Tahini chocolate chip cookies are utterly tasty, soft, cakey, a bit chewy with a nutty flavour and melt-in-your-mouth delicious that you can't stop with one. If you are alone, make sure you give away some cookies else you will end up binging on them as we did. I warned you. 😍
The idea to use Tahini came after my gorgeous Lazy Cake recipe. I could have safely used my Chewy Chocolate Chip cookie recipe as the base, but as promised in my Dairy Milk chocolate cookies post, I wanted to make a cookie recipe using softened butter.
I have tried to document this tahini cookie recipe-developing process so you can troubleshoot your recipe with these findings. It may seem like an information dump but please read the post once if you are a beginner.
Cookies with tahini
With cookie recipes, testing is much easier as you have at least 12 to 15 cookie balls that you can bake in small batches to find the right "chilled" dough and the right oven temperature and the right baking time. If all fails, then you got to start again with a new dough recipe.
first batch
For the first batch, I tried with extra egg yolk, and softened butter and used semi-sweet chocolate chips because I wanted Tahini to shine. I chilled the dough for 6 hours and baked a few. The cookies did not spread in the oven but instead went flat while cooling, and were greasy and fragile.
Hmmm... The internet says too much baking soda or too little flour can be the culprit. The cookies were nonetheless delicious and surprisingly chewy - which I didn't expect considering all that butter and tahini (essentially a sesame butter).
second batch
For the second batch of Tahini chocolate chip cookies, I increased the flour because the cookies were greasy and ditched the extra yolk and reduced the baking soda. I chilled the dough for 6 hours and baked half the batch.
The cookies went spread 😕 So, I left the remaining dough to chill overnight. I couldn't wait to bake them the very next morning! Guess what? they were perfectly puffed, shaped, soft, cookies that I almost cried.
third batch
Almost a month later, I opened the blog to draft the Tahini chocolate chip recipe from the scraps of my handwritten notes and had a bulb moment— I could have tried adding cornflour.
So, yours truly went right into the kitchen and made a third batch of tahini cookie dough with cornflour (cornstarch) and let it chill in the fridge until the next day.
I made 13 cookie balls, kept four in the freezer and baked the rest. I am in love! 😍The perfect melt-in-mouth cookies that are light, not greasy, not crumbly, and held shape even after cooling. Like all the best cookies, these were addictive.
Ingredients for the the best tahini cookies...
Ingredients
- Butter: You can use salted or unsalted softened to room temperature butter. If you are using salted butter, then reduce the salt in the recipe.
- Brown sugar: You cannot skip this. You may use light or dark brown sugar.
- White sugar: the normal white granulated sugar.
- Tahini: I used store-bought tahina (Halwani brothers). Yes, tahini and tahina is the same thing. Look for the ingredients which should have only one item - roasted sesame seeds. You need this kind of tahini and not the tahini sauce which has salt, lemon juice, etc. Good to read: Tahini guide by WashingtonPost.
- Egg: Use a large egg or approximately 60gms of an egg. Crucial to have the right amount of egg so make sure you use large or weigh and use.
- Flavouring: Cardamom powder or vanilla or rose water, etc.
- Flour: I have used all-purpose flour aka plain flour or maida in India.
- Baking soda: This cannot be replaced with baking powder. They are two different things and react differently.
- Salt: reduce if you are using salted butter.
- Cornflour: This gives the cookies a soft consistency and helps keep the cookies stay thick so do not skip them. I think it may be called cornstarch in other countries.
- Chocolate chips: You may use your favourite dark chocolate or use semi-sweet chocolate chips as I did. Using dark or semi-sweet will bring out the Tahini flavour.
- Flaky sea salt: I only had Sel de Mer that I sprinkled over the cookies right after they came out of the oven. This is optional but recommended for the salted cookie taste!
How to make it?
Cookie Dough
First, measure the butter, cut them into smaller cubes and let it sit on the counter to soften to room temperature. Next, measure the flour, cornflour, baking soda and salt using the scoop and sweep method into a bowl and whisk and keep aside.
In a larger bowl add the softened butter, tahini, and both white and brown sugar and whisk for 2 to 3 minutes. Then add in the egg and vanilla extract or cardamom.
Now, switch to a spatula and start folding the flour mixture until incorporated. Lastly, fold the chocolate chips until they are distributed throughout. That is your cookie dough! But not ready to bake yet.
Chilling the dough
As this recipe uses both softened butter and tahini the cookie dough needs to be chilledfor the best result.
You can then make the dough balls and freeze them for later. You may chill for two to three hours, make the cookie balls and chill again for the rest of the hours. The idea is when the cookie dough balls go into the oven, they should not be a sticky mess.
Prepare the cookie dough balls
When ready to bake, take out the cookie dough from the fridge and let it sit on the counter because it will be hard and needs to soften lightly so that you can scoop it. Then use an ice cream scooper and make 12 to 15 cookie dough balls.
Place them on a lined tray and refrigerate or freeze until the oven preheats or until the dough is no longer sticky. The best batch was with the chilled cookie dough before baking.
Bake the cookies
Preheat the oven to 170C and place the cookie dough balls on the lined baking tray leaving enough space between each. I have always baked only on one tray at a time. If you plan to bake the whole batch in one go, then use two trays in levels 2 and 3 and increase the baking time by 2 more minutes.
Bake on the middle rack for about 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown edges. Remove from oven, sprinkle some salt flakes and let them cool for 10 mins on the sheet and then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
It is best to chill, shape and chill again before you bake Tahini chocolate chip cookies.
I hope you give this tahini chocolate chip cookies recipe a try especially if you are the kind that has a jar of tahini somewhere lost in the fridge. It is time to give them life and treat yourself too! 😋
📖 Recipe
Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 100 grams unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup brown sugar tightly packed
- ¼ cup white sugar you can increase it to ½ cup for sweeter cookies
- ½ cup tahini make sure to stir the jar before scooping
- 1 large egg room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract cardamom powder or rose water
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cornflour
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip
- flaky sea salt for sprinkling (optional)
Instructions
- In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cornflour and salt and keep this aside.1¼ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cornflour
- In a larger bowl beat together the softened butter, tahini, granulated white sugar and brown sugar with a spatula or with an electric beater on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until fluffy.100 grams unsalted butter, ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup white sugar, ½ cup tahini
- Add the egg and cardamom or vanilla, and continue to mix until incorporated.1 large egg, ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Switch to a spatula and fold in the flour mixture until just combined and then fold in the chocolate chips. Do not overmix.1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip
- Cover the dough and refrigerate for at least 10 to 12 hours.
- Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and let it sit out for a few minutes. Then scoop using an ice cream scooper or 3 tablespoon for each cookie and place them on a tray lined with baking paper.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough balls until they are no longer sticky. If you find the dough too soft to the touch then it is better to freeze it. You can do this while the oven preheats or wait until they are ready to bake and then preheat the oven. (all this depends on the weather, oven, freezer etc. so make sure the cookie dough is not too wet when it is going into the oven)
- Preheat the oven to 170ºC. Line a baking tray with baking paper for half the batch. Place the cookie balls a couple of inches apart and bake them in the middle rack of the preheated oven. I have always baked only on one tray at a time. If you plan to bake the whole batch in one go, then use two trays in levels 2 and 3 and increase the baking time by 2 more minutes.
- Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes or just until they are golden brown around the edges.
- Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle a bit of flaky sea salt over each cookie let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and move them to a wire rack to cool completely.flaky sea salt
- Serve same day or store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. (I am sure won't last that long 😁)
RINSHANA FATHIMA ABDUL AZEEZ says
I tried this a few weeks back and they were every bit wonderful! I absolutely loved them and I gobbled on most of them. The nuttiness of Tahini in the cookies is so good and loved how the dark chocolate cuts in the sweetness. This recipe is a keeper for sure!