tahini + chocolate thumbprint cookies

The peanut butter/tahini swap out continues! Here is another recipe that would traditionally call for peanut butter, but works wonderfully with tahini instead! To create this recipe I used my 5 ingredient peanut butter cookies as a guideline, and I nailed it! Tahini is a staple ingredient in my fridge. It's actually a super versatile ingredient in both savory and sweet recipes! I use it in salad dressings, sauces, hummus, and buckwheat granola on the regular but the possibilities are endless. I have done the tahini-chocolate combo before in energy ball form, but these cookies... these cookies. The tahini tang with a dash of sea salt complements the dark chocolate drop so perfectly, and then roasted sesame seeds on top?! That final touch makes these cookies irresistible!

tahini + chocolate thumbprint cookies

• 3/4 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup maple
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips or chunks
• 1 Tbsp roasted sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the flour and baking soda in a small mixing bowl. In a larger bowl whisk together the tahini, maple, coconut oil, vanilla, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold until completely combined. On a lined baking sheet drop spoonfuls of cookie dough at least an inch apart from each other. This dough is much gooey-er than the pb cookie dough, which you can just roll into balls, so they won't be perfectly round but try to make them circular. Make a depression on each cookie with your thumb. This little dip is going to be filled with chocolate, yum. As the cookies bake the depression will rise so make it a little deeper than you think. Bake the cookies for ten minutes.

While cookies are in the oven start melting the chocolate. You'll need about 2/3 cup chocolate chips or chunks. I use the dark chocolate chunks from Whole Foods brand. In a small pot boil about an inch of water. Set a metal bowl on top of the pot and add the chocolate. Constantly fold the chocolate from bottom to top until it is completely melted, remove from heat.

By this time the cookies should be done, it doesn't really matter if you cool them before chocolate-ing them because the chocolate then needs time to cool too. With a teaspoon, divide the chocolate evenly between all of the thumbprints, filling the depression. If the thumbprint depressions got very shallow during baking, just add the chocolate a little bit at a time to avoid it spilling over the edge. Sprinkle the chocolate with the roasted sesame seeds while it is still melty.

Eat one immediately. Then eat another after about 20-30 minutes, the chocolate will be fudgy by then. And then have another one after they have been refrigerated and the chocolate has hardened. You have to try them in all of the stages, right?