These Sesame Seed Cookies are easy to make, incredibly delicious, use just one-bowl and ready in under 30 minutes. A touch of cocoa powder means they taste like Italian Sesame Cookies, without the need for sugar. These delicious cookies are made with tahini, almond flour, cocoa powder and just a touch of maple syrup for a mildly sweet, but super decadent cookie that the whole family will adore.
These vegan and gluten-free tahini cookies are chewy on the inside and a bit crisp on the edges…the perfect cookie for a holiday cookie tray, annual cookie exchange, or personal consumption with a steaming mug of hot cocoa, herbal tea or a cup of coffee.
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If you love the nutty flavor that tahini adds to baked goods, then you’ll definitely want to try my tahini vegan chocolate chip cookies, tahini banana bread and my vegan tahini brownies. Tahini is a great dairy-free alternative to butter in baking.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Almond Flour: Keeps these moist and gives these gluten-free cookies a classic nutty flavor. Do not substitute all purpose flour, your cookies will be dry and crumbly. For nut allergies, use coconut flour.
- Cacao Powder: This is the one ingredient that sets these sesame cookies apart. Brilliant…the cookies are golden and rich without having to add much sweetener.
- Tahini: make sure you thoroughly mix when you first open to have consistent, drippy consistency.
- Maple syrup: Just a little bit is enough for a perfectly sweet cookie.
- Sesame Seeds: You can use toasted sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, white, brown or a combination.
How to make them
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper.
Use a pyrex measuring cup to mix up the wet ingredients. Measure out the tahini, then add maple syrup and vanilla extract.
Mix until everything is well incorporated and there are no dark streaks.
In a large bowl, gather the dry ingredients: almond meal, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Use a fork to break up any clumps and mix well.
Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and mix well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.
Dough will be sticky, and hold together well. If cookie mixture is too dry, mix in a tablespoon of unsweetened almond milk. Use a small cookie scoop or tablespoon measure to divide dough and drop onto prepared cookie tray.
Pour ¼ cup sesame seeds into a small bowl. Wet your hands and roll the cookie dough into balls. Then roll each ball into the sesame seeds until fully coated. Return to the sheet pan.
Use the bottom of a glass to flatten the dough balls into tiny little cookies.
Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes, on oven rack in the middle of the oven until golden brown.
Let cookies sit on sheet pans for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Debra’s Pro Tips
- Wet your left hand and use that to grab the cookie dough ball and drop it into the sesame seeds. Use your right hand to roll cookies around until coated with the seeds. Then place back onto the baking pan. This will help keep one hand free from sesame seeds during the process.
- Package them up and give as holiday gifts, a delicious hostess gift or bring to your annual cookie swap.
- Tahini Cocoa Cookies….my favorite cookie to go with a meditative cup of tea in the afternoon.
- For larger cookies, use an ice cream scoop to drop 6 cookies onto sheet pan. Flatten with a larger diameter glass. The cooking time will be the same, if the cookies are similar thickness. It’s a good idea to set the timer for 10 minutes to check the cookies, adding another minute or two if you prefer a crunchy texture.
How to Store
- Make sure cookies are completely cool before storing.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for a week, in the fridge for 2 weeks or freeze for up to three months.
- Use freezer safe containers or zip top bags.
- Make cookie dough, roll into balls and flash freeze in a single layer on flat surface for 3 hours. Transfer to zip top bags. Bring to room temperature on baking tray, flatten and bake as directed.
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📖 Recipe
Sesame Seed Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup tahini runny
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups almond flour
- 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and line a large rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Use a liquid measuring cup and pour in the tahini, then the maple syrup and finally the vanilla extract. Mix well.
- Use a medium sized mixing bowl and stir together the almond flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Use a fork if there are clumps that need to be dissolved.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until dough comes together.
- Use a tablespoon or small cookie scoop to portion out 18 golf ball sized cookies and drop them onto the prepared baking pan.
- Wet your hands and then roll each cookie into a ball.
- Place the sesame seeds into a small, shallow bowl. Roll each ball of cookie dough into the sesame seeds until fully coated and then return to the baking pan. Use the bottom of a glass to press the sesame ball down into a flat, ⅛" thick cookie.
- Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Cool completely before storing.
Notes
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.
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