Tahini Bikini

Don't worry, this post doesn't include any weird "food as body paint" situations. What it does include, though, is a recipe for unbelievably delicious cookies that I may or may not have made three times in the past two weeks: Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies.

I love tahini (a paste made of ground sesame seeds) and have used it in various savory dishes, but had never thought to put it sweets until I came across this recipe on Hell Yeah It's Vegan. It was a rainy afternoon and I figured I would experiment a bit with my own concoction, particularly as I wanted to send some treats out to my family. Well...the second I took a bite of one of the warm cookies, I knew there was no way that batch was leaving my kitchen. The next morning I bundled myself up, trekked out for another jar of tahini, and made another couple dozen cookies, some of which did actually make it to California.

The tahini flavor is super intense in the raw dough (which I personally really loved), but it really mellows out when you bake the cookies. The end result is a nutty and rich but not overly sweet, especially if you use dark chocolate. And just think how damn classy you're gonna feel when you bring fancy tahini cookies to your next office party! No one needs to know how simple they really are - it'll be our little secret.

Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies

Makes 2 dozen cookies

½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
⅔ cup tahini
¼ cup Earth Balance
¼ cup soy milk (or any other non-dairy milk)
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate, but you do you!)

Preheat your oven to 375 F and lined a couple baking sheets with aluminum foil. In a large bowl, mix together the sugars, tahini, and Earth Balance until you have a really smooth, thick batter. Add the soy milk and vanilla and mix again for another minute or so.

Super smooth.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt, then dump that into the batter and mix until everything is nicely blended together. Add your chocolate chips and stir one last time. You could also shredded coconut or chopped walnuts here if you'd like - just stir them in along with the chocolate!

Chocolate chips are mandatory, though.

Grab an ice cream scoop or a big spoons or your two hands and make little dough balls - mine were about the size of a golf ball, but you could make giant cookies if you prefer. Just be sure to flatten them out a bit once you put them on the baking sheet, because they're not going to spread too much by themselves.

Seriously just pop one of these in your mouth. You won't regret it. 

Pop those suckers in the oven and bake for 12 minutes, until they start to turn golden brown. Once you take your cookies out of the oven, let them sit for a couple of minutes before taste testing, because they're going to be a little gooey while they're still hot. Warning: the smell of these baking is going to brings all the bois to the yard, so brace yourself!