I got the idea from the American Heart Association Cookbook that my husband bought from a book sale a couple of weeks ago. I’m a big fan of sesame seeds and the idea of combining them with butter and honey attracted me immensely. See, I’ve always associated sesame seeds with oriental cuisine. One of my best-loved snacks is a Chinese concoction called buchi–sticky rice balls filled with sweet bean paste, rolled in sesame seeds, and deep-fried to form a crunchy crust. And one of my favorite meat dishes Korean beef stew–is garnished with toasted sesame seeds. Some varieties of hops are coated with sesame seeds as well. But I don’t remember eating a non-oriental dish with sesame seeds in it.
So when I saw the recipe for this toast with butter, honey, and sesame seeds, I didn’t have any second thoughts about trying it. Of course, I tweaked the recipe a little. Instead of brushing the bread with a mixture of butter and honey, I dipped the bread in the mixture to allow them to soak up the butter and honey.
Toast the sesame seeds in a frying pan until lightly browned. Toss them often for even browning. Transfer to a plate and cool. With the heat turned off, melt the butter in the still-hot frying pan. When completely melted, pour in the honey and stir well. Note that you can use less butter and more honey or an equal amount of butter and honey. It’s just that I wanted my toast more butter than sweet so I used more butter than honey.
Place the bread in a single layer in the frying pan. Turn them over to coat the other side with the butter-honey mixture. Move them around gently so that they absorb all the liquid in the pan. Roll each piece of bread in sesame seeds and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 5-6 minutes or until lightly browned.