Gluten free tahini cookies
Ok, so the peanut butter snickers cookies are really good. But these gluten free tahini cookies? They are really, really, really good. They’re chewy, crispy, sweet, a little salty and a general delight to eat. Made from four simple ingredients: tahini, maple syrup, baking powder and salt, they can be whatever you want them to be. They are the Ryan Atwood of cookies. Chocolate chips? Absolutely. Mixed seeds? Why not. Heavily spiced? Be my guest.
These cookies are refined sugar free, flourless, FODMAP friendly, nut free, starch free and vegan. They are made without xanthan gum, and they are ready to go wherever you fancy taking them.
FODMAP notes
Before we dive in, some FODMAP housekeeping. Monash suggests that 2 tablespoons of tahini (or 30g) is a FODMAP friendly serve. This goes for both hulled and unhulled. A moderate FODMAP serve comes in at 185g or 3/4 cup for hulled, and 110g or 2/5 cup for unhulled.
To me, the sizeable gap between friendly and moderate serves suggests there is a bit of wiggle room in terms of a low FODMAP serve. As always, though, eat what works for you. If you don’t want to go down the tahini route (or you have a sesame allergy) try the peanut butter cookies (which can also be made with almond butter) instead.
In summary on the tahini point, you can safely eat two cookies per serve, whether you use hulled or unhulled. They are quite rich, though, and I generally find (particularly with chocolate chips) that I only need one at a time. I mean, that’s probably a lie, but anyway.
Onto maple syrup! Maple syrup is friendly in 2 tablespoon serves. Again, 1-2 cookies per serve should keep these cookies within FODMAP constraints.
Recipe notes for your gluten free tahini cookies
This recipe makes 10 small-medium cookies. I recommend dividing the ‘dough’ into 10, whether or not you think they look small. The recipe can very easily be halved.
These cookies do spread, but not like crazy. I found that when testing a flattened batch and an unflattened batch, they turned out roughly the same.
I can’t try all the brands of tahini in the world, so they might work differently depending on what you use. That said, hulled or unhulled, there should be no ingredients in your tahini except for sesame seeds. I don’t know if they even exist, but don’t use a tahini with a long list of ingredients.
I will go into the sugar options in the substitution section below. Please note: pure maple syrup only. None of that ‘maple flavoured’ stuff.
These babies NEED to be cooked on a low oven temperature. I have found that tahini burns really easily at 180C/356F, so a lower 160C/320C is necessary.
Substitution notes and flavour suggestions
If you’re looking for a tahini substitute: lol what are you doing here? The peanut butter cookie recipe is your best bet.
In terms of flavour suggestions: they are pretty much the same as the peanut butter cookies, to be honest. Chocolate chips, mixed nuts and seeds, lots of ginger powder or some cinnamon all work well. I also liked orange blossom and white chocolate chip.
Tips and tricks
These gluten free tahini cookies are easy enough to make, but there are a few tips and tricks.
Firstly, make sure your tahini is a good balance of oil and paste. You know how you sometimes get to the end of the jar of tahini and it is dry and crumbly? This will be a lot harder to make good cookies with. I’m not saying you can’t give it a go, but I recommend adding a teaspoon (+) or so of oil to compensate.
Mixing the cookies up, particularly when your tahini is lumpy, requires a bit (not a lot) of elbow grease. Keep mixing – it will become thick, even if it doesn’t seem like it will. I like to mix for a bit, do something else and come back. It shouldn’t take more than 2-3 minutes of your time all up, but letting it rest in between does seem to make it seize up faster.
Tahini notes
As we’ve discussed, I recommend using a tahini that is a good balance of oil and paste. For that reason, I recommend a commercially ground tahini as opposed to a homemade one.
On the same note: store bought tahini that has a chalky, dry consistency won’t work well here. I recommend purchasing a tahini that has a loose paste consistency for best results.
While testing these cookies, I noticed that the raw tahini made for more attractive cookies than the roasted tahini. Since then, I have struggled to find raw tahini (most of the supermarket brands specify toasted sesame seeds when you look closely). I didn’t notice a real difference between hulled and unhulled tahini.
More gluten free vegan dessert recipes
- These delicious brownie cookies
- My cinnamon rolls made without yeast
- This Hedgehog slice
- This cute and delicious spiced pumpkin mug cake
- This quick and easy chocolate mug cake
- 100% buckwheat flour choc chip cookies from my buckwheat e-book
Gluten free tahini cookies
Ingredients
For the cookie dough
- 160g (2/3 cup)* tahini, hulled or unhulled (see notes)
- 100-125ml (5-6 tbsp)* maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda (see notes)
- pinch of fine salt
Optional extras
- 100-200g chopped chocolate or chocolate chips (vegan if necessary)
- 1-2 cups seeds and mix ins (I used choc chips, pepitas, hemp seeds and puffed quinoa)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C/320F. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Combine the ingredients for the cookie dough in a small mixing bowl. Mix, mix and mix until the batter is the consistency a slightly soft cookie dough. This can take 2-3+ minutes of mixing and some elbow grease – I promise it will get there. If need be, have a tiny break and then get back into it. It should hold steady on the spoon if you lift some batter into the air. Some batches I'm even able to pick the dough up and roll it into balls by hand (soft but firm is what we're going for).
- Add any mix ins you plan to use and stir to combine. Use a spoon to place the dough onto the baking tray, leaving room for spread. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cookies are golden and crisp. Allow to cool almost totally on the tray – they firm up as they cool.
- These cookies keep well in an airtight container on the bench or in the fridge for a number of days. They will become less crisp with time, but are still delicious.
Notes
These were absolutely delicious! I cannot believe how so few ingredients can produce such beautiful results.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Genevieve 🙂
LOVE this recipe! Experimented with some ground cardamom n ginger 🙂 THANK YOU so much for this
I did not understand how these ingredients would form a dough but omg these are good and SO quick. They’re a bit messy so definitely not grab-and-go cookies but for a night in these are delicious.
I experimented with date syrup (1:1 ratio) but interestingly enough the tahini’s oil started separating a minute in! I also didn’t realize how much thinner date syrup is so they were pretty floppy haha. Still though, what a fascinating recipe!
Soooo delicious!! Thank you for this recipe. Mine spread out a bit so the edges were much thinner, didn’t quite look like yours but it doesn’t matter because they taste so good.
Yes, the batter comes together easily.
So good! I added 4 chopped dates. I will definitely make these again!
So glad you enjoyed them Nina! Dates sound like a delicious addition 🙂
I love these however find them a bit crumbly. Any ideas for making them less so, a binder of sorts maybe? Again rich and delicious, thanks!
Hi Alison, I have only tested them as is so I can’t advise as to any binders unfortunately.
With that said, I’ve found these to be the least likely of all the nut butter cookies to be crumbly, so I wonder if you are using a drier or less oily tahini? The tahini really needs to be quite runny and oily to achieve the ideal cookie. Are you using a thicker variety, the bottom of a jar (which tends to have less oil) or a homemade variety?
Wow. I had two celiac girls coming over and wanted to make them something delicious. I mixed and mixed and my arm got tired. The mixture started to thicken up and I just put my pecans on the parchment and dolloped the batter on top. Added some semi sweet chocolate chips, flaky sea salt and a little crunchy sugar. They spread but man, were they delicious! My husband’s favorite is gf peanut butter chocolate chip and he was disappointed when I didn’t make those. Once he tasted them, he was delighted. A cookie you can feel pretty good about eating! I used joyva tahini, mine was pretty oily and runny. They were almost like the lace cookies. Thin and crisp with a little chew. Also, I took them out at 15 minutes and they were perfect. I am at about 3,000 feet. Divine!
I’m SO glad you enjoyed them! One of my favourite cookie recipes 🙂
What sorcery is this? I truly do not understand how these cookies even worked, let alone taste so good. I’m newly gluten free and have been struggling to find desserts that still taste good with all my current restrictions. They are crispy, chewy, delicious and the easiest cookie you’ll ever make. Even my non- vegan, gluten loving boyfriend loved them.