helps get rid of air bubbles and evens out the shape of the brownies, so they’re not thicker in one part and thinner in other parts.
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Get the Recipe:
Black Sesame Brownies
Ingredients
- ½ cup black sesame seeds, powdered
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 4 oz white chocolate
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp flaky salt, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a 8×8 baking pan with butter and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Make your black sesame seed powder. Toast black sesame seeds for 20-30 seconds. Pour black sesame seeds into a spice grinder or food processor. I would recommend using a spice grinder for the finest powder. Pulse until a fine powder forms. Set aside.
- Heat the butter over high heat until it melts. Lower the heat to low and cook until small brown bits start to appear. Remove from the stove.
- Add white chocolate to a small bowl. Pour the brown butter over the top and stir until all the chocolate melts. Let the mixture cool for 2 minutes.
- In large bowl, combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer until thick and creamy (5-10 minutes).
- While mixing, stream in your white chocolate mixture from step 5. Whisk until a uniform batter appears.
- Lastly, sift your flour and black sesame powder into the bowl. Using a spatula, gently fold both into the batter until a black batter forms. Spoon into your prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Take out the brownies and slam them on the counter to get rid of some the air. Sprinkle some flaky sea salt over the top and put the brownies back in the oven. Bake for another 15-20 minutes.
- Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
These were sooooo good! I used black sesame powder I got from Hmart and was a little skeptical during the first bake, but after I released the air bubbles and put it back in again, I was reassured by the dark color the brownies took on. I definitely will be trying these again with homemade black sesame seed powder to see how it compares! The texture is perfect for when I’m craving something fudgey but also cakey, and the sweetness was just right.
Hi Kayla. I’m so glad you enjoyed these brownies! Personally, I have transitioned to using black sesame powder because it’s just easier. Thank you for making this recipe!
Did you do some crazy color correcting on these photos? Cause there is no way these brownies came out that dark. Like, nah. It’s fine. The photo lures you in and the actual recipe is solid but the reality and the photo don’t match up.
Hi Jenifer. No I didn’t. Thanks for making the recipe!
I have a jar of black sesame paste and am looking for fun desserts to try with it. Do you have any advice on how I could substitute the sesame seeds for sesame paste? I would appreciate the help because your recipe looks delicious!!
Hi Emily! Unfortunately, I did not test this recipe with black sesame paste, so I am unsure how much to add. If I were retesting this with black sesame paste, I’d add 1/4 cup of black sesame paste and then 1/4 cup of flour and see what the consistency of the batter looks like. If it looks loose, I would add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it looks like brownie batter. There is an image of the batter pre-bake after the ingredient section. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help!
You are so kind to reply! Thank you and I can’t wait to give this a shot 🙂
Going to try this, I’ve also seen black sesame butter. Which would be better powder or butter?
I would say black sesame powder since I haven’t tried using black sesame butter. I am not sure how it would taste with the rest of the ingredients.
Just made this recipe. Flavour is great but mine looks more like a sponge cake than brownies. It sure why since I followed all the steps carefully.
Thanks for trying this recipe!
Hi! Do you have a version of this recipe that is measured by weight instead of volume?
Would it be ok to use dark chocolate in this recipe? I am not a fan of white chocolate at all! Thank you.
Hi Gitta. Yes dark chocolate would work! Let me know how they turn out!
I made these over the weekend and they turned out exactly as pictured! I was worried about the other comments that said theirs turned out more like blondies/cakey, however I did not have this issue. I used the same amount of black sesame powder and sifted them to mix with the AP flour. I also mixed the batter for 5 minutes total using a stand mixer, and baked for 35 minutes total and they turned out perfectly fudgy. Can’t wait to make again.
Amazing! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
I made these almost exactly, with just one substitution – white sesame seeds (my store didn’t have black). I know white sesame has a milder flavor but they still turned out great. I ended up with a fudgy, subtle, delicious blondie!
Amazing! I have to try this with white sesame some time!
Great variation on your matcha brownie recipe! I just made these last night but didn’t have any black sesame powder so had to pulse black sesame seeds in the food processor. I didn’t sieve them so there were black sesame clumps but I actually like the texture. These turned out chewier rather than fudgey compared to when I made the matcha brownies–maybe due to the sesame texture, longer bake time, and I didn’t mix the wet ingredients for that long (def less than 5min).
Re: other comments on the light color, my brownies were blondie-like with black specks after the first 20min of bake time when I took them out to bang the pan, but after baking for an additional 15min, they were darker in color like the photos (brown on the outside, black on the inside).
Thank you for making them!!
I’m wondering what would happen if I used a tiny bit of leavening in the recipe? I do need to get an immersion blender or electric hand mixer, as we did this recipe by hand…. So no real lift, but delicious nonetheless. Even with my modified autoimmune protocol diet substitutions… It was delicious and we’ll be making them again. Most likely for my MIL when we go up north for the holidays. She would love these! (I substituted gluten free all purpose flour for the reg flour, and half of the white sugar with coconut sugar. I wonder how it would be with all coconut sugar)
The leavener will help the brownie rise! Let me know if you do try it with all coconut sugar! I imagine it’ll be less sweet.
Hi Becca, the sesame powder can get clumpy and a lot doesn’t get through the sieve. I just end up pouring the last clumps in, but then my batter doesn’t get grey like yours and then I also have a blondie look on top, looks more like a blondie with black dots. How to correct this?
Oh no!! Are you using a food processor or spice grinder? The uniform black color comes from super fine black sesame seeds that have been broken down into powder. A spice grinder works better for breaking it down into really fine powder. You also can buy black sesame powder, so you don’t have to go through all that. I usually press the black sesame into the sieve to break up the clumps. This does take some time, but I find it’s worth it in the end because I get that uniform black color.
I am not sure why you’re getting the blondie look on top. Mine are brown on top and black in the middle. Cooking black sesame seeds at a high temperature will give you that brown crust on all sides. This happens with a lot of my black sesame desserts. Some things I would check are 1) Is your oven temperature accurate? Some ovens have inaccurate temperatures, meaning the internal temperature of the oven is different from what it says on the oven. so you might be over baking them. I would recommend an oven thermometer to resolve this issue. I personally use one all the time. 2) Are you baking them too long? The center should be a little fudgy when you take them out of the oven, and as it cools, it should set. Hopefully this all helps!
Followed this recipe exactly so much so that I converted to grams for accuracy. It was much lighter in color and was very cakey not fudgey. It’s way good but I definitely would cook for much less time. I baked for 10 min less and still feel it went too long.
Thanks for the feedback!
My SO and I made these. Mine also came out as a Blondie color..I have black sesame powder that I buy on Amazon to use in my “porridge” in the mornings..I also used gluten free all purpose flour and I substituted 1/2 of the white sugar for coconut sugar. (I have RA and certain food items and ingredients make my flare worse). I did bake for 10 less minutes also.
Hi Bridget. I’m not sure why they came out a blondie color 🙁 The top should be brown but the center should black. Thanks for trying the recipe.
After the holiday disaster of Brown Butter Matcha Brownies, where I doubled the recipe and didn’t account for a longer bake time, I wanted to give this another try but with black sesame.
I finally got a much needed 8 × 8 square pan! These are plenty sweet after I reduced the white sugar to 1/4 cup. However, they didn’t turn out as fudgy or black as I expected. They were more cake-like than brownie-like but still really enjoyable with black sesame flavour.
Becca, do you know? Did the sugar adjustment change the texture?
Sugar adds moisture and sweetness to these brownies, so that could explain the texture change. If you want to reduce sugar, consider adding an egg yolk to make up for the moisture change. That way you’re adding moisture without increasing the sweetness.
Hello, just wanted to clarify regarding grinding the sesame seeds. In the tips section, you suggest the spice grinder is best, but in the recipe directions, it’s the food processor. Which is the best way, as I have both? Thanks in advance.
Apologies for the confusion! The spice grinder is definitely the best option. I will update the recipe to reflect that!
Great. Thanks!