Gullah Gourmet

Peanut Butter-Benne Balls

Peanuts came to South Carolina from Africa. They were brought here by enslaved Africans. Africans also brought sesame seeds with them to this country. They called sesame seeds    
“benne.” Benne and peanuts are good for you.They both provide protein, which your body needs to make muscles.This is a recipe for cookies made with peanut butter and sesame    seeds.They are easy to make and very delicious.    
Tools:    
• Mixing bowl    
• Large spoon    
• Waxed paper    
Ingredients:        
• 2 cups peanut butter    
• 2 ½  cups powdered sugar        
• 2 ½ cups powdered milk    
• 2 cups honey    
• 2 cups sesame seeds    
Directions:    
Mix together peanut butter powdered sugar, powdered milk and honey. Shape the dough into 1" balls. Spread out the sesame seeds and some more powdered sugar on  a piece of    waxed paper. Roll each cookie around in the powdered sugar and seeds. Chill cookies in the refrigerator for an hour. Eat and enjoy!    

Benne Seed Wafers 

This recipe for the well-known Gullah cookie is a good activity for grades 3-6. If it isn’t possible to cook with your students, you might prepare the Benne Wafers at home and serve them to the class. After passing the handout to your students, ask for volunteers to read the information about sesame seeds. As an extension of this activity, ask the students to read the “Gullah History” section of the “Gullah Tales” site to see if they can find out about other Gullah foods. The Bantu people of West Africa call sesame seeds “benne.” They are still sometimes known by that name in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, especially when referring to popular cookies made with sesame seeds called benne seed wafers. Sesame seeds are really good for you. They have lots of protein and B vitamins and they are low in carbohydrates. The oil from sesame seeds is used for cooking by people all over the world. The seeds can be included in lots of different kinds of foods. Here is a recipe for benne seed wafers–delicious, healthy cookies! This recipe makes 24 cookies. That might be enough for each student in your class to have one. But these cookies are so yummy that people usually want to eat two. 

• 1 cup sesame seeds 
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 
• 4 Tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter 
• 1 egg, lightly beaten 
• 1/2 cup flour 
• 1/4 tsp. salt 
• 1/8 tsp. baking powder 
• 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice 
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 325ºF. Lightly oil baking sheets and set aside. In a heavy skillet, toast the sesame seeds over medium heat until they are golden brown. Be careful not to burn them. Cream the brown sugar and butter together in a medium-sized bowl. Add the egg, flour, salt and baking powder and mix together to form soft dough. Stir in the toasted sesame seeds, lemon juice, and vanilla extract; mix well. Drop the dough onto the baking sheets by the teaspoonful, leaving space between them for the cookies to spread. Bake for 15 minutes, or until they are slightly brown at the edges. Let them cool briefly on the baking sheets, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Eat and enjoy!

Math 

Double the Recipe 
We have included a math exercise based on the Benne Wafer recipe. You can do this with the whole class or make it an individual student activity. Can you double the recipe to make 48 cookies?
 Benne Seed Wafers - Makes 48 cookies. 
______ sesame seeds
 ______ firmly packed brown sugar
 ______ unsalted butter
 ______ eggs, lightly beaten
 ______ flour
 ______ salt
 ______ baking powder
 ______ fresh lemon juice
 ______ vanilla extract