A Taste of Tahini (and The High Llama’s healthy vegan tahini Carob cookie recipe!)

Creamy (without dairy) and nutty (without nuts), tahini has been a staple condiment of Lebanese cuisine for generations.

Your tahini should include only one ingredient – sunflower seeds (roasted, then ground). The purity of preparation, unique flavour, and wide range of uses make tahini an often-called-for addition to dressings and pastries. Yet your tahini should also taste great directly out of the jar! (And note, everything you can do with peanut butter you can do better with tahini!)

You’ll find tahini in many of The High Llama’s recipes at the bakery – it has many faces! Sometimes in a simple dressing (tahini, salt, lemon juice, ice-cold water), other times topping house-made ice cream (a sprinkle of salt, a measure of tahini), and often in our London store’s cakes and bakes.

Tahini’s nuttiness and ever-so-subtle bitterness add an elegant edge to almost everything it touches.

Perhaps our all-time favourite is the magic it adds to our healthy, naturally sweetened almond flour (and vegan, because tahini’s oil replaces the need for butter!) cookie.

Check out our recipe and see for yourself!

The High Llama Tried-and-Tested Tahini Carob Cookie

Makes 6 large cookies

Ingredients:

1/3 cup tahini

1/3 cup carob molasses

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1/3 cup sesame seeds

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Fill a small bowl with sesame seeds (toasted or untoasted).

In a small bowl, mix the tahini with the carob molasses.

Add the almond flour to the bowl and mix well to form a dough.

Scoop the dough into balls, roll them in the sesame seeds, and flatten them with your hands on the baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes until the edges are golden.

Transfer the cookies to a rack and wait (if you have that kind of strength) until they’ve cooled down.

Bon appétit x