Recipe from Danielle Oron
Adapted by Julia Moskin
- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus 12 hours' refrigeration
- Rating
- 5(5,763)
- Notes
- Read community notes
When the chef Danielle Oron was growing up in the New Jersey suburbs, she knew that her Israeli family’s habits of dousing vanilla ice cream with tahini and spreading halvah on toast would be considered odd. Sesame has long been shunned in American desserts, but its addition to a confection can add a nutty, salty undertone, and sesame desserts are now popping up all over the place. These chocolate chip cookies, developed by Ms. Oron, are a great place to start for the home baker seeking more sesame. Rich, savory and sweet, they are one of the rare variations that are just as good as the original. —Julia Moskin
Featured in: Sesame Extends Its Sweet Reach Beyond the Middle East
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Include recipe photo
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:12 to 18 cookies
- 4ounces/113 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
- ½cup/120 milliliters tahini, well stirred
- 1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
- 1large egg
- 1egg yolk
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1cup plus 2 tablespoons/150 grams all-purpose flour, or matzo cake meal (See tip)
- ½teaspoon baking soda
- ½teaspoon baking powder
- 1teaspoon kosher salt
- 1¾cups/230 grams chocolate chips or chunks, bittersweet or semisweet
- Flaky salt, like fleur de sel or Maldon
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (15 servings)
306 calories; 15 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 40 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 23 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 157 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
Step
1
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, tahini and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla and continue mixing at medium speed for another 5 minutes.
Step
2
Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and kosher salt into a large bowl and mix with a fork. Add flour mixture to butter mixture at low speed until just combined. Use a rubber spatula to fold in chocolate chips. Dough will be soft, not stiff. Refrigerate at least 12 hours; this ensures tender cookies.
Step
3
When ready to bake, heat oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking mat. Use a large ice cream scoop or spoon to form dough into 12 to 18 balls.
Step
4
Place the cookies on the baking sheet at least 3 inches apart to allow them to spread. Bake 13 to 16 minutes until just golden brown around the edges but still pale in the middle to make thick, soft cookies. As cookies come out of the oven, sprinkle sparsely with salt. Let cool at least 20 minutes on a rack.
Tip
- To make this recipe kosher for Passover, substitute matzo cake meal for the all-purpose flour.
Ratings
5
out of 5
5,763
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Shaila M
Second time w/the following tweaks. Turned out much better:
+ Upped tahini to 3/4 cup (same browned butter)
+ Used 2 whole eggs
+ Used whole bag of Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips (srsly, NY Times, why skimp on chocolate in these dire days?)
+ Used small cookie scoop and got 3 dozen out of batch
+ Pressed dough scoops flat and sprinkled unbaked tops with mix of black sesame seeds and fleur de sel
+ Baked at 350 convection for 15 mins
Not quite chewy but crisp and rich - more of a halva flavor
Roni Jordan
The best part of this recipe is not adjusting the ingredients.
Roni Jordan
These are like chocolate halvah cookies - simply scrumptious. I used Roland Sesame Tahini and TJ's 70% bittersweet chocolate broken into small chunks. Used a 2 tbsp measuring spoon to portion out 17 cookies. Baked for 16 minutes and allowed to cool about an hour before partaking. Important to allow them room to spread. 12 fit nicely on a cookie sheet, and then baked 2nd batch of 5. Sprinkled a bit of kosher salt over all. A real winner - could be my favorite cookie ever.
Judy R
Paste. not sauce. Tahini sauce is made by mixing tahini (similar in texture to peanut butter and usually sold in jars) with other ingredients.
MJ
Substituting matzoh cake meal for AP flour will not make this recipe kosher for Passover. The use of both baking powder and soda is prohibited for observant Jews during the holiday.
Mary S.
My kids (3,6,and 10) love this cookie! I'm so happy to sneak more protein into their cookies. Thanks for the great recipe.
PS - We were not willing to wait 12 hours so we put the dough in the freezer for one hour. They are still delicious!
KLD
I've tried very hard to think of some reason why an American recipe would call for 4 ounces or 113 grams of butter rather than a stick. I've racked my brains. I've racked my brains. I can't think of a single reason. But I must say, I enjoy thinking about some poor soul with a razor blade shaving down a stick of butter until it weighs 113 grams. Not 111 or 115 mind you, but EXACTLY 113. I've certainly seen an extra gram of butter ruin many recipes entirely!
Monique
I did half light brown sugar and half granulated sugar without refrigerating the dough at all and it turned out amazing!
Anne
If you are willing to try again, flatten the cookies a bit before baking. In the event of future disasters you can always throw cooled failed cookies into the food processor, grind them up and use them as cookie crumb crust for pies, as an ice cream topping or mix-in, or in a pudding parfait.
Amanda
Can you make these with a small cookie scoop amount or will they burn if they are smaller?
Shaila M
I made them with browned instead of softened butter and swapped out 1/2 the granulated for dark brown sugar. MUCH better and gives that caramelized taste so many of you said was missing. The browned butter/tahini/brown sugar nuttiness is the most amazing smell.
Saul Adler
This from the Chabad.org website:
Pure baking soda in a new container can be used for baking on Passover, along with a permissible flour such as potato starch or matzah meal that is certified Kosher for Passover. Baking powder with Kosher for Passover certification can be used as well.
Rochel Chein for chabad.org
However, as with many issues, tradition is determined by the local community and authorities.
Picacho 77
Love this recipe. Made them twice - first time didn't refrigerate. Second time did. The refrigeration results in a much chewier cooke - our preference. Will make these again & again.
Anne
I replaced the butter with coconut oil and the dough was stiff enough that I didn't think refrigeration was necessary. The cookies were ready in 17 minutes and were very tender, well-formed and absolutely delicious.
DJR
These might be the best cookies I've ever made. They manage to be - all at once - just the right degree of salty, bittersweet, just plain sweet, crunchy and chewy.
I made two versions - one with a 2" scoop and one with a 1" scoop. Both came out perfectly. Both needed something like 20 minutes to make the edges light brown while the middles stayed paler. Keep an eye on them as they bake.
They're so good that one is completely satisfying. This recipe is one for the ages.
Jen
I followed the recipe carefully, refrigerated the dough for 12 hours and was completely underwhelmed by the results. The tahini did not enhance or add any sort of flavor to the cookies and they were very dry and crisp. One and done.
lyn
Best chocolate cookie recipe I’ve ever made! I’ve eaten probably 100’s of chocolate chip cookies in my life and these are the best.
Brett
45g 19m
Cindy
Am I the first reviewer to follow the recipe exactly? I did and they are perfection. Simply divine. I think the quality of tahini matters enormously and I used one (white jar orange lid) from my local Middle eastern grocery. These are WORTH the 12 hour wait in the fridge. I will make them over and over. Thank you!
Martha MMc
I did everything wrong and they still came out great. I didn't even have a mixer, so i melted the butter, stirred wet ingredients with a fork for a minute or 2. I used 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup light brown sugar. I forgot the vanilla so i added it to the dough at the end. They did take a little longer to bake. All's well that ends well.
Lucia
I love this recipe! I make each cookie a table spoon and add a chunk of dark chocolate in the center. Comes out GREAT!
Kayla A
Next time: try adding cinnamon (per BBCC recipe)
Kayla A
Browned the butterAdded 40g flourSplit sugar between white and brownAdded 30g sugarAdded 20ml tahiniBaked 16-18 min
Nat
firstly this recipe is perfection exactly as it is. but in order to cater to dietary restrictions i made a non-dairy batch using vegan butter, specifically Trader Joe's Vegan Buttery Spread. always nervous to use vegan butter because the creaming phase is not to spec, however they turned out just as excellent. since this recipe cuts your normal butter weight requirement with tahini it lends itself well to butter substitutions.
Deb
I made this gluten free by subbing the flour with half a cup of almond flour and half a cup of 1 for 1 GF flour. Used 2/3 cup homemade black sesame tahini. Browned the butter as suggested. It’s incredible.
Tamar
I love these - I made these again using the same quantity of Miyoko's plant milk butter and Cup4Cup and they were delicious.
Jasmine
This is perhaps my favorite cookie recipe -- everyone loves them. They also turn out well using almond meal flour and coconut sugar if you need to reduce glycemic index.
qc204
I made the cookies today for the second timebut tweaked the recipe as one reader suggested and used half brown sugar half white sugar and 2 whole eggs. The cookies tasted completely different from the original recipe and not for the better. They were crispier but didn’t have the softness in the middle the original recipe did. I will stick to the recipe as written going forward!
Missyelf
I'm proclaiming this now as my official, favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. I find these much lighter and more delicate than the traditional Tollhouse CCC recipe. I don't bother with refrigerating the dough - I find that baking them up right away quickly yields delicious, crispy/chewy cookies. (While I omit the salt on top for myself, a pinch of flaky Malden salt could really put them over the top!)
Ashley
Fantastic. Takes a little longer to bake with the medium scoop, but so worth it. No changes.
Private notes are only visible to you.
