Vegan Sesame Tahini Cookies
These vegan sesame tahini cookies are easy to make with 4 ingredients for a healthy and delicious treat!
These simple sesame cookies are perfect for an afternoon treat. They’re lightly sweetened, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside with a the yummiest flavour and texture.
If you’ve never tried tahini in sweet recipes, these are a great place to start!
Recipe Features
- Dietary Features: Vegan (egg-free and dairy-free), gluten-free, nut-free and oil-free.
- 4 healthy ingredients plus optional vanilla and salt.
- Easy, one bowl recipe that’s ready to enjoy in 30 minutes.
- Delicious nutty, earthy, buttery flavour (without the butter!).
- Low in calories and carbohydrates.
Ingredients You’ll Need
A complete list of ingredients with amounts and full instructions is located in the printable recipe card below. This section covers ingredient and substitution considerations.
- Almond Flour: This recipe was developed specifically for almond flour. You can use store-bought almond flour or make your own by blending blanched almonds into a fine flour consistency.
- Tahini: You’ll need a creamy, runny tahini for this recipe. I like Alkanater tahini but Soom and Trader Joe’s are also good.
- Maple Syrup: Any variety of pure maple syrup works or it can be substituted with agave syrup.
- Sesame Seeds: Hulled or unhulled works but I like hulled sesame seeds here. Try mixing black and white sesame seeds for a pretty finish! Toasted sesame seeds also work.
- Salt & Vanilla: Optional ingredients but help enhance the flavour.
Step-by-Step Photos
Before You Start: Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Add everything except the sesame seeds to a mixing bowl and work into a moldable dough.
Note: If the dough it too dry to roll into balls (this might happen if your tahini was too dry), add 1-2 tbsp plant-based milk and mix again.
Add roughly 1/4 cup sesame seeds to a shallow bowl or plate.
Roll the dough into 10-12 balls then roll each boll in the sesame seeds to coat. Flatten each cookie with yoru hands and place them on the prepared baking tray.
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until golden in colour. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan before handling.
They will be soft and fragile when they come out of the oven but will firm up as they cool.
Once cooled, enjoy your delicious sesame cookies!
Notes & Tips
- Measuring: For best results, accurately measure ingredients using a kitchen scale.
- To make chocolate chip tahini cookies, mix up to 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips to the batter.
- Chocolate-dipped tahini cookies are also amazing! To make them, dip half of the cooled cookies into melted chocolate then place back on the pan until hardened.
FAQs
These definitely have a strong tahini flavour and are not overly sweet. I love tahini, so I really enjoy these simple cookies.
If you don’t like tahini, they may not be the cookies for you.
These were developed specifically with almond flour and haven’t been tested with anything else.
Almond flour has unique characteristics, so I wouldn’t recommended a different flour it unless you’re experienced with flour substitutions.
Storing
- Let the cookies cool completely before storing.
- Store in a sealed container at room temperature or in the fridge.
- The cookies can be frozen in a freezer bag or airtight container for up to 3 months.
Did you try this recipe?
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Vegan Sesame Tahini Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These healthy, gluten-free and vegan sesame cookies are perfect for an afternoon treat. They’re lightly sweetened with an earthy, nutty flavour you’ll love!
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups almond flour (150 g)
- ½ cup tahini (120 g)
- ¼ cup maple syrup (70 g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
- pinch of salt, optional
- sesame seeds for coating
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix all the ingredients, except the sesame seeds, in a bowl until you get a moldable dough. Note: If the dough it too dry to roll into balls (this might happen if your tahini was too dry), add 1-2 tbsp plant-based milk and mix again until it forms a dough you can shape into cookies.
- Prepare a shallow bowl or plate with about 1/4 cup of sesame seeds.
- Roll the dough into 10-12 balls, about 2 tbsp each, then roll the balls in the sesame seeds to coat.
- Flatten each ball with your hands until about 1/3-inch thick and place on the baking sheet.
- Bake for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
- Let cool completely before serving. They will be soft and fragile when they come out of the oven so be sure to let them cool to firm up before handling.
Notes
Be sure to use smooth, runny tahini in this recipe.
Storing: Let cool completely before storing. Store in a sealed container at room temperature or in the fridge. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 178
- Sodium: 28 mg
- Fat: 10 g
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 5 g
Keywords: sesame cookies, vegan tahini cookies
Just made these for my SIL who is a nutritionist and she loved them! I made the cookies, coated them in sesame seeds, and then froze them and they cooked perfectly for her. Took me max 10 minutes to make. Super easy.
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Love that! Thanks for trying for trying them!
My favorite quick cookie. Delicious and such an easy recipe.
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I made these cookies and absolutely love them! I do like tahini, and these cookies have just a little bit of sweetness. They are also nice consistency, a little chewy and not dry at all. I halved the recipe and wish I had made the full recipe. Will definitely make these again!!
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Super delicious – kind of a soft, chewy texture. Nearly the whole batch has been eaten today by family! Love how there aren’t many ingredients. Strong taste of honey which goes really well with the almond/tahini/sesame seed flavours.Mine were definitely quite dry and it make rolling them out a little difficult as the dough would crack. I only noticed the tip about the milk now – I think that would have helped. Going to make some with maple syrup next – curious to know how strong that flavour will come out. Hoping it’s good coz it’s so great to have a gluten free vegan cookie on hand!
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Thanks for the feedback. They do sound good with honey – I think the maple syrup is yummy too though and don’t find the maple flavour over-powering. If the dough is a bit dry (depends on the almond flour used and I’d say honey is usually thicker than syrup so that might have made a difference), try a bit of milk or even water until it’s easy to shape the cookies without cracking, that should do the trick!
Can I use regular flour instead of almond flour? We have a nut allergy. Thank you!
Hi! I’m not sure without testing. Almond flour has unique properties so I think it would need a bit of adjustment not just a 1:1 swap. Let me know if you try it!
Thank you for this recipe! These are so very simple and yummy! I would like a little more sugar next time around I think. Yum yum!! I will make these often.
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I’m wanting to know if the sesame tahini cookies stay soft after they cool, for people who don’t have any teeth????
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They get a little crisp when they cool but soften up after storing, so you should be good!