Meet Alex Caspero
Alex Caspero is a Registered Dietitian, New York Times Bestselling Plant-Based Chef and mom of two. She aims to cut through the nutrition noise by providing real-life, nourishing tips for body and mind. Learn more about Alex.
I made you grown-up cookies. Salted Tahini Oatmeal Cookies with plenty of chocolate chips. They’re slightly savory, just sweet enough and contain just a handful of ingredients.
Tahini might be the only thing you may not have on hand, but it’s a pantry staple for me. Mixed with lemon juice, olive oil and salt/pepper, it’s my go-to drizzle for grain bowls, roasted veggies and salads.
I tested these cookies so many different ways: with and without salt; with dark chocolate and milk chocolate; with peanut butter and tahini and then just tahini; with brown sugar and maple syrup, just brown sugar and then just maple syrup and I’m convinced that I’ve found the winner.
While the brown sugar and tahini combination was divine, I wanted a cookie that was made with just maple syrup. I figured that with the plethora of chocolate chips, removing the brown sugar was a good compromise.
The tahini and peanut butter combo was a little too rich for me, and the peanut butter completely overpowered the subtle tahini taste. I really thought I would love these with dark chocolate, but it just didn’t have enough sweetness for balance and I found that the dark chocolate cookies were a little too bitter for my taste.
I sprinkled some flaky sea salt on the last batch and WOW, what a difference! I photographed these photos without the salt, but highly recommend adding it as it really brings out the richness of the tahini and maple. Just that first step of the tahini and maple alone– you know I licked the bowl clean.
Oat flour makes these cookies gluten-free, but they will also work with all-purpose flour. I tested both and included both in the directions, depending on your preference. Oat flour sounds fancy, but it’s actually very simple to make. Add rolled oats to a blender and puree until a flour forms! I always have a big jar on hand to make our favorite oat waffles.
Grab a large bowl and whisk together 1/2 cup tahini and 1/3 cup maple syrup. Good tahini really makes a difference. I swear by the Krinos and Soom brands– for whatever reason, Jovya always tastes metallic to me.
You’ll want to use pure maple syrup and not breakfast syrup as those contain too much water and will affect the overall cookie. I haven’t tried these with honey or agave, so not sure if that will work instead. I’ll add it to the testing list!
From there, swirl in a little vanilla, and then fold in the dry ingredients: oat flour, rolled oats, spices, salt and mix together. Fold in chopped chocolate or chocolate chips and scoop out on a baking sheet.
Since these don’t spread much when baking, I use a cookie scoop and then gently flatter the top so they cook evenly. Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt and bake!
Check them around 9 minutes; I found that 9-10 minutes was almost perfect depending on what size you made the cookies. These tastes best slightly undercooked rather than overcooked; you want them chewy, not hard.
Did I mention they are perfect with a cup of coffee?
If you try this recipe, let me know! Come back and leave a rating and a comment. Seeing you make my recipes makes my day and your feedback helps other readers. If you like these salted tahini chocolate chip cookies, then make sure to check out my pumpkin chocolate cookies and my gluten-free and vegan chocolate chip cookies!
PrintSalted Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies! A grown-up and decadent vegan chocolate chip cookie! Naturally sweetened with maple syrup and gluten-free.
*To make oat flour: Place oats into a blender and blend until a flour forms. Or, you can use all-purpose flour.
** I tried these with dark chocolate and much prefer the taste of milk chocolate with these!
***This is my favorite sea salt! It’s so flaky and perfect in these cookies.
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(8 comments) leave a comment
These cookies are the best! I’ve made these many times over and every single person has loved them and asked for the recipe.
★★★★★
Love these cookies. Make them a lot!
★★★★★
These cookies are amazing! Perfect for nut free school snacks!
★★★★★
Oh. Em. Gee. I can’t! These may be my new favourite cookie EVER!! The tahini and maple combo is divine! My hubby and 19 month old also loved them so much that the batch was gone in less than 24 hours. I’m making a double batch again. I used gluten free all purpose flour, so I think I may try the next batch with oat flour. These will be a staple in our house! Thank you, Alex, for this incredible cookie!!
So glad you liked these!
Love tahini! I am planning to try these soon, and have all ingredients on hand except the maple so I’ll be trying with either honey or agave. Do you think one or the other would work better? And would you keep the amount the same? Thanks so much!
I would think honey would be better? I’d likely keep the amount the same. Let me know how it works!
Made these with my toddler this morning. Super easy and DELICIOUS recipe! I ended up only making 9 cookies – got carried away with my scooping 😉 And needed to add about 6 more mins to the cook time due to the increased size. Definitely will make again!
★★★★★