I feel like every Asian household has that metal tin of cookies in it. At least every household that that I’ve been to. One of my favorites were this cookie sandwiches that would usually feature some kind of cream in them. So that’s what these sandwiches were meant to be an homage to. I went with turbinado (a courser cane sugar that has a pleasantly earthy texture and a nice crunch) shortbreads for the cookie, since I wanted there to be a nice level of sugar in the dough. For the filling, I did a burnt tahini ganache. The burnt tahini came from me trying to experiment with tahini paste the same way I did with miso. The result? A smoky, pleasantly nutty finish that worked well in a ganache. So that’s literally it for this recipe. Cookies and a filling.

Makes 12 sandwiches:
For the turbinado shortbread:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup turbinado sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and butter to form a fine crumb. Mix into that the vanilla and egg to form your dough. Chill down the dough for 10 minutes then roll it out on a floured surface to about 1/8th inch thickness. Cut out and transfer 1 inch squares to a lined baking tray. Repeat until you have used up all of your dough. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking to guarantee even browning. Cool down the cookies before removing from the pan.

For the burnt tahini ganache:
1/4 cup tahini paste
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup dulcey or blonde chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
a pinch of salt

Pour the tahini onto parchment and bake at 350 degrees F for 5 minutes, or until begins to caramelize. Pour into a pot with the other ingredients and stir on low heat until everything is fully dissolved. Pour into a sheet tray and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Whip the ganache, then transfer to a piping bag and pipe between the sandwich cookies.