There’s so much to love about these Vegan Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies. Crisp edges and a chewy center, lightly sweetened with maple syrup, rounded out with a touch of flakey sea salt, and a few chocolate chunks…my idea of perfect balance. I bet you never imagined gluten free dairy free chocolate chip cookies could taste so incredible.
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The secret ingredient for perfectly delicious vegan chocolate chip cookies is tahini…and once you’ve tried these amazing cookies, you’ll understand why butter isn’t necessary in a cookie recipe. Tahini gives the cookies a slightly nutty flavor, and gives them just the right touch of rich and decadent to go along with moist, crispy and delish!
It’s no secret I am a fan of tahini. If you bought some tahini to make my famous green tahini sauce or a batch of insanely delicious tahini brownies, you’ll have just enough left over to make these insanely tasty maple tahini cookies.
As far as vegan cookie recipes go, this one just might be my favorite cookie, and my family members agree. I think these are WAY BETTER than regular chocolate chip cookies.
Why you’ll love these cookies
- Delicious way to use up the rest of that jar of tahini.
- Easy recipe that requires no special equipment, just a medium sized bowl and a large spoon. No hand mixer or stand mixer needed!
- Simple ingredients and no white sugar, or brown sugar….a touch of maple syrup is all that’s needed for perfectly sweet cookies.
- Gluten free dairy free chocolate chip cookies: no eggs, no grains, no dairy…just great tasting chocolate chip cookies.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Tahini: Cookies need fat for both crisp edges and chewy centers. Vegan cookies need the right type of fat or they’ll be dry and crumbly. Tahini, or sesame paste, is a whole foods fat that gives cookies a similar texture to baking with butter. Good tahini is made with just ground sesame seeds and means no olive oil, coconut oil or vegan butter is necessary. If you need a sub, use creamy, drippy almond butter. They’ll taste a bit like peanut butter cookies, but still be delish!
- Almond flour: This recipe was tested with almond flour. Neither coconut flour or all purpose flour will work well in this recipe. Both will soak up the moisture in the batter, leaving you with a dry, crumbly cookie. You could substitute with finely ground walnuts though.
- Ground flax: An easy binder, just mix it in with the other dry ingredients. No need to mix up a flax egg either.
- Maple syrup: Remember that liquid sweeteners and dry aren’t equal swaps. For best results, use an equal amount of honey or date syrup.
- Chocolate chips: I used dark chocolate chunks and loved the melty chocolate vibe they produced, but vegan chocolate chips will also work well.
How to make this recipe
These vegan tahini cookies come together quickly using a large or medium mixing bowl and either a wooden spoon or a heavy silicone spatula.
Place tahini, maple syrup and vanilla extract into a large bowl.
Mix until wet ingredients form a smooth, creamy paste.
Even though these vegan cookies have no eggs, there is no need to mix the ground flax with water to make a flax egg. Place ground flax along with the rest of the dry ingredients like almond flour, baking soda and baking powder into the bowl.
Mix until fully combined. Be sure to bring up whatever is in the bottom of the bowl and incorporate into the rest of the batter.
Next, stir in the dark chocolate chunks or chocolate chips and cover with saran wrap. Chill cookie dough in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes. If you prefer gooey chocolate in your tahini cookies, wait to mix in the chunks until you remove cookie dough from the fridge.
Use a cookie scoop or two tablespoons to portion out 18 balls of cookie dough onto a baking sheet.
Use a small glass to flatten dough balls and then sprinkle with flakey sea salt. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 12 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool slightly on baking tray for 5-10 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Debra’s Pro Tips
- In my oven 12 minutes is just right for perfectly crisp edges and soft centers. Keep an eye on them to discover what perfection is in YOUR oven.
- For super gooey chocolate in your cookies, refrigerate the dough BEFORE mixing in the chocolate chunks. Mix chocolate chunks into the batter right before baking.
- If your cookies turned out flat, either your oven was to hot or your dough too warm before baking. Did you refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes?
- Roll dough into cookie dough balls, freeze on a flat tray, then pop into a zip top bag and keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can transfer as many or few cookie dough balls straight from the freezer to the baking sheet. Allow to thaw for 30 minutes and then bake for the best cookies!
- Stack cookies and place them in clear plastic bags for the ultimate cookie swap cookies.
- The flakey sea salt on the top is optional…but honestly, it’s my favorite part. I mean, who eats dark chocolate without salt? If you do, you’re seriously missing out!
Storage
- Make sure cookies are completely cooled before storing in an airtight container.
- They will last 4 days at room temperature, a week in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup tahini runny
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups almond flour blanched
- 2 teaspoons ground flax seeds
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup dark chocolate chunks
- 1 pinch flakey sea salt
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine tahini, maple syrup and vanilla extract.
- Add almond flour, ground flax, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the wet ingredients and stir until dry ingredients are well incorporated and batter is smooth and creamy. Then stir in chocolate chunks or chips.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let cookie dough chill for a minimum of 30 minutes in the fridge. Preheat oven to 350 when ready to proceed.
- Use a medium cookie scoop or Tablespoons to drop cookies onto baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- Use the bottom of a glass or metal measuring cup to flatten out balls on baking tray. Sprinkle with flakey sea salt if desired and bake for 12 minutes in preheated oven.
- Let cookies cool on baking tray for 10 minutes and then transfer to wire rack until completely cool.
- Store chocolate chunk cookies in airtight container for up to a week at room temperature or 3 months in the freezer.
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.
FranCesca Winfield
Fantastic! Best gF cookies I’ve ever had and or made!b. Followed recipe as is completely…! Love all your Tahini based recipes. Made the Tahini brownies also,fabulous! Make, bake & freeze cookies & brownies…..love it, just take out 1 & defrost…yummy!
Debra Klein
Thanks so much! I’m a big fan of adding tahini to recipes instead of so much oil!
Angela
How many cookies do you make? I’m trying to see how mine equate to your nutrition info, which I appreciate you including!
Thanks,
Angela
Debra Klein
The nutrition information is based on one recipe making 18 cookies.
Alpa
Very easy to make, delish!
Debra Klein
Thanks Alpa, so glad you enjoyed them.
FranCesca
The cookies are fantastic…I love Tahini & cooking & baking with it….. time to make more…thank you, love you recipes, esp the vegan ones..
Debra Klein
Thanks so much….I love those cookies too…I should make a batch!