I LOVE baking cookies! I also enjoy eating them! 🙂 I consider myself a bit of a cookie monster, but being a holistic nutritionist, I like to create recipes that everyone can eat and enjoy. These Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies are absolutely delicious; they’re also vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and nut-free (yeah!)
The star ingredient in this recipe is tahini which is just ground sesame seeds. Tahini provides a nutty flavor without actually adding nuts (a great stand-in for recipes you are trying to make peanut-/tree nut- free for school snacks). Most people are familar with tahini and it’s use in savory recipes like hummus. Being Greek-Cypriot there was A LOT of hummus and tahini-style dips, but I also grew up enjoying sweet version of this amazingly simple and nutritious ingredient. My favorite was tahini mixed in carob syrup along with cinnamon; you could use this as a spread on toast or baked into a tasty little pie (tahinopita). YUM!!
Tahini is great if you need to avoid nuts in your home due to a nut allergy, or if you just want to change this up! Tahini can taste a bit strong if you’ve never tried it before – it isn’t sweet like most nut butters – rather a bit earthy and slightly bitter. This is why you need other ingredients – sweet or savory – to balance the bitterness.
Tahini offers great nutrition. It’s a great source of non-dairy calcium (sesame seeds have about 10 times the amount of calcium as cow’s milk) which your bones will appreciate 🙂 Sesame seeds also provide magnesium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin B1, zinc, dietary fiber and is a good source of vegetarian protein.
Any kid or adult will enjoy these! It’s a very simple recipe and you only need to dirty one bowl (bonus!) Enjoy!!
Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup tahini
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons of water
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 Tablespoons coconut flour
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips I used dairy-free chocolate chips by Enjoy Life
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine ground flaxseed and water. Set aside for about 5 minutes to thicken.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add tahini, maple syrup, cinnamon, sea salt, and baking soda. Once flaxseed mixture has thickened and become gelatinous, add it to the mixing bowl and stir to combine all ingredients.
- Add the coconut flour and chocolate chips. Stir until the coconut flour is thoroughly incorporated into the batter.
- To form cookies, scoop out the batter with a small (one-inch) ice-cream scoop (or tablespoon) and place on lined baking sheet. Set cookies about 1 to 1-1/2 inches apart as the baking soda will make them spread out a bit.
- Place into the oven for about 17 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool on the pan for about 15 minutes before touching or removing.
- Store in a airtight container for about 5 days, or store in your freezer for up to 2 months.
