Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies
This soft and chewy cookie recipe combines the nuttiness of smooth tahini with rich dark chocolate for a sophisticated spin on the classic—it’s incredibly easy to make and is the perfect way to elevate your cookie game this holiday season!
Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies
By the time November rolls around, I’m always thinking about what Thanksgiving and Christmas recipes I should make, and cookies are always at the top of the list! As much as I appreciate a classic chocolate chip cookie, I just love how easy it is to incorporate fun and innovative flavors into a base dough—just like today’s tahini chocolate chip cookies!
This recipe combines everything you love about the classic—a soft and chewy interior, golden brown edges, and puddles of melty chocolate all throughout—but with an added layer of depth and nuttiness from whole wheat flour and tahini paste. Luckily, the dough comes together super easily, and since tahini is a seed butter, it’s the perfect treat to make for anyone with nut allergies!
What is Tahini?
Often found in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine, tahini is a versatile condiment made from ground sesame seeds. It has a rich, bitter, and slightly nutty flavor profile that’s used in both sweet and savory recipes from halva to hummus. In these chocolate chip cookies, tahini adds a subtle richness that makes them even more decadent and complex.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Most ingredients for these cookies are baking staples that you may already have on hand—here’s a list of what you’ll need:
- Softened butter. I always use unsalted when baking!
- Brown sugar and granulated sugar. A mix of brown sugar and granulated sugar gives the cookies a chewy interior yet crisp edge.
- Egg. To help bind and emulsify the cookie dough.
- Tahini. Try to find a good-quality brand if you can, and make sure the only ingredients listed are ground sesame seeds.
- Vanilla extract. I use vanilla in virtually every baking recipe for an added layer of flavor.
- All-purpose flour. To thicken the dough and provide structure.
- Whole wheat flour. Combined with the tahini, whole wheat flour adds a nice nuttiness to these cookies! If you don’t have it, you can substitute with all-purpose flour. However, you may need to add a couple more tablespoons than what’s written in the recipe, since whole wheat flour absorbs more water than all-purpose.
- Baking soda. Baking soda (not powder!) provides the perfect amount of spread and browning in these cookies.
- Kosher salt. I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt for all my recipes.
- Dark chocolate. For those picture-perfect pools of chocolate all throughout your cookies, use a good-quality chocolate bar.
Tips for the Best Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Use room-temperature ingredients. Unless stated by the recipe, room-temperature ingredients are generally the best to bake with, since they help every ingredient easily combine.
- Measure your dry ingredients correctly. Flour is one of those tricky ingredients to measure—be sure to fluff the flour or spoon it into your measuring cup before leveling it out, otherwise you’ll end up with too much (resulting in a dry cookie) or too little (resulting in a tahini puddle in the oven).
- Fully chill the dough. Chilling the dough lets the dry ingredients fully hydrate, which is essential for a recipe like this that uses whole wheat flour. If the dough isn’t fully chilled, your cookies will spread too much in the oven and won’t have enough structure for a thick and chewy texture.
- Don’t overbake. The longer you bake, the more moisture escapes from the cookies, which leaves them dry and tough. They’re done baking when just golden brown at the edges and set on top.
How to Freeze Leftover Cookie Dough
One of my favorite baking hacks is to freeze leftover cookie dough—that way, you aren’t wasting ingredients and can bake fresh, individual cookies whenever you like!
If you have any leftover dough you want to freeze, simply scoop it onto a baking sheet and pop the tray in the freezer for an hour. Once firm to the touch, transfer the dough to a plastic bag and keep in the freezer for 3-6 months. When you want to bake, there’s no need to thaw the dough—just bake the cookies as normal (though they might need an extra minute or two in the oven).
Be sure to leave a rating and comment below if you have any questions—happy baking!
Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup softened butter
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup tahini, stirred well
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, and salt, then set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the softened butter, sugar, and light brown sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, around 3 minutes.
- Mix in the tahini, followed by the egg and vanilla extract.
- Once evenly combined, stir in the dry ingredients until a dough forms. Right before the flour is fully combined, add in the chopped chocolate and mix until no more streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and use a cookie scoop to portion out the dough. Cover the tray with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours, but ideally overnight. If you need the cookies quicker, you can freeze the scooped dough until completely solid (around 1-2 hours), then proceed with the recipe.
- To bake, preheat the oven to 375℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the tray of dough from the fridge.
- Evenly space the cookies 2'' apart onto the parchment-lined pan and bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through.
- Remove the cookies from the oven once golden brown and set, but do not overbake—they will set more as they cool. Once out of the oven, sprinkle the cookies with flaky salt and allow to cool before serving.
