Sourdough Tahini Cookies

If you love cookies with a nutty flavour and a perfectly chewy centre, these Sourdough Tahini Cookies are about to become your new favourite treat! Combining rich tahini, sourdough discard, and a touch of dark chocolate, they're a great way to use up extra discard while making something utterly delicious. Trust me-once you try them, you'll wonder why you haven't been baking with tahini all along!

Jump to:

• Moisture in Sourdough Starter
• Ingredient Notes
• Step-By-Step Method
• Recipe Tips
• Storage
• More Sourdough Discard Cookies
• Sourdough Tahini Cookies

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Moisture in Sourdough Starter

When baking sourdough cookies, it's important to consider the extra moisture that sourdough starter discard brings to the dough. Most recipes that incorporate discard adjust other liquid ingredients, like water or milk, to maintain the right balance.

However, cookie dough typically doesn't contain much added liquid, making it tricky to control moisture levels. Since this recipe uses a 100% hydration starter, which is half water and half flour, we need to account for about 60g of extra liquid.

To counter this, we adjust the fat content. What is more, instead of adding whole eggs, we use only the egg yolk, skipping the whites, which would introduce unnecessary moisture. The tahini itself also plays a role-it adds richness without making the dough too wet, ensuring these cookies bake up with a perfectly chewy centre and crisp edges!

Ingredient Notes

Here's everything you will need for this sourdough tahini cookie recipe:

• unsalted butter. 
• caster sugar: or granulated white sugar. 
• light brown sugar: paramount for chewy cookies. 
• tahini: use hulled sesame seed tahini, also known as light tahini. If the oil has separated in the jar, make sure to stir the paste very well before, scraping all the way down to the bottom of the jar to ensure smooth and cohesive sesame paste throughout, before adding it to the cookie dough. 
• sourdough discard: 100% hydration. 
• egg yolk: from a large egg. 
• plain flour: also known as all-purpose flour. 
• bicarbonate of soda: a.k.a. baking soda. 
• dark chocolate: also known as bittersweet chocolate. 
• flaky salt: for sprinkling on top. 

Find the ingredient quantities, detailed instructions and nutritional information in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. 

Step-By-Step Method

1. In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream butter until fluffy.

2. Add both types of sugar and beat again for a couple of minutes, until fully incorporated.

3. Tip in the sourdough discard, well-stirred tahini and egg yolk and beat again, until combined.

4. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt.

5. Gently fold dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing just enough for there to be no dry pockets of flour. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

6. Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge for 4 hours.

7. Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

8. Shape 12 even-sized balls of cookie dough (about 50g each). Roll each of them in a little sugar and arrange them on a prepared baking sheet, giving them plenty of space in between.

9. Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are golden brown but the centre looks slightly undercooked (this will give them that chewy texture we all love).

OPTIONAL, BUT RECOMMENDED: After 10 minutes, take the baking sheets out of the oven and drop them from 20cm onto a kitchen worktop - this creates that signature cracked tops. Return them to the oven and repeat the banging after your cookies are fully cooked.

10. Sprinkle the sea salt on top of the cookies as soon as they're out of the oven.

11. Allow the baked cookies to firm up for 10 minutes on the baking tray. Then place them on a wire rack to cool down completely.

Recipe Tips

First time making tahini cookies? Follow the recipe closely for the best results-precision matters, so make sure to use a kitchen scale. 

Another important thing is to stir tahini very very well before adding it to the dough!

• Enhance the flavour with a splash of vanilla extract for extra depth.
• For added texture and nuttiness, sprinkle white sesame seeds or black sesame seeds on top of the cookie dough balls.
• Instead of making tahini chocolate chip cookies, make tahini cookies, then dip the corners into melted dark chocolate.

Storage

Store your sourdough tahini cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days. For longer storage, you can freeze them and defrost as needed!

More Sourdough Discard Cookies

If you love these tahini cookies, you'll definitely want to try more sourdough discard treats - think sourdough peanut butter cookies, sourdough pumpkin snickerdoodles or classic sourdough chocolate chip cookies as well as sourdough peanut butter blossoms!