Baking With Tahini

I've been a little curious about the addition of tahini to baked goods: tahini cupcakes, tahini cookies, tahini frosting. I had no idea what the results would yield so I decided to give it a go and bake with tahini as my first baking experiment in 2016.

Tahini Recipe No. 1: Salted Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are a bit of a high maintenance cookie since it requires 12 hours of freezing time for the dough and then once the cookies are baked, they need to cool for 20 more minutes. I don't know about you, but I like to eat my cookies straight from the oven---with very little cooling time.

Aside from the wait times, these cookies were pretty tasty. They were a little nutty from the sesame paste (tahini) and it also added a little savory kick that one doesn't usually find in chocolate cookies.

Would I bake them again? Hmmm, I'm a little impatient so only because of the 12 hour freezing time, I would say no. But it is nice to know that I have some dough balls in the freezer and I can bake them anytime I'm in the mood for 1 or 2 or 12 cookies.

Check out the recipe at My Name Is Yeh.

Tahini Recipe No. 2: Tahini Chocolate Cakes

For my second encounter with a tahini baked good, I decided to search for a cake, but nothing too high maintenance with frosting. These Tahini Chocolate Cakes were the perfect low key dessert I was hoping to bake.

Since moving to Houston five months ago, I hadn't needed my cupcake/muffin tin. But when I was ready to bake these cakes, I searched my apartment in a frenzy for my tin and realized I never moved with it?!?!?!?!?!? How is this possible for someone who declares herself a cupcake enthusiast? (I remedied this problem by taking a trip to target).

The cakes were a decadent, gooey, chocolatey molten-like cake. The lime zest brought some brightness to the fudginess of the cake. I didn't taste the tahini like I did in the cookies but the Twin Sista's bf said it brought on savory notes. He described the cakes as an adult dessert---sophisticated and even luxurious as the NY Times described them.

In less sophisticated words, these were really delicious cakes. YUM!

Check out the recipe in the New York Times.