Tahini chocolate chunk cookies

Packed with tahini and a mixture of dark and semisweet chocolate, these cookies are soft and gooey in the center with lightly crisp edges and bring a perfect twist to the classic chocolate chip cookie.

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Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds and similar to a nut butter, it brings a savory, almost nutty flavor to these cookies. I made a sesame shortbread cookie recipe which is one of my favorites because of the flavor and texture that the tahini brings! I was excited to bring that same flavor to a chocolate chip cookie texture and of course with lots of chocolate.

I don't often use dark chocolate because it's not something I enjoy eating on its own, but I had a hunch it would be perfect in this cookie. I chose to use half chopped semisweet chocolate and half chopped dark chocolate, and the balance with the slight salty and nuttiness of this cookie worked perfectly. If you're more of a dark chocolate fan than I am, feel free to use all dark. I used Ghirardelli's semisweet chocolate and Lindt for my dark chocolate bar. I don't recommend swapping in chips because the chopped chocolate will melt best, but if it's all you have on hand, chips will work!

This recipe is relatively low maintenance and comes together very similarly to any typical chocolate chip cookie recipe. Though I do recommend using a stand or hand mixer. It's important to fully combine your butter and tahini from the start to make sure there are no unmixed pockets, and the best end result will come from properly creaming your butter, tahini, sugars, egg and vanilla together with the power of a mixer. A hand mixer would work great too, or if your butter is softened a bit past room temperature, you could get away with a spatula.

For scooping your cookie dough, your cookies should be about 3 tablespoons in size. Here are a few of my most reliable # 20 scoopers.

For the best results, I highly recommend using the gram measurements provided

Ingredients:

• 8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1/4 cup (64g) tahini

• 1/2 cup (96g) light brown sugar

• 1/4 cup (48g) granulated sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 1/3 cup (160g) all purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup (3oz, 85g) semisweet chocolate

• 1/2 cup (3oz, 85g) dark chocolate

• Optional: flakey sea salt

Prep time: 15 minutes

Bake time: 10-12 minutes

Chill time: 30 minutes unscooped, 2+ hours scooped

Servings: 12 cookies

Equipment:

• Stand mixer with paddle attachment

• Cookie sheets

• Parchment paper

• Large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons)

• Spatula 

Cooking instructions: Ensure your butter is at room temperature and take your egg out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before you plan to start. If you store your tahini in the fridge, ensure that it's at room temperature as well.

Place your butter and tahini into your stand mixer with the paddle attachment secured, or into a large bowl if using a hand mixer. Let your mixer run at a high speed for about a minute or two until your butter and tahini are fully combined into a soft mixture. Pause your mixer and use a spatula to scrape down the sides of your bowl and mixer attachment.

Then, add in both sugars and continue to mix for two to three minutes to cream your sugars into your butter and tahini. Pause your mixer again and use your spatula to scrape down the sides of your bowl and mixer attachment to ensure that no pockets of butter, tahini and sugar go unmixed.

Add in your egg and vanilla extract. Slowly bring your stand mixer back to a high speed and allow it to combine your mixture for another minute or two. Pause your mixer and scrape down the sides of your bowl and mixer attachment again.

Next, add in your dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, and salt and start your mixer at a low speed mixing until your dry ingredients are about half incorporated and a shaggy dough has formed.

Pause your mixer and if you haven't already, measure out and chop your chocolate, and if you'd like you can set aside a few tablespoons of chocolate. Add most of your chocolate into your dough and turn your mixer back on for about 15 to 30 seconds, or use a spatula to finish mixing to ensure you don't over mix your dough but that your chocolate is evenly dispersed.

Place your mixer bowl, uncovered, into the fridge for about 30 minutes to let your dough firm up.

Onto a lined cookie sheet (I used parchment paper) use a cookie scoop (3 tablespoons or # 20) to portion out your dough. It should make about 12 cookies, about 55g per cookie. Top your dough scoops with your reserved chocolate and gently press them in. Place your cookie scoops into the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours. Note: to reduce spreading, you can cover your scooped dough with plastic wrap and chill up to 24 hours.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Space your scoops out onto larger, parchment lined cookie sheets and bake for around 10-12 minutes. For the best results, I recommend baking one tray at a time and rotating partway through the bake time.

Remove from the oven, and you can use a round cookie cutter or bowl slightly larger than the size of your cookie to lightly shape or scoot your cookie to ensure they're perfectly round. If you'd like, sprinkle the tops of your cookies with flakey salt, allow to fully cool, and then enjoy!

If you want to save some of your dough, you can place some or all of your scooped cookie dough onto a baking sheet and place into the freezer for 12-24 hours after chilling in the fridge. Then, transfer your frozen dough to a plastic bag or airtight container and store in the freezer. To bake from frozen, set your oven to 325 and bake for 13-15 minutes. My preference is to enjoy them fresh baked, but you can also store your baked cookies once fully cooled in an airtight container for about 3 days and they'll still taste great. To refresh them, pop a cookie or two into the microwave for about 10 seconds or enjoy at room temperature.

Carb and serving info:

Carbs per serving (1 of 12): 31

Carbs for full recipe: 375

Carbs from dark chocolate: 43

Carbs from semisweet chocolate: 54

Note: Carb information is calculated based on the specific ingredients I used to cook with to help guide my own insulin to carb ratio when dosing before I eat my home cooked recipes.