Tahini Almond Cookies

I bought a bottle of tahini (paste made from ground sesame seeds) the other day and I’ve been using it as accompaniment for my salad and as the base for a cookie which I’m gonna share in this post. Gotta say I’m not liking the tahini taste like crazily but it is definitely yummy. 🙂

Tahini almond cookies. Yum!

Let’s start…

This tahini is a lil’ bitter. Would avoid it in the future.

In a bowl place all-purpose flour, ground almonds, butter, sugar, vanilla and salt. If you have a food processor, blend mixture until crumbly. For my case, I did it manually.

Next add tahini and process until you get a smooth dough. Then knead several times until smooth.

Roll dough into small balls and place on baking sheet. The ball size I made is about 1.5cm-2cm in diameter.

Flatten the ball with fingers. Tsk I used my palm instead. Bake in 175^oC oven for 12-14 minutes. You’ll know once it’s done because you can smell it!

Because my tahini has some bitter taste, the cookies turned out a little bitter as well. BUT that doesn’t stop me from eating one after another and another and another… and before I know it, the cookies are gone by half!

If you like peanut butter cookies, then this tahini cookies will be your next best friend. 🙂

Tahini Almond Cookies
Adapted from Oogio.net (by Natalie Levin) shared in David Lebovitz site
Makes about 5 dozens pieces

Note: Because I have no whole wheat flour, I substitute with all-purpose flour and disregard the 2 tablespoon water as advised by Natalie in her site. I also mix all the ingredients manually.

2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
2 1/2 ounces (70 g) ground almonds
5 1/2 ounces (150 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
3/4 cup (150 g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (200 g) raw tahini paste

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 175^oC degrees. Line baking tray with baking paper.

2. In a food processor, mix all-purpose flour, ground almonds, butter, sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Mix until mixture looks crumbly.

3. Add tahini and process until you start to get a smooth dough. Take the dough out from the food processor and knead several times until smooth. You can wet your hand and knead the dough if the dough feels dry.

4. Roll out small balls about 1.5cm to 2cm. Place them on baking tray and flatten with palm.

5. Bake for around 12-14 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on cooling rack and store in an air-tight container. My ideal time is 14 minutes.

Enjoy!