The time has finally come for one of my most popular recipes on instagram to find a home on my blog. These tahini chocolate chip cookies are everything I could want in a classic chocolate chip cookie. They're chewy, nutty, buttery, slightly toasted on the outside, with pools of melty chocolate barely holding the cookie together. The addition of the tahini brings a beautiful savory nuttiness that perfectly balances the richness of the chocolate. In a short, these classic cookies with a tahini twist are really, really delicious!
In a few words, these tahini based cookies are best described as:
- Buttery, with notes of nuttiness.
- Lightly toasted on the outside, chewy on the inside.
- Full of melting pools of chocolate.
- Just like the classic chocolate chip cookie, with more pronounced background flavor notes.
What ingredients do I need to make these chewy chocolate chip cookies?
- All purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Tahini
- I love Soom
- I also love and use Seed + Mill all the time in my baking!
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- High quality chocolate or chocolate chips
- I love using Ghirardelli, Valrhona or Guittard
- I recommend using minimum 60% cocoa
- Flaky salt for topping
- I usually have a box of Maldon's on hand for sprinkling on cookies.
Baking tools you need to make these homemade chocolate chip cookies the best!
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer with beaters and a large mixing bowl.
- Plastic wrap to keep the cookie dough from drying out
- Parchment paper for perfect, evenly baked cookies.
- Aluminum baking sheets
- These are preferred over other baking sheet because they promote even baking. Theyre especially great for baking cookies.
- Cookie scoop to give the cookies a more uniform shape and size.
- Oven thermometer for checking even baking. They're cheap and the most used kitchen tool in my kitchen! I highly recommend one for every oven (even new ones).
What is tahini and how do I use it in baking?
Tahini, in its most basic description, is made from toasted sesame seeds that are ground into a loose nut butter like consistency. It is a major ingredient in hummus, baba ghanoush, and halva. Tahini is used in the cuisines of the Middle East and Mediterranean, as well as parts of North Africa.
When tahini is used in baking, it gives off a lovely nuttiness that's similar to peanut butter. I love to use tahini when baking things that are usually very sweet, like cookies. In addition to bringing a deep nutty flavor, the slight savoriness of tahini helps to balance out the sweetness of the other ingredients. I frequently replace up to half of the butter in a recipe with tahini and it's always delicious! My favorite online brands are Soom and Seed + Mill. For a store based brand, Whole Foods 365 brand tahini and Roland.
Still wondering if tahini in chocolate chip cookies is the right move for you? Imagine swirling in a generous amount of peanut butter into a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Now, imagine it's even tastier!
Tips and tricks for the best homemade chocolate chip cookies
Best ingredient substitutes for this recipe:
- Butter: Can be replaced with vegan or plant based butter if needed.
- Use a brand you have already made cookies with before to ensure you know the butter works for this.
- All purpose flour: use a 1:1 GF mix for all purpose flour.
- I like this brand for easy GF baking
- This recipe was not tested to include grain free flours
- Cassava flour is a possibility, but you will need to adjust the liquid amounts a bit. This is a great article to help you troubleshoot if you go this route.
- Tahini: replace the tahini with 1/2 c (113g) brown butter.
Tips and tricks for perfect tahini chocolate chip cookies:
- Use room temperature ingredients.
- Brown the butter for extra flavor!
- Use the lowest mixing setting or mix by hand when adding in the dry ingredients
- Chill the cookies!!!
- This allows the glutens to rest (or hydrate depending on the flour and allows the flavors develop more fully.
- Don’t forget the to cover the cookie dough.
- Fully preheat the oven
- Use an oven thermometer to check the internal oven temperature.
- I love this one and use it all the time
- Let the cookies sit out at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes before scooping onto a baking sheet for baking.
- Use a cookie scoop for perfectly shaped and sized cookies.
- Space the cookies about 2-3 inches apart.
- Top the cookies with reserved chunks of chocolate right before baking. This is how you get pools of chocolate on top!
- Bake cookies until golden brown on the edges and lightly golden in the center.
- Within the first few minutes of removing the cookies from the oven, use a large biscuit cutter (wider than the cookies) to help shape any cookies into a more round shape. Top with flaky salt right after. The flaky salt is a very nice flavor and texture contrast to the rest of the cookie.
more tahini based recipes to try!
- pumpkin tahini s'mores bars
- homemade tahini oreo cookies
- maple tahini Rice Krispie treats
- creamy tahini roasted cauliflower dip (vegan)
- chocolate tahini mug cake
- no churn tahini ice cream
- s'mores tahini cookie bars
- levain inspired tahini chocolate chip cookies
- olive oil tahini swirl brownies
- chai spice tahini blondies
- caramelized apple tahini crisp
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Make sure to tag me on instagram @olivesnthyme. For more delicious dessert ideas follow me on pinterest
tahini chocolate chip cookies
these tahini chocolate chip cookies are made from all the original ingredients of the classic cookie, with a nutty tahini twist! they're nutty, buttery, chewy, with a lightly toasted exterior and pools of melty chocolate.
Equipment
- medium sauce pan
- stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer with beaters
- medium or large cookie scoop
- plastic wrap
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 c (300g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 c browned butter, cooled to solid room temperature see recipe notes
- 1 1/4 c (250g) light brown sugar
- 1/4 c (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 c (113g) tahini, well stirred see recipe notes
- 2 (100-114g) large eggs, room temperature
- 1 (17g) large egg yolk, room temperature
- 2 tsp (10ml) vanilla extract
- 2 c (12 oz, 340g) 60% or higher chocolate, chopped into chunks or use semi sweet chips
Instructions
- Make brown butter about an hour before you plan to make the cookies. It will need 15 minutes to make and another 60-90 minutes to cool enough to use in the recipe. To make the brown butter, melt butter in a clear heavy bottom sauce pan. Once the butter starts to foam, whisk continuously until brown bits start to form. Remove from heat, pour into clean bowl and cool 30 minutes to room temperature. Cool an additional 30-60 minutes to the consistency of room temperature butter.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together until well combined. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together the browned butter, tahini and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.
- Beat in the eggs, yolk and vanilla extract on low, about 20 seconds before adding the next. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
- Beat once more on medium for another 30-60 to ensure everything is well combined.
- With the mixer on low, add in the dry ingredients, until just combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Fold in the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips until combined. Tip: reserve about 1/2 c chocolate chunks or chips for topping the cookie dough right before baking.
- Cover the cookie dough and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to overnight. The longer the dough chills, the chewier the texture and more developed the flavor will be.
- When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 F (191 C). Allow the cookie dough to sit out at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop 2" sized cookie dough balls onto the lined baking sheet. Cookies should be spaced about 2-3" apart.
- Bake at 375 F (191 C) for 10 -12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the centers are just baked through.
- Remove the cookies from the oven to cool on the hot baking sheet for 3-4 minutes. Tip: Within the first few minutes of removing the cookies from the oven, use a large biscuit cutter (wider than the cookies) to help shape any cookies into a more round shape. Top with flaky salt if desired.
- Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling to room temperature.
Notes
brown butter: This is optional and mostly for flavor. If you choose to brown the butter, you should start with 10 tbsp (141g) butter. The water will evaporate as the butter browns. The ending butter weight is 8 tbsp (113g). If you want to skip this step, simply use 8 tbsp (113g) of unsalted butter at room temperature.
tahini: this is optional and for flavor. If you choose to substitute this, I recommend using an additional 10 tbsp (141g) unsalted butter for a total of 20 tbsp (282g) unsalted butter, which will reduce down to about 16 tbsp (1 c, 226g) browned butter.
for a chewier cookie: use cooled, room temperature but still liquid butter.
for a more cake like cookie: use cooled, softened room temperature butter.
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