Open (Mouth) Sesmeeee

It's gettin' down to the wire, and I've been doin' tons of cooking and baking this week in prep for Christmas Eve and day. I'm takin' a break from that while my dough starter rises for a crusty Italian bread I'm making called Pugliese. And no, I don't take the cop out route with one of those damn bread machines. I'm ol' school, baby. I like to get my hands gooey.

Anyway, I finally uploaded a shot of the date filled cookies I made last week, along with a pic of another Italian cookie that's long been a favorite of mine; I've always just called them sesame cookies. I did 'em all fancy like this year, studding some with white and some with black sesame seeds. I also added about a tablespoon of tahini to my dough for an extra rich sesame flavor. They came out beautifully. YUM.

Here are the shots. Check out my nifty mirrored platter I used for the sesame cookies. I pull out all the stops.