3-Ingredient Vegan Tahini Date Cookies
These much-loved, vegan tahini date cookies are easy to make with just 3 ingredients: oats, dates and tahini!
About the Recipe
You will love these popular, healthy and delicious tahini date cookies!
There’s not much to them but the combination of tahini, dates and oats is to-die-for. They’re soft, buttery and just so yummy.
These cookies are great for households with allergies too as they’re naturally gluten-free, nut-free and dairy-free. They’re also naturally sweetened by the dates so have no added sugar.
The cookies are just perfect as is, made simply with oats, dates and tahini, or you add extras like chocolate chips and walnuts.
For a similar cookie made with maple syrup instead of dates, check out my 3-ingredient oatmeal cookies or try these flourless oatmeal cookies made with nut butter, oats and banana.
For a real treat, dunk the top of each cookie in melted chocolate and firm in the fridge. It’s amazing. Either way, they’re perfect anytime of day for a wholesome and satisfying snack or dessert.
For more simple desserts, you might enjoy these healthy baked pears or stuffed apples. For more gluten-free cookies, you might like these sesame tahini cookies or matcha cookies made with almond flour.
Ingredient Notes
This list is not complete. Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete ingredient list with measurements and detailed instructions.
- Oats: You can use rolled oats, large flake oats or quick oats. Even minute oats would work since we’re just blending them up anyways.
- Dates: Any variety works as long as they’re soft and not overly dry. I like medjool dates, sayer dates or deglect noor. If your dates are very dry, you can soak them in hot water for 10 minutes and drain well before using.
- Tahini: Use creamy, drippy tahini for best results. Good tahini should be completely smooth and not overly bitter. I like Arz Fine Foods or Soom tahini. You can also use almond butter, peanut butter, cashew butter or sunflower seed butter in this recipe.
Variations & Additions
- The dough makes a great base for chopped nuts like walnuts or pecans, sesame seeds, coconut, pumpkin seeds, cranberries or chocolate chips. Add up to 1/2 cup of your choice of add-in.
- For flavour enhancement, you can add a pinch of salt and up to 1 tsp of vanilla and/or cinnamon.
- 1-2 tsp of espresso powder is yummy to make them coffee-flavoured!
- Other flavours that are nice in these cookies are orange, cardamom, ginger and nutmeg.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Before You Start: Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Step 1: Add all the ingredients to a large food processor and mix into a thick, crumbly dough. You should easily be able to press the dough together between your fingers.
Quick Note: If the dough is too crumbly to press together, which can happen if your dates and/or tahini is too dry, add 1-2 tbsp warm water and process again.
Step 2: Shape the dough into 12 cookies and place on a parchment or silicon mat-lined baking tray.
Quick Note: The cookies will not change shape at all during baking so be sure to shape them into the cookie shape you want before hand. You can make them thin or leave them on the thicker side, up to you!
The cookies have a soft, dense texture kind of like baked oatmeal. They get a bit brown and crisped on the outside but the inside will stay dense and soft. For a somewhat crisper outside, shape them on the thinner side.
Step 3: Bake for 10 minutes then let cool on the pan for 15 minutes and enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
These cookies have a soft, dense texture and are not like a traditional cookie. They get a bit browned and crisp on the outside but the inside will be dense and soft.
No. You can substitute the tahini with any other nut or seed butter such as almond butter, peanut butter, or for another nut-free option, sunflower seed butter.
Recipe Notes
- Dates: This recipe works best with soft, moist dates. If your dates are overly dry, soak them in hot water for 15 minutes then drain well before using in the recipe.
- For best results, use an inexpensive kitchen scale to measure the ingredients. This is not totally necessary but I always recommend following my exact measurements if you can! Plus it makes baking super easy because you can just add the ingredients straight into the bowl to the specified weight.
- For an extra treat, try melted some dairy-free chocolate and dipping the top or half of each cookie into the chocolate then firming on a pan in the fridge. So good!
Storing
- Let cool completely before storing.
- Room Temperature: In an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Fridge: In an airtight container for up to 1 week.
- Freezer: In an airtight container or freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months.
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Scroll down to the comment section to leave a star rating and review.
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Vegan Tahini Date Cookies
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These vegan tahini date cookies are perfectly sweet with hints of caramel thanks to naturally sweet dates. If you love tahini or even if you’ve never tried it, you’ll love these simple, healthy cookies!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup (150 g) oats
- 1/2 cup (140 g) tahini
- 1 1/2 cup lightly packed (260 g) soft pitted dates
- optional: 1/4 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Add all ingredients to a food processor and process until it forms a thick dough you can easily press together between your fingers.
- Shape into 12 cookies and place on a parchment paper or silicone mat-lined baking sheet. The cookies will not change shape during baking so be sure to shape them into cookies beforehand.
- Bake for 10 minutes and let cool on the pan for 15 minutes before handling.
Notes
These cookies have a soft, dense texture kind of like baked oatmeal. They get a bit brown and crisped on the outside but the inside will stay dense and soft. For a somewhat crisper outside, shape them on the thinner side.
For best results, use a kitchen scale to weigh ingredients.
Tahini can be substituted with any other nut or seed butter as long as it’s not too dry.
Additions: Try up to 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans, chocolate chips or cacao nibs and/or up to 1 tsp of cinnamon.
Dates: It’s important to use soft, moist dates in this recipe. If your dates are overly dry, soak in hot water for 15 minutes then drain well before using in the recipe.
Storing: Let cool completely then store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, fridge for up to 1 week or freezer for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 224
- Sugar: 13 g
- Sodium: 5 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Carbohydrates: 36 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 6 g
Originally published on October 25, 2017.
Are these supposed to be hard or soft cookies? I followed the recipe, but my cookies weren’t getting golden. So I cooked them another 7 minutes. They are still kind of soft after I pulled them from the oven, but the sesame smells toasted and I didn’t want to overcook them and have it burn. I haven’t tasted them yet, but they smell delicious.
They are more of a softer cookie. Since they’re so simple, don’t contain any ingredients to make them hard and crunchy. I hope you enjoy them!
I’m wondering what the nutritional values are ? Thank you. I’m excited try
The nutrition facts are listed below the recipe. Enjoy!
This is the first recipe since being required to go GF, DF and eggless two months ago that is truly delicious under any circumstances. Nicely done and thank you!
The dough came together very quick in my Ninja blender. I added some honey for additional sweetness and substituted out 1/2 C of oats for coconut flour. Great recipe for users experimenting with tahini in something other than hummus. Makes a nice snack for the road as well. 😊
Mine didn’t make a dough, it was more like a crumble. I squished them into cookies on my sheet, but they are falling apart. More like a baked granola.(which is what I’ll try using it as) but what did I do wrong??
Was the tahini dried out? Were the dates very dry? You need to use fairly soft, fresh dates as noted in the blog post…if they’re dry, you can soak them in hot water and then drain before using. Did you follow the recipe exactly? Sorry they didn’t work out!
I tried these today. My dough came out a little crumbly as well. I added more dates and a little more tahini than what was called for in your recipe to make it more doughy. It made it a little better. Great tasting cookie and I will try them again. I am going to soak the dates next time and see if that works better. I thought my dates were soft enough, since I had just bought them from costco. I am new to this way of cooking, so I don’t know what everything is supposed to look/feel like. But, thanks for this great recipe.
Love these cookies. I can’t stop eating them. Just the right amount of sweetness and I love the taste of tahini.
haha, yes, I can’t stop with these either! So yummy!! Glad you enjoyed them.
OMG Deryn .. just made these .. they are my new favorite cookie .. absolutely delicious! Even better because I made my tahini with no oil. Thank you!
Aww, yay! So glad to hear it! I LOVE these too, so yummy and so easy! Thanks for the message.
I can’t stop making these – new fave.
Gosh darn delicious!
Aren’t they the best? So easy and yummy!
I tried this recipe today. They are so delicious ? just 1 Q please, Do i need to keep them in the fridge? Thank you ?
They don’t have to be kept in the fridge, no. But I do store them in the fridge or freezer. Enjoy!