These Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies are delicious healthy cookies, naturally gluten-free, oil-free, and made with tahini as a main ingredient. They taste like sesame cookies, they are thin, chewy, and crispy on the edges for a delicious healthy sweet treat. Plus, they are also egg-free and refined sugar-free.
Tahini is the other name of pure sesame paste. It’s a great ingredient full of nutrients that can replace nut butters in many recipes. You can even use tahini in other recipes, like my Miso Tahini Dressing, Dark Chocolate Hummus, or Healthy Lemon Slice.
Ingredients and Substitutions
This paragraph gives you all my tips about picking the right ingredients. For the full recipe with measurements, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post!Go to Full Recipe
These cookies are made with a handful of wholesome ingredients. Here’s how to pick them.
- Tahini – The key ingredient, tahini brings a rich, nutty, slightly bitter flavor while keeping the cookies oil-free and naturally high in protein. Use fresh, drippy tahini for the best texture. If your tahini is too thick (from an old jar), it will result in dry, crumbly cookies. For a nut-free option, sesame seed flour works well but will alter the consistency slightly. Avoid thick nut butters like almond butter, as they are too dense.
- Unrefined Cane Sugar – This sweetens the cookies and contributes to their thin, chewy texture. Coconut sugar, white sugar, or brown sugar are all excellent substitutes. Coconut sugar results in less spreading, making thicker cookies. Avoid liquid sweeteners like maple syrup, as they will make the dough way too runny and the cookies difficult to shape – it’d make a sheet-pan cookie. Just one!
- Almond Milk – Milk adds moisture and helps bind the ingredients in this egg-free recipe. Any plant-based milk, such as soy, oat, or cashew milk, can replace almond milk without issue. Avoid skipping this, as the dough needs the liquid to come together properly.
- Almond Flour – It provides structure and lightness to the cookies while keeping them gluten-free. For a nut-free version, sesame seed flour works well, but note that it is slightly more absorbent, so adjust if necessary. Do not replace it with coconut flour or all-purpose flour, as these have very different properties and will ruin the texture.
- Baking Powder – To help the cookies rise slightly while keeping them soft and chewy.
- Chocolate Chips – They add bursts of rich, chocolatey flavor. Use dark chocolate chips for a refined-sugar-free option or semi-sweet chocolate chips for a sweeter result. You can also use chocolate chunks for a rustic look. Avoid overloading the dough, as too many chips can prevent proper spreading.
- Vanilla Extract – To boost the flavors and add a sweet aroma that balances the nuttiness of the tahini. You can skip this if needed.
How to Make Tahini Cookies
They are super easy to make with the recipe card further down, but if you like pictures, here are photos of the key steps.
Pour all the dough ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
Combine with a spatula until it’s smooth and without lumps.
Incorporate the chocolate chips into the batter.
Form cookie dough balls and place them on a baking tray. Unlike what I did, I recommend putting only 4 per baking sheet. You’ll see why below.
Press the cookie dough balls into a cookie shape and bake them for 10-12 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C).
If your cookies spread too much, use an upside-down jar to jiggle the cookies to make them smaller.
Carine’s Baking Tips
I have a few more tips and tricks to make you you bake the best tahini cookies every time.
- Use Fresh, Drippy Tahini – Old or thick tahini will make the dough difficult to mix and result in crumbly cookies. If your tahini is too thick, warm it slightly in the microwave or stir in a teaspoon of almond milk to thin it.
- Chill the Dough – For thick, chewy cookies that spread less, chill the dough for 15-20 minutes. If you prefer larger, thinner cookies, skip chilling, but bake with lots of space between each portion.
- Reshape Cookies While Hot – If the cookies overspread, place a round glass or jar over the cookie, swirl it in a circular motion, and gently reshape the edges. Do this while they’re still hot from the oven for best results.
- Adjust Sugar for Spread – Unrefined cane sugar results in thinner, larger cookies. For thicker cookies with less spreading, opt for coconut sugar or brown sugar.
- Space Generously – These cookies spread significantly (up to 4 inches / 10 cm wide), so leave plenty of room on the baking sheet—no more than 4 cookies per large sheet (don’t do like me!). Bake on two sheets if needed.
- Measure the Ingredients Precisely – Because this recipe uses minimal ingredients, accuracy is key. Use a scale for the almond flour and tahini to avoid a dry or runny dough – quantities are available in both cups and grams/mL in the recipe card below.
- Let Cookies Cool Fully – Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. They will firm up as they cool. Moving them too soon may cause them to break.
- Double-Batch for Freezing – These cookies freeze beautifully. Make a double batch, freeze the baked cookies in a sealed bag for up to a month, and thaw at room temperature for an instant treat.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
If you still have issues while baking, don’t panic! There are things you can do!
- Cookies Overspread Too Much: Chill the dough for 15-20 minutes and use coconut sugar instead of cane sugar. If they spread after they’ve been in the oven, use a jar upside-down and jiggle it around the cookies to compact them!
- Cookies Are Too Dry: Ensure you’re using fresh, drippy tahini and measure the almond flour carefully. Add a teaspoon more almond milk if the dough feels too crumbly.
- Cookies Stuck to Paper: Always lightly oil your parchment paper to prevent sticking.
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Tahini Cookies
These Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies are delicious healthy cookies, naturally gluten-free, oil-free, and made with tahini as a main ingredient. They taste like sesame cookies, they are thin, chewy, and crispy on the edges for a delicious healthy sweet treat. Plus, they are also egg-free and refined sugar-free.
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Servings: 8 large cookies
Calories: 182.6 kcal
Ingredients
- ½ cup Tahini - (note 1)
- ⅓ cup Unrefined Cane Sugar - (note 2)
- 2 tablespoons Almond Milk - (note 3)
- ⅓ cup Almond Flour - (note 4)
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ⅓ cup Chocolate Chips - (note 5)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Slightly oil the paper. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, add tahini, sugar, almond milk, almond flour, baking powder, and vanilla extract.
- Using a rubber spatula to stir and form a sticky cookie dough.
- Fold in chocolate chips and stir to incorporate.
- Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes to prevent the cookies from spreading or bake them now for thinner wider cookies.
- Divide the cookie dough into 8 (for large flat cookies like mine) or 12 dough balls (for smaller thicker cookies).
- Place each portion of cookie dough on a baking sheet, leaving 3 thumbs of space between each. They spread a lot! You should really only put 4 cookies per baking sheet. I did bake the 8 cookies on one baking sheet, it works, but it is more difficult to handle afterward.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C) until the sides are golden brown and they nicely spread.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and if they overspread like mine, simply use a large glass/container/jar – or anything round that holds high temperatures and that is larger than the cookies.
- Flip the jar upside down on top of the cookies and swirl vigorously so the cookie moves and shrinks back to form a nice round shape.
- Let the cookies cool down on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then on a cooling rack for some more cooling.
Notes
Note 1: Make sure you are using a fresh jar of drippy tahini for best results. You can use unhulled or hulled tahini, both options work. Unhulled tahini is much more bitter.
Note 2: Any crystal sweeteners works like white sugar, coconut sugar, brown sugar, or demerara sugar.
Note 3: Any milk can be used like soy milk, oat milk, or cashew milk.
Note 4: For a nut-free option, use sesame seed flour.
Note 5: Dark chocolate chips or semi-sweet chips for a sweeter cookie.
Storage: You can store the cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze them for up to 1 month in sealed bags. Thaw them at room temperature the day before.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 182.6kcal | Carbohydrates: 17.6g | Protein: 3.6g | Fat: 12.4g | Saturated Fat: 2.6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 49.9mg | Potassium: 93.8mg | Fiber: 1.2g | Sugar: 12.9g | Vitamin A: 10.1IU | Vitamin C: 0.6mg | Calcium: 62.9mg | Iron: 0.9mg | Magnesium: 14.4mg | Phosphorus: 126.7mg | Zinc: 0.7mg
These were so good and so easy!!
Baking time and temperature for small cookies and large cookies is the same ?
Small cookies bakes slightly faster like 1-2 minutes less baking time, but if the thickness is the same, it won’t change much.