A quick and easy Mediterranean/Middle Eastern hit. Both young Jewish grandmothers in Jerusalem and Bedouin women living in the midst of the desert have shown me how to bake these cookies. A fantastic, straightforward dish that is quick, adaptable, and not overly sweet. Enjoy.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 24 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 14 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup tahini
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 355 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with waxed paper.
- Mix flour, sugar, and baking powder together in a large bowl; add butter and tahini and mix until dough is crumbly. Roll dough into small balls and press each ball into a flattened cookie shape using your palms. Arrange cookies in the prepared baking sheet and press with a fork.
- Place the baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven and bake until cookies are golden, about 10 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Eggs are omitted in the traditional recipe for religious dietary reasons, but feel free to add them. One egg will make the cookies stronger while warm and two eggs will give them more bite and body.
- Honey or brown sugar can be used in place of the white sugar.
- Nuts, dried fruit, or vanilla extract can also be added to the batter.
- It is very important to let the cookies cool all the way. They are very fragile when they come out of the oven.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 208 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 23 g |
| Cholesterol | 18 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 53 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 12 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Very yummy, if you like sesame. It is so easy and was a hit with my kids. Definitely satisfies the sweet tooth if you do not require excessive sweetness. Made as per recipe instructions.
I had tahini cookies at Whole Foods last year and wNted to try to replicate them as they were divine: chewey and almost peanut buttery and Reminded me of halava. I made these with 2.5 cups of sugar and was pleased with the sweetness. I tried mixing 1 egg into recipe and made 1 batch that way. They were crumbly- shortbread-like. I added 2 more eggs to the remaining batter which made them more moist and sticky which seemed more correct for a cookie batter. We actually like the flavor of the first batch better! Next time I will try without any egg at all as written and also add more tahini to increase that flavor.
I made it with brown sugar 3 times and it turned out yumm all the times
I read this recipe and tried to make it exact but it wouldn’t hold together until I put 3 eggs in the mixture. After that it went great. Perhaps when you saw the Bedouins making it you missed this part, but if they left eggs out , I happened to make it easier to deal with. It tastes great!
Easy? Check. Delicious? Check!! Gonna be my latest go-to recipe for cookies!!
I made this recipe (halved) with some “mystery butter” (tahini and ground sunflower seeds, sugar, salt) and brown sugar. The dough was like a peanut butter cookie or shortbread–slightly crumbly and moldable. I made 1 inch balls which I flattened with a fork. Baked on parchment at 350 F for 13 minutes and checked closely for one more minute. Allowed to cool on the pan for two minutes, then on a wire rack. The texture is quite delicate–very shortbread-like. They have a unique flavor because of the sesame seed base and there is a very slight bitter end taste. I would make them again as my husband and teenage son approved!
I had a cup of tahini in the fridge which I wanted to use up and was looking for a simple recipe. I did not have unsalted butter so I used salted. I didn’t feel like rolling the dough into little balls but, instead, patted the dough out on a sheet pan, cut it into squares with a dough scraper, and baked it for about 20 minutes. I like the taste of these simple cookies because they are not too sweet.