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Edible Rune Divination: Black Sesame Shortbread Rune Cookies

These black sesame shortbread rune cookies look like beautiful stone runes but are also absolutely delicious to eat. I am so excited to be sharing this recipe, which comes from a book I’ve been loving, Kyotofu: Uniquely Delicious Japanese Desserts by Nicole Bermensolo and Elizabeth Gunnison Dunn. It’s published by Running Press.

The recipe in Kyotofu is just for straightforward black sesame shortbread cookies, a fantastic recipe, and then I took it a step further and turned these cookies into runes. Now, I don’t know much about runes or rune divination, so bear with me here and I welcome any corrections in the comments section.

You’ll need the following ingredients:

• 2.5 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of toasted black sesame seeds
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted softened butter
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon whole milk (I used soy milk and it worked fine)

First, cream together the wet ingredients: the softened butter with the sugar, and then beat in the egg, and then add the whole milk (per the Kyotofu recipe). I used soy milk only because that’s all I had on hand, and it came out just fine.

Next, grind the toasted black sesame into a fine powder. I used my mortar and pestle and while grinding, added some happy vibes by chanting mantras. Why not. Darn thing takes forever to grind with the mortar and pestle anyway. If you don’t chant mantras to pass the time, you might go insane.

Then I sift in the all-purpose flour, salt, and baking powder in with the grounded black sesame flour. This is the “dry” mix. Combine the dry and wet mix together to form a dough.

The recipe says to refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. I let it chill for 2 hours.

The original recipe in Kyotofu then says to roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch sheet and stamp out cookies with a cookie cutter. Here’s where I deviated, mostly because I don’t own any cookie cutters. [Not true. I have a giant Hello Kitty cookie cutter that cuts out giant cookies, but I didn’t want giant black sesame shortbread cookies. I wanted these to be relatively bite size.]

Instead, I rolled the dough into about 3/4-inch balls, just a bit under 1 inch. You’ll want your hands floured while you work with this dough.

I used a scotch whiskey glass to stamp the balls down into flat discs.

Again, make sure the bottom of the whiskey glass is evenly floured or else your dough balls with stick to the glass. Spoken from experience.

I stamp out the cookies to about 1.5 inches. The whiskey glass makes perfect little discs.

So I was going to stop here, bake, and make cookies, but lately I’ve been teaching myself runes (beginner here, like, less than beginner since to be honest, I haven’t actually started the learning…) and those cookie discs looked so very plain, so I got the idea to turn these cookies into runes.

I used a cheese knife to carve the rune symbols into the discs. It’s my understanding that I’m using the Elder Futhark alphabet here but hey, what do I know.

Here’s Dagaz, the last rune in the alphabet but the first rune I carved because my reference sheets I had printed out were out of order. Oops. Yet it’s apropos that this is the first rune cookie I carved out because it means breakthrough, epiphany, realization, and I feel like that’s exactly what happened when I decided to make runes out of black sesame shortbread.

I ended up not doing the whole alphabet because this was so effing labor intensive. I also ran out of dough– well, half the dough. I had divided the dough into two balls to chill, and this batch of cookies was made with one of those balls, or one half of the dough. So the full recipe here yields quite a bit of rune cookies actually.

I couldn’t get over how cute these cookies looked. They looked just like stone or clay.

Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees F for (according to the book) 15 minutes. I baked for about 13 and when I took a peek at the cookies, felt like were way done, so took them out at the 13 minute mark and then let it finish “cooking” on the still-hot cookie sheet out on the kitchen countertop.

These cookies are not just for looks. They’re tasty. Light, buttery, sweet but not over-the-top sweet, and rich with that black sesame flavor and aroma. Yum!

Again, I couldn’t get over how these cookies resembled actual runes. If I didn’t present them on a plate and instead set it on an altar surrounded by velvet, crystals, and candles, you wouldn’t have been the wiser.

By the way they do expand a bit in the oven, so they came out probably larger than normal rune divination pieces.

I didn’t want to handle these cookies too much the way you might actually proceed with rune divination. So instead, I had them randomly arranged on a plate, closed my eyes, asked my question, and then felt around with eyes still closed to pick up a rune (cookie).

I drew the Tiwaz rune. I would say this rune is very “me.” The divination exercise works! [Although if you’re legitimately going to try this, I’d carve out rune cookies for the entire runic alphabet… my divination was “rigged” since I wasn’t divining with the full alphabet. Doh.]

OR. Better yet– instead of divination, turn these into blessing cookies! Infuse the cookie prep and baking process with that intent, energetically rev up the cookies, and then those who eat the cookies will be blessed with the blessings their chosen rune has in store for them! Talk about an amazing potluck or bake sale item!

Rune adventure cookies

Lagertha’s Shield and Rune Cookies

Katheryn Winnick (Lagertha) on Vikings is resilient and beautiful. I love everything about the show and the costumes and shields are intricate. I wanted to make a Lagertha's Shield cookie using royal icing for the colors. I made a simplistic version of the shield since the original design is quite detailed. I saved a little dough from the Lime Shamrock Cookies using a round cutter for the shield, and formed a small spherical cone shape for the top. I made a very small batch of royal icing. Vikings is my favorite show and on this THORsday, I present you Lagertha's Shield and Rune Cookies.

The name FUTHARK, for the The Viking Alphabet corresponds with the first six letters (Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, and Kaunan). I studied Biological Anthropology in graduate school and took several courses on the Vikings and European Archaeology. I focused my Vikings research during their occupation in Greenland, and have been hooked on the Vikings show since it first aired. I have read all the sagas and studied Viking and Norse mythology. In my teens and twenties, I dabbled in runic divination but never got very far with it. I provide a few links below in case you want to read more about the runic alphabet and the significance of each rune.

I made Rune Cookies using a Sesame Shortbread Recipe. The cookies have an appearance of stone, which I think makes the runes look realistic. I saw this recipe on Benebell Wen and had to try it. The original recipe is from the cookbook, KYOTOFU Uniquely Delicious Japanese Desserts by Nicole Bermensolo and Elizabeth Gunnision Dunn. I adapted the recipe, reducing the sugar, adding an extra egg and another teaspoon of Coconut Milk. The cookies are soft and chewy in texture, and the taste is nutty from the toasted black sesame seeds and not too sweet, which I love. To make the Runic Alphabet, I used my cookie stick to carve and a small round cutter for the shape. I had some dough left after carving out the runes and made round shortbread to enjoy with tea. The recipe is below.

Black Sesame Seed Shortbread Ingredients
2 ½ cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour

½ cup Toasted Black Sesame Seeds

¾ teaspoon Baking Powder

¼ teaspoon Coarse Salt

½ cup, 1 stick, Unsalted Butter, softened and cut into 8 pieces

2/3 cup Granulated Sugar

2 tablespoons Milk (I used Silk Coconut Milk)

Directions
Add black sesame seeds to a skillet on medium heat and toast for about 5-7 minutes. You will smell the nutty essence when it is done. Remove from heat. Set aside to cool completely. Add to mortar and pestle and grind down for a few good minutes. I gave up after 5 minutes.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl and combine with whisk or spatula and then add the cooled toasted black sesame seeds and stir; put aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment on low to medium speed. Mix until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes.

Scrape sides of bowl with spatula and mix again for 5-10 seconds more.

Add eggs one at a time and then the coconut milk. Scrape down bowl with spatula and mix again for another 10 seconds.

With the mixer on low, slowly add flour mixture until incorporated.

When dough clumps around paddle attachment, it is ready.

Form dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and cool in fridge for 1-2 hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Take 1/2 of the dough, use rolling pin, and roll out between 2 pieces of parchment paper to desired thickness, and cut out small circle shapes for the runes.

Repeat rolling the dough and cutting shapes until you have used it all. I used a larger round cutter with the extra dough.

Place cookies onto parchment lined baking sheets and space apart 2 inches. Use cookie stick or knife to carve out the rune alphabet.

Put cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking. They hold their shape when you do this.

Bake cookies for 13-15 minutes, or until center of cookie no longer looks wet. My cookies baked in 13 minutes.

Let cookies cool in baking sheet for 5 minutes and transfer to wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.

Let cookie sheets cool completely before you bake again. I put the cookie sheet in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Repeat until you have baked all the cookies.

Lagertha’s Shield Small Batch Royal Icing
Ingredients
1 XL Egg Whites

1 teaspoon Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed

2 cups Powdered/Confectioners' Sugar, sifted

Directions
In a medium size bowl, whisk together the egg whites and lemon juice.

Transfer to stand or hand held mixer with paddle attachment and mix on high for 1-2 minutes.

With mixer speed on low, slowly add sifted sugar and beat on low until smooth.

If needed, you may add 1 teaspoon of water at a time until you reach the right consistency. Watch the Joy of Baking (link at the end) video for both Flooding Consistency and Piping Consistency Royal Icing. If you prefer a recipe using Meringue Powder, it is also available at this link.

I separated the icing in 2 plastic containers with lids according to the two colors I needed for tinting, and used Americolor Soft Gel Paste Food Color in Super Black, and Turquoise. Add 1-2 drops at a time until you reach the color you want.

Keep the containers covered until you are ready to color since Royal Icing hardens fast.

I transferred the icing immediately into Squeeze Bottles using a funnel to prevent it from spilling. Keep the squeeze bottle tips covered. If the Royal Icing hardens due to exposure to air, spray a little bit of water and shake bottle well holding the tip with your finger. Test the icing consistency on a paper towel before decorating the cookie.

Use a paintbrush or cookie stick to reach edges and use tip of cookie stick or a toothpick to pop any air bubbles.

I lined a cookie sheet with paper towels and placed the cookies on cooling tray over it.

I did the outline first and waited about 15 minutes and then filled the cookie. I waited a few hours before adding the black border around the shield.

I put a little bit of royal icing on the bottom of the small spherical top of the shield, and covered it in black royal icing. While it was wet, I took a small paintbrush and messed up the icing to make it looked rugged and worn. After all, the shields were used in many battles.

Cookie

Cookie (クッキー, Kukkī) is an item in the Rune Factory series.

In terms of accommodations, the Carnival Magic offers a variety of staterooms, including spacious suites and cozy interior cabins. Overall, the Carnival Magic ship provides a wealth of features and amenities to ensure that passengers have a memorable and enjoyable cruise experience..

Contents

• 1 Appearances
  • 1.1 Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
    • 1.1.1 Cooking
    • 1.1.2 Gifts
    • 1.2.1 Cooking
    • 1.2.2 Gifts
    

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