If you have already developed a taste for tahini, also known as sesame seed butter, then you will love these cookies. The recipe comes from the splendid cooks at The Armenian Kitchen. This site is a gem of a find, loaded with authentic Armenian recipes. Armenian cuisine falls into the category of “Mediterranean healthy” with lots of vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, and herbs.
One of the pleasures of driving to Fresno is eating at one of the “mom and pop” Armenian restaurants. The savory aromas waft past you as you walk in the door. Unfortunately, those fun places are two hours away, a serious drive from here in our part of the Sequoia National Forest. But with these recipes, we are enjoying more Armenian food right at home and getting closer to authentic every day. You can too!
Start with these shockingly simple cookies. The first time I tried them I thought, “This can’t be right. This is too easy!” Three of us, with decades of experience baking, hung around the oven to watch. We all three agreed: “This can’t be right!”
Then there they were–perfectly shaped and golden, crispy and not too sweet. This cookie is actually a crispy shell with a hollow interior. For its lightness, the cookie is satisfying. You do not need five of them in one sitting. One or two will do nicely. Here’s the line-up.
Tahini Cookies Ingredients
- 1 cup tahini
- 1 cup turbinado or sucanat sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch of salt
- Sesame seeds – about 1/3 cup
I know you are wondering, “Is this all?” Yes, this is it.
Tahini Cookies Steps
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Stir the tahini. It doesn’t matter how well the tahini was stirred last time you used it, stir again. Stir thoroughly.
- Measure the tahini into a bowl. Add the sugar, egg, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix thoroughly.
- Instructions from The Armenian Kitchen say to form the dough into walnut-sized pieces with slightly dampened hands. My dough was too runny to be handled. The recipe has no flour, so what do you do? I just spooned out dough onto the ungreased cookie sheet and hoped for the best. With about an inch and a half between the cookie batter plops, there was ample room for spreading, which they did. All was well, so just don’t sweat this part.
- If you end up with balls, press them down gently with a fork.
- Sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds. This is optional, of course. I opted for a good dosing of seeds. Why not? They are good for you!
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will be golden when cooked. The centers will still be soft.
- Allow the cookies to cool for several minutes on the cookie sheet before handling. They are very fragile until cooled.
Store the cookies in an air-tight container. These lovelies are perfect for an afternoon pick-me-up with a cup of tea.
This post was shared at Whole Foods Wednesday
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I haven’t tried eating cookies with sesame seeds on it. Looks like this would be a very great snack time recipe for everybody especially served with coffee or juice. I will try this one out.
I jsut made these and they came out excellent. I didn’t have turbinado sugar, so used about 3/4 dark brown sugar and 1/4 white. The consistency of my dough was perfect and cookies are a dark brown with a nice white contrast of the seeds.
made these, sort of. not having any sugar in my life at the moment i substituted some coconut flour instead – the consistency was completely different, but they were still pretty delish – thanks for the inspiration, can’t wait to tinker around with these more!
I just made these and added about 2/3 cup of chopped dates, they are SO GOOD. Mine did turn out like a very very sticky thick dough, like a really sticky peanut butter. I didn’t form it into balls though, I lined a pan with parchment paper and pressed the dough into the pan to make a bar cookie.
Hi there
I tried this recipe with Tahini that had been in my cupboard for quite some time and they turned out small and firm. Then I used recently bought Tahini that hulled and they turned out as yours did. Then, just today, I made them again but used unhulled Tahini and they turned out perfectly. I think the secret is using unhulled Tahini.
Thanks for your efforts – we really enjoy these!
Good to know, Judy. Thanks!
You posted these on facebook about 30 minutes ago and they’re now cooling on my counter. That sure was easy. I ran out of succanat so mine are about 2/3 succanat and 1/3 white sugar. It made a nice dough that I easily formed into balls, but they did spread out quite a lot. When I was pressing them with a fork I imagined they’d come out looking a lot like peanut butter cookies, but they are very thin and delicate instead, pretty! I was wanting to add some spices but couldn’t decide which, maybe next time I’ll add in some nutmeg or ginger. Can’t wait to try them!
I have a really hard time with blogs like this where you promote cookies with a ton of sugar. I don’t care if it’s turbinado or sucanat sugar, sugar is sugar. And a whole cup? No thanks.