salted bourbon tahini chocolate chip cookies
Baking with bourbon is one of the less-discussed gems of the culinary arts.
These cookies are crack. They’re worse than crack – crack isn’t gooey, chocolate-laden, salty, nor is it laced with bourbon, socially acceptable, or shaped like a cookie. Salted Bourbon Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies are tender brown sugar discs of glorious flavor-bomb proportions. We inhaled them like air, and for my part, the dough was definitely in danger of vanishing before the cookie came to full term.
If you’ve ever made a cookie before, the process involved here isn’t much different. I omitted white sugar completely because I love the melty quality using all brown gives to a cookie. As a result, they will be extra malleable when exiting the oven, so let them hang out on the cookie sheets a good 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack. Or your mouth. Trust me, they’ll still be plenty warm after such a duration, but less apt to fall apart in transit and make it to your maw unharmed.
Further, I write in the recipe to tap the baking sheet mid-bake. This creates a crinkly, more spread-out cookie. I like larger, slightly flatter cookies, but this doesn’t make them table flat by any means. Think wrinkly, extra melted, and textured with pizzazz. You don’t have to do the tap if you fear waking a fussy baby or triggering your dog or your neighborhood watch lady banging on your door wondering who the hell you’re smacking around.
The bourbon in these is noticeable, as bourbon should be when used in a recipe, but it doesn’t overpower the tongue. I offer a 2-3 tbsp range depending on your sensitivity to the taste of the spirit. If you really object to bourbon, you can leave it out and still render an incredible tahini cookie, but they are pretty key in the uniqueness – hence, the name – so I am a proponent of letting it be.
As for the tahini, the appeal is a nutty background subtler than but similar to peanut or almond butter and a good boost for the bourbon’s toasty vanilla notes. The fat content also helps replace a bit of the butter a good cookie normally requires, lessening the saturated fat. I’m wont to use tahini in vinaigrettes or other savory smorgasbords, but it’s also a stunner in sweets.
Tried this recipe out? Leave a comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you’ve made!
Need more cookies in your life?
Soft Double Dark Chocolate Espresso Cookies
Slice N’ Bake Brown Butter Candied Pecan Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp butter, softened
- 1/3 cup tahini
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 2-3 tbsp bourbon
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
- flaky sea salt, to top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- With a hand mixer or stand mixer, or a whisk if you'd like an arm workout, cream brown sugar and butter until whipped and soft, about 2-3 minutes. Add in tahini, the egg, vanilla extract, and bourbon. Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute more.
- In a separate small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and kosher salt. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until mostly combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Measure a rounded tablespoon worth of dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between them. I fit 8 cookies comfortably on my large baking sheet and I wouldn't recommend any more than that.
- Bake 8 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and tap the baking sheet a few times on the counter – this encourages spread and that gooey crinkly texture I so adore in a cookie. Place back into the oven for an additional 2-3 minutes, until centers are set and edges brown slightly.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then either eat a warm cookie or five, or transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies can be stored refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a week, on the counter for 3-5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
