Midnyte Snack - Benne Wafers from The Restorer.

Welcome to Midnyte Snack, the feature that combines books and food!  

What could be better?

Book: The Restorer (The Graveyard Queen #1) by Amanda Stevens.

Snack: Benne Wafers.

 

When Amelia went to visit John Devlin's aunt, she was served refreshments and one of them was benne wafers.  

 

Benne is the Bantu (an African language) word for sesame. The slave population brought these treats with them from Africa in the 1600's and soon became a staple on the plantations in the south.  Because sesame is high in protein, workers would eat these during their days of hard work.  Benne wafers are popular in the Lowcountry, a region along South Carolina's coast including their sea islands.  The Bantu believe that eating these bring good luck. 

Recipe for Benne Wafers:

1 Cup Sesame seeds

1 Cup brown sugar

4 TBLSP butter (1/2 stick)

1 egg lightly beaten

1/2 Cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Cream butter and sugar.  Add egg.  Mix together the dry ingredients and slowly add to the butter mixture.  Drop by teaspoonfuls about an inch apart onto a well greased cookie sheet or parchment paper so they have room to spread.  Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes.  

I had a somewhat difficult time finding sesame seeds.  Finally, I came across them when I went into one of our smaller supermarkets near me.

You need to stir these quite often, as they brown (and can burn) quite quickly.  Don't be surprised when some of them burst like popcorn!

The "batter"was really like a kind of paste.

Unfortunately, they didn't taste too good to me.  Or my husband.  I even found 2 on the floor, when the cat obviously jumped up on the counter and knocked them down so he could eat them...but he didn't so I guess he didn't even like them.  In my research these are supposed to be thin so I think these were too big.   The flavor of the sesame seeds was too overpowering.  If I ever tried to make these again, I might cut the amount of seeds and I would definitely try to make them more wafer like instead of cookie like.

The Restorer was the first time I had ever heard of Benne Wafers.  Have you ever come across them before?  If so please share!