Sesame Chess Pie

I’ll confess right off the bat that I’ve never tried regular chess pie before. Heck, I only heard of it recently as basically a sugar pie, like a pecan pie without the pecans, and it sounded too sweet to deal with. But when I came across a recipe for Sesame Chess Pie I was intrigued. I’ve always liked experimenting with adding savory flavors to my sweets, and tahini is like a less assertive peanut butter in that sense. I decided to give it a shot, figuring that I could use the extra egg whites to make macarons later on (more on that later).

The pie itself is a cinch to whip up– especially if you use a store-bought pie crust– and aside from the tahini calls for standard pantry ingredients (at least in my pantry). It puffed and browned beautifully in the oven before settling down during cooling, and smelled delicious.

I served mine with a scoop of no-churn orange-sesame ice cream, which was basically this recipe except I substituted sesame seeds for almonds.

Sesame Chess Pie (from Food52.com)

• 1 ¹/₄ cups (250 grams) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornmeal
• 3 tablespoons flour
• ¹/₂ teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• ¹/₄ cup tahini
• ¹/₃ cup buttermilk (or you can use yogurt or sour cream)
• ¹/₂ cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 single-crust pie dough recipe, rolled and crimped into a 9-inch pan, unbaked
• 2 tablespoons white sesame seeds

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Combine sugar, cornmeal, flour, and salt in a medium bowl.
• Whisk in eggs, egg yolks, and tahini until smooth.
• Whisk in buttermilk, cream, and vanilla until smooth.
• Pour mixture into unbaked pie crust and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

• Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, then lower heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for another 35-40 minutes, until puffed and golden.

• Let cool at least an hour before serving. Don’t bother to chill– it’s best served warm or at room temperature.

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