Vegan Tahini Date Cookies
These much-loved, vegan tahini date cookies are easy to make with just 3 ingredients: oats, dates and tahini!
You will love these popular, healthy and delicious tahini date cookies! There’s not much too them but after baking 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 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.
What You’ll Love Them
- Quick and easy to make.
- You’ll need just 3 simple ingredients, a few minutes of prep time and 10 minutes to bake.
- Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free and no added sugar.
- Taste like caramel!
- Make the perfect healthier dessert or snack.
- You can leave them raw or bake them.
- Enjoy as is or customize with add-ins like cacao nibs, chocolate chips or walnuts.
Ingredient Notes
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.
- 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.
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.
How to Make these Cookies
Before You Start: Preheat the oven to 350 F.
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.
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!
Bake for 10 minutes then let cool on the pan for 15 minutes and enjoy!
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!
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.
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 also yummy to make them coffee-flavoured!
Other flavours that are nice in these cookies are orange, cardamom, ginger and nutmeg.
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?
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I’d love to hear about it! Click here to leave a review and be sure to tag me @runningonrealfood if you post it on social media.
Vegan Tahini Date Cookies
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Snack, Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten-Free
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
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
Keywords: easy, 3-ingredient, simple, healthy
Originally published on October 25, 2017.
These are terrific!! I used 15 dates, slightly more tahini than the recipe called for and a ton of cinnamon, cardamon and pumpkin pie spice and my friends and I loved them!
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So glad to hear that! Sounds delish with those spices.
I made these with the added cinnamon and chocolate chips. They are really delicious, but a bit too sweet for my palate. I think I could probably reduce the dates some, leave out the chocolate chips, and/or add something salty like pretzels. That said, these are totally worth making! I suppose since this batch comes across too sweet from me, it’ll help me with portion control, so that’s a plus.
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I added a 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut on my first try and WOW – these are great!
I also used a cookie scoop and my batch yielded 19 cookies, probably would have been 20 if I hadn’t kept tasting the dough!
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Thank you for this recipe, Deryn! These cookies are SOOO good! I’m low on groceries and this recipe was just what I needed to satisfy the cravings. I like them unbaked as well. They make great energy bites. Baked are great because they have, like you said, that caramel-like texture… swoon. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes. Thank you, again! 🙂
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Loved these cookies. So did everyone else. Will adapt the recipe each time as per suggestions.
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Absolutely love these easy, healthy but still delicious cookies! I make them with my 3 year old quite often and he already knows all the ingredients ☺️ I also have made them by adding some chocolate tahini that I had and they were soooo good!
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Aww that’s so cute! Chocolate tahini? Sounds AMAZING!! Thanks for the review!
They’re absolutely delicious, thanks for recipe.
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You’re very welcome. Glad you enjoyed them!
I wonder if you could use chopped, fresh, cranberries instead of either figs or dates?
I wouldn’t recommend it as the dates actually bind everything together and add moisture. You could maybe use an equal amount of soaked dried cranberries or raisins though.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. My daughter is sensitive to several foods. Since she’s on a rotation diet, using recipes with few ingredients doesn’t put all the ‘good stuff’ in one day. Both girls love them. We’re making these to bring to another non-sensitive home this Friday, and we’re going to shape them using holiday cookie cutters. Thanks again for making my daughter’s first Christmas with dietary restrictions a little better.
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I’m so happy I could help! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Feel free to explore the desserts section as you may find more recipes that work for her. Thanks for the review!
These are so tasty! I adore anything with tahini in and they are so simple to make without added sugar or strange ingredients. Will be making these often 🙂
Thanks for the recipe.
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I adore tahini too, so great in baking and desserts! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
We made it with 1/2 tahini and 1/2 almond butter and we loved them!
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Awesome! That combo sounds perfect!
Thank you for sharing this date-lovers’ dream of a quick recipe. I used noor dates which I usually eat plain or throw a hand full in smoothies for sweetness, so I really appreciated this recipe. Question: how do you think these would come out using a microwave?
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Hmm, I’m not sure…I’ve never made anything like this in a microwave! Let me know if you try it. I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
These are so great! I make them as instructed but add cinnamon and cardamom. They are so easy to make! I make them to replace cliff bars and I eat them when I hike and as snacks. They really do remind me of cliff bars, minus the excess ingredients and preservative.
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Definitely! They are a bit like Clif bars for sure. So glad you enjoy them!!
These are, once again, fabulous! I love how you make healthy ingredients easy to throw together and taste great! I did add the mini chocolate chips and cinnamon. My kids love them! I love them for something to have in my bag for after a workout or run. You mention to wait 15 minutes to cool. Have to admit, I’m glad I snuck one after 10 to enjoy the melting chocolate.😁 Soooo good! Thank you!
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Hi! Is there a way to make these with soaked oats?
Thanks!
I don’t think so unfortunately, they’d be too moist. Unless you toasted them maybe to dry them out? I’m not sure, I haven’t tried it! Sorry!
Thank you for your thoughtful response! Much appreciated
I make these often with mazafati fresh dates and I like to add 2 tbsp of chia seeds and sometimes a little cinnamon. I’m making these right now with all that and some cacao nibs. sure it’s going to be yummy! thanks
They sound amazing with cacao nibs, enjoy!
Well, I’m glad they still taste good! Let me know if you try them again. Thanks!
Best recipe! Sooooo easy. I put a little chocolate chip “dot” in the middle. Loved by vegans and non vegans alike!!
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This is an excellent, EXCELLENT recipe. Thanks for sharing it. Your really knocked it out of the park. 🙂
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Excellent! I’m so happy you enjoyed them! Thanks for the review, I appreciate it. 🙂
I make those every week now. Not too sweet, but great for a snack. Feels good on my sensitive tummy too!
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Totally, I love how they’re not overly sweet and just made from simple, whole foods. I’m so glad you enjoy them!