Tahini is great, isn’t it? For me, it’s a wonder ingredient, and absolutely the best thing about hummus, baba ghanoush and for drizzling all over salads with roasted cauliflower.
But do you know what else tahini is great for? Cookies! (And cakes, biscuits, flapjacks and pretty much any other kitchen creation.)
These Chewy Chocolate Tahini Cookies are so moreish, you’ll be hard pressed to stop at just one. And with this recipe you don’t have to, because it’s full of lovely natural ingredients.
Baking these cookies for just the right amount of time gives them a lovely outer crisp to encase all of that delicious chewiness.
And the flavour! The combination of some wonderful whole food ingredients creates a taste (and texture) sensation. They’re:
- sweet and sticky with squishy apricots;
- bitter with dark chocolate and raw cacao;
- chewy and crumbly with almonds and tahini;
- packed with protein, iron, vitamin E and copper-rich sunflower seeds;
- zingy with the subtle tang of lime to lift them from ‘too much’ to ‘oh yes, I will have another’!
Apricots, lime and tahini? With chocolate?
Yes. Believe me, this is a combination that really works.
Here are five great reasons to bake these cookies today:
- they’re super tasty;
- vegan;
- gluten-free;
- ready to bake in 10 minutes; and
- little parcels of whole food goodness.
We’re all fans of the peanut butter cookie (well, peanut butter everything, and quite right too!), but I think it’s time for tahini to get the attention it deserves. We can all take some inspiration from my friend Mandy over at Be Sol-Ful, who positively raves about tahini, and has this fabulous-looking recipe for an Iced Tahini Mocha. Doesn’t that sound gorgeous?
And did you know that sunflower seeds are great source of magnesium, which can help with stress? I think that qualifies these cookies for a starring role with you next afternoon cuppa.
So what are you waiting for?
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seeds, 3 tbsp water)
- 50g good quality dark chocolate (see note, below)
- 20g coconut oil (2 tsp solid)
- 8 dried apricots
- 80g ground almonds
- 2 tbsp raw cacao (or cocoa powder)
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
- zest of 1 lime and a squeeze of the juice
- Heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
- Prepare the flax egg by combining the ground flax seeds and water in a small bowl and placing in the fridge.
- Melt the chocolate and coconut oil gently in a bain-marie.
- Place the apricots in a food processor and pulse until you have a paste. It doesn't need to be completely smooth, but nicely broken down. Place in a mixing bowl.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients , including the flax egg and melted chocolate and coconut oil, to the mixing bowl with the apricots and give it a good stir until well-combined.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Roll teaspoon-sized amounts of the cookie mixture into balls and place, evenly spaced apart, on the baking tray. Flatten each ball with the back of a fork, in a criss-cross pattern.
- Place on the middle shelf of the oven and cook for 12 minutes.
If not, brands like Seed and Bean have a great dark chocolate that's made with organic cane sugar.
Very interesting recipe. I love tahini, but didn’t try to put it in cookies 🙂
Thank you, Anca! I hope you enjoy tahini just as much in these cookies – I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Laura!!! These sound absolutely wonderful!! I love using tahini in cookies, but yours are incredibly unique – I am so intrigued by the lime and apricots!?! You are so creative and come up with flavor combinations I never would have imagined. Once I get my hands on some apricots, I will most definitely give these a try. Thank you for your kind words, my friend. Lots of love!! xo
Thank you Mandy! I am so pleased you think so – I know how much you love this as an ingredient 🙂
I know lime and apricots sound like an odd combination… BUT the apricots are a great substitute for dates, which can be too sweet for me a lot of the time, and the lime just lifts the flavours up from being super cakey. I hope you like it!
Can’t wait to hear what you think when you make them – and you’re SO welcome for the words, you deserve them 🙂
Lots of love to you Lx