Vegan Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies
These vegan chocolate chip tahini cookies are soft, chewy and gooey in the middle with crisp edges. Decadent, but with a healthy twist.
Vegan Cookies On the Menu
I’m a dietitian, and I like cookies. And I like all kinds of cookies at that. Traditional cookies, ginormous cookies, ones loaded with chocolate, even the healthier ones that have their own unique spin. There’s balance to this all. While I might not feel my best just eating cookies, I know I also don’t feel my best when I exclude them entirely, so I meet myself in the middle and live in a space where I enjoy them when I want to.
These chocolate chip tahini cookies have been something I’ve been dreaming of for a while. It wasn’t until last weekend that I finally got a chance to try these cookies and they were better than I imagined.
- Soft and chewy
- Firm crisp edges
- Loaded with chocolate
- Easy to make and all in one bowl
- A splash of extra nutrition
What is tahini?
Tahini is an Arabic word for ground sesame seeds. In the process of making tahini, you would likely be using some carefully toasted sesame seeds and grinding them into a smooth paste. One of the most common places you will find tahini is listed as an ingredient in hummus. However, you can find ground sesame pastes used in Middle Eastern, African, Chinese, Japanese, Iranian, Turkish and Korean cuisine.
If you’ve ever had a poor experience with tahini, you likely used a bad quality tahini. Good tahini should be mildly nutty, creamy, with savory notes. It should have a texture similar to a natural and runny peanut butter.
Compared to other nut and seed butters, tahini is very nutritious! It can provide nutrients like iron, calcium, copper, selenium and fiber.
Key Ingredients
- Flax Egg: Our egg replacement that is just a combo of ground flax seeds and water
- Flour: I have used regular all purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour and spelt flour with success
- Brown Sugar: You can also use coconut sugar to make this refined sugar free
- Tahini: Make sure it’s a good quality and runny style tahini
- Maple Syrup: Balances out the flavors in the tahini
- Blackstrap Molasses: Just a little needed, but makes these cookies extra special
- Kosher Salt: Helps to balance out the sweet
- Vanilla Extract: To enhance the sweetness
- Chocolate Chips: I really like giant dairy free chocolate chunks in these cookies, but feel free to use regular chips
How to make these chocolate chip tahini cookies
Start by combing your flax seed and water together. Mix well and let it sit to gel for about 5 minutes while you prepare your other ingredients.
To a mixing bowl add in your dry ingredients minus the chocolate chip and whisk together. Add in your wet ingredients one by one and carefully fold the ingredients together until a soft dough starts to form. Next, fold in your chocolate chunks or chips.
With a cookie scoop or tablespoon, measure out even dough balls on to your baking tray. If any dough balls appear uneven, roll them into a ball with slightly damp hands. Press down on all of your dough balls to slightly flatten them a bit to aid in the spreading process.
Place in the oven and once done baking and out of the oven, ensure that they cool before removing from the tray.
Tips for making these cookies
Use a good quality tahini. I can’t stress that enough. Good quality tahini should not be bitter in flavor. Make sure your tahini is runny and smooth. My favorite tahini brand to use is Soom Foods.
Spoon your flour as you measure. Don’t stick your measuring cup into your bag of flour. It makes a big difference in terms of the quality of the cookie. If you have access to a food scale, you will get the most accurate measure. Adding too much flour will make your cookies too crisp like a biscuit. This is a great guide that talks about all the ingredients that normally impact the end result of a cookie.
Lightly press down on your cookie dough. These cookies spread just a little bit, so help the cookies out more by slightly flattening them before placing them in the oven. This will give them the best spread and texture out of the oven.
Allow your cookies too cool before removing from the tray. These cookies are fragile. As eager as you might be to eat these cookies, please be patient. The cookies continue to cook out of the oven on the tray, disturbing them will cause them to fall apart.
Storing your cookies
These cookies will keep for about 4 days. Make sure to keep them in an airtight container to retain their soft and chewy texture. If you’d like to store them longer, place them in the freezer for up to 2-3 months. To reheat, place in the microwave to warm back up. Should just take a few seconds.
More Cookie Recipes You’ll Love
Vegan Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 12 Cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These vegan chocolate chip tahini cookies are soft, chewy and gooey in the middle with crisp edges. Decadent, but with a healthy twist.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseeds
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp (156 g) of flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar (43 g)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp blackstrap molasses
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup dairy free chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Set oven to 350F, then line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- To a small bowl mix together your ground flaxseeds and water and set aside to gel for at least 5 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, add in your flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix together well.
- Add your tahini, maple syrup, molasses, and vanilla extract and mix it into your dry ingredients until a slightly sticky dough forms. Lastly, fold in your chocolate chunks or chips.
- With a cookie scoop or tablespoon measure, scoop out your dough and place on the cookie sheet.
- Smooth out the dough balls by rolling them in your hands and spread them out to give them enough room to spread.
- Press down on each dough ball slightly to help encourage spreading, then place the tray in the oven for 9-10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to completely cool before removing from the baking tray.
Notes
Use a good quality tahini. Make sure your tahini is runny and smooth. It should not be bitter in flavor. My favorite tahini brand to use is Soom Foods.
Spoon your flour as you measure. Don’t stick your measuring cup into your bag of flour. It makes a big difference in terms of the quality of the cookie. If you have access to a food scale, you will get the most accurate measure.
Lightly press down on your cookie dough. These cookies spread just a little bit, so help the cookies out more by slightly flattening them before placing them in the oven.
Allow your cookies too cool before removing from the tray. These cookies are fragile. As eager as you might be to eat these cookies, please be patient. The cookies continue to cook out of the oven on the tray, disturbing them will cause them to fall apart.
Did You Try This Recipe?
Then let me know what you thought in the comments below! Share your creations by tagging me on Instagram with the hashtag #plantbasedrdeats
★ Catherine
So indulgent! The tahini/maple syrup/ molasses combo really elevates this cookie beyond the standard chocolate chip version. Also so quick and easy!
These are SO GOOD! They’re like grown-up, fancier chocolate chip cookies. The soft middle and crispy edge is perfection.