Tahini and Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Cookies: Soft and Chewy Vegan Treat

Tahini and olive oil chocolate chunk cookies (vegan)

I baked these on a Sunday afternoon when the kitchen already felt warm and I wanted a small project instead of a full production.

Everything goes into one bowl, the dough chills while I wash up, and by evening there is a tray of cookies on the counter.

That is my favorite kind of baking, and it is exactly what these vegan tahini and olive oil chocolate chunk cookies deliver.

They are soft and chewy, deeply chocolaty, and they carry a quiet nutty edge from the tahini and the extra virgin olive oil. If you like the idea of a Mediterranean pantry meeting an American chocolate chip cookie, this is that cookie.

this …

There are no eggs and no dairy in the dough, which means it keeps beautifully and you can bake as many or as few cookies as you like, whenever the craving shows up.

The recipe makes 12 cookies. Prep takes about 15 minutes, the oven runs at 365°F (185°C), and the cookies bake for 11 to 12 minutes. The one part you cannot rush is the chill: 3 to 4 hours in the refrigerator, or overnight if that suits your schedule better. Plan for that and everything else is genuinely easy.

What you will need

• 1/3 cup (80 grams) tahini
• 1/2 cup (100 grams) extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup (100 grams) brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
• 1/4 cup orange juice, or apple juice, or water
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds or chia seeds (optional)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups (200 grams) all purpose flour
• 5.3 oz (150 grams) chopped chocolate, at least 55% cocoa
• Sea salt flakes, for topping

How to make them

1. If you are using the ground flax seeds, stir them into the orange juice and set the mixture aside for 5 minutes.
2. Add the olive oil, the tahini, both sugars, the orange juice, the vanilla, the cinnamon, the espresso powder, and the salt to a large bowl. Mix with a fork or a whisk for 1 to 2 minutes, until the sugar is almost dissolved.
3. Combine the flour and the baking soda in a small bowl, then add them to the tahini mixture. Stir gently with a spatula until almost combined, add the chopped chocolate, and fold it in. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for 3 to 4 hours or overnight.
4. Heat the oven to 365°F (185°C) and line a baking pan with parchment paper.
5. Divide the chilled dough into 12 equal pieces. A 1/4 cup ice cream scoop gives you exactly 12. Roll each piece into a ball, place them on the pan about 2 to 3 inches apart, and sprinkle with sea salt flakes.
6. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes. The cookies should still look slightly underdone in the middle. Take the pan out of the oven and tap it on the counter so the cookies deflate and settle into a bakery style look. Let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
7. Eat.

The two fats here do all the heavy lifting. Olive oil keeps the crumb tender, and tahini brings its own sesame character, which is why these cookies taste a little different from the butter version you grew up with. If you have ever eaten halva or a sesame cookie, you already know the flavor I mean.

One note from the recipe card: if you cannot find instant espresso granules, you can use 1/4 cup of brewed espresso, about two shots, in place of the orange juice. Whole flax or chia seeds can be ground in a mortar if that is what you have in the pantry. The seeds are optional, but they do help the texture.

For a prettier cookie, hold back 2 to 3 small pieces of chopped chocolate per cookie and press them onto the top of each dough ball right before baking. You get those glossy pools of chocolate on the surface instead of a flat, uniform top, and the cookies look like they came from a bakery case.

Because the dough has no eggs and no dairy, it can sit in the refrigerator for several days. Scoop out what you need, bake a small batch, and keep the rest for later. Warm cookies on a Tuesday night with almost no effort is a very good arrangement.

The first time I made these, I left the tray in for the full 12 minutes and let the tops set completely. They were still good, but they lost the soft middle I was after.

Now I pull them at 11 minutes and let the hot pan finish the job. I also refreshed the photos on this post recently, and I owe that push to a long phone call with Bella of ful filled.com, whose honest but kind feedback changed the way I look at light and composition.

The source recipe lists about 299 calories per cookie.

Take them out while the centers still look a little soft. They keep cooking on the hot pan, and that is where the chew comes from.

Why use chopped chocolate and not chocolate chips?

Use a good quality chocolate bar and chop it yourself. It sounds like a small thing. It changes the cookie.

When you chop chocolate at home, you get pieces in every size, from big shards down to fine trimmings. Those trimmings melt into the dough and carry chocolate flavor through every bite instead of leaving it parked in a few pockets.

The larger, uneven chunks stay visible, so each cookie looks handmade and every bite has a slightly different amount of chocolate in it. That variety is the whole point.

The recipe calls for 5.3 oz (150 grams) of chopped chocolate with at least 55% cocoa. A bar in that range gives you real chocolate flavor without pushing the cookies into candy territory, which matters here because the dough already carries brown sugar, cinnamon, and a hint of espresso.

Chocolate chips are convenient, but they give you uniform little pellets and none of those trimmings, so the flavor stays flatter and the texture gets more regular. If you have a bar in the pantry, use it.

There are two things you should have in mind when making these cookies.

Two details do most of the work in this recipe.

First, bake the dough cold. Chilling is not optional if you want thick cookies. Warm dough spreads fast in the oven, and you end up with thin, lacy cookies instead of soft, chewy ones. That said, this is not a tragedy.

An unchilled batch still tastes good and stays chewy, and on a night when appearance does not matter much, you can skip the wait and bake right away. Just know that the cookies will spread more.

Second, expect a slightly higher oven temperature than usual. These bake at 365°F (185°C), a touch above the standard 350°F. That extra heat sets the edges quickly, before the middle has a chance to collapse and flatten, which is what keeps the centers thick.

It is a small change with a real effect, and it is the reason the cookies come out with a crisp rim and a soft middle.

Some notes/tips:

A few things worth remembering before you start.

• Chill the dough very well. A full 3 to 4 hours in the refrigerator, or overnight, keeps the cookies from spreading too much.
• Use chopped chocolate, not chips. The uneven pieces and the fine trimmings give you better texture and a deeper chocolate flavor.
• Pull the cookies from the oven while the centers still look slightly underbaked. They set as they cool.
• Do not skip the sea salt flakes on top. A little salt against sweet chocolate is what makes the flavor pop.
• The ground flax or chia seeds are optional, but they improve the texture. Whole seeds can be ground in a mortar.
• No instant espresso granules? Use 1/4 cup of brewed espresso, about two shots, in place of the orange juice.
• Keep leftover dough in the refrigerator for several days and bake small batches on demand.

You may like these similar recipes:

If you enjoy these cookies, two more from the same kitchen are worth a look. Crispy pistachio and chocolate chip cookies give you a crunchier bite with a nutty finish, and chocolate covered Greek honey cookies, also known as honeyroons, bring honey, spice, and a chocolate coating to the table.

Both are lovely with a small cup of coffee, and both come from the same Mediterranean pantry that makes these tahini cookies so good.

FAQs

Tahini and olive oil chocolate chunk cookies (vegan)

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No reviews

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Tahini and olive oil chocolate chunk cookies (vegan) I baked these on a Sunday afternoon when the kitchen already felt warm and I wanted a small project instead of a full production. Everything goes into one bowl, the dough chills while I wash up, and by evening there is a tray of cookies on the counter.

• Total Time: 26 min
• Yield: 12 cookies 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients
1/3 cup (80 grams) tahini
1/2 cup (100 grams) extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup (100 grams) brown sugar
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
1/4 cup orange juice or apple juice or water
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds or chia seeds
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups (200 grams) all-purpose flour
5.3 oz (150 grams) chopped chocolate, at least 55% cocoa
sea salt flakes, for topping

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Instructions
1-If you use the ground flax seeds,: If you use the ground flax seeds, mix them together with the orange juice and set aside for 5 minutes.
2-Transfer the olive oil, the tahini, the: Transfer the olive oil, the tahini, the sugars, the orange juice, the vanilla, the cinnamon, the espresso powder and the salt to a bowl and mix with a fork or a whisk for 1-2 minutes until the sugar is almost dissolved.
3-Combine the flour with the baking soda: Combine the flour with the baking soda in a small bowl and add it to the olive oil/tahini mixture. Mix gently with a spatula until almost combined. Add the chopped chocolate and mix gently.Refrigerate the dough for 3-4 hours or overnight.
4-Preheat oven to 365°F (185°C) and line: Preheat oven to 365°F (185°C) and line your pan with baking paper.
5-Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces: Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces (a ¼ cup ice cream scoop will give you exactly 12 pieces) and roll each piece into a ball. Transfer to the pan, leaving about 2-3 inches distance between each cookie and sprinkle with some sea salt flakes.
6-Bake for 11-12 minutes: Bake for 11-12 minutes. The cookies should look slightly underdone in the middle. Take the pan out of the oven and tap it on the counter for the cookies to deflate and settle. This will give them a bakery-style look. Let them cool for 5 minutes and transfer to a rack to cool completely.
7-Eat: Eat!

Last Step:

Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.

• Prep Time: 15 min
• Cook Time: 11 min
• Method: bake

Nutrition

• Calories: 299