Tahini Shortbread Cookies Recipe (2024)

I absolutely love these cookies and they are the most frequently requested cookie that I make. They have the flavor of halvah but with a much nicer texture! I follow the recipe closely, but end up with twice as many thinly sliced cookies. I find it easier to use an electric hand mixer. I cook them at 300 degrees for 23 minutes. Thank you, Melissa Clark

A Sudanese neighbour makes small short bread cookies almost identical to these but she adds little sugar to the cookie mixture but when they are baked she coats the warm cookies in sugar powder (confectioners sugar) which coats the buttery surface to form the most delicate velvety exterior.Simply moorish..

Made half a batch with 1 cup flour, 5tbs butter, 1/2 cup tahini, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt, rolled one log, and they came out great.

The cookies are delicious but plan on a different number. This recipe would make about 72 cookies (not 24 as the recipe says) if the size before baking is 1" diameter x 1/4" thickness. I made them 1.5" diameter x a little over 1/4" thick and still got 36 cookies.

I used plant based butter and it was salted, so I omitted the kosher salt. The cookies came out perfectly and are very delicious and vegan. A hit with my people. I bake weighing the ingredients with the gram scale. Also, I mixed it by hand with a wooden paddle and it worked fine.

Super delicate cookie as already steady, which means it wont hold firm no matter what.. I needed almost 30 minutes baking and so increased heat oven to 350. The cookie dough was very tasty however.

Made with black tahini (what I had on hand). They turned out a dramatic charcoal color, and lovely flavor (although the color made them look a bit questionable as I was rolling them into logs). I added vanilla and orange blossom water. Mine cooked for 23min, and like others at this size I ended up with significantly more than advertised. Highly recommend!!!

Has anyone tried just baking these in a pan like regular shortbread?

These were shockingly more delicious on the second day. I added a drizzle of honey. I don't think a drizzle of melted chocolate would hurt.

I used 0.75 superfine sugar to replace confectionery sugar and these were excellent. I did use 1/2 of the recommended salt. Very delicate and not too sweet.

I made these because I bought tahini for hummus and wanted to find other recipes that required it. When I tasted the dough I thought it needed a bit more punch, so I added cinnamon (maybe a teaspoon?) and they turned out really well. Following the advice of the other commenters, I baked them at 325 for about 17 minutes. Overall, they are pretty simple and tasty, but I think I may add dried fruit, like cranberries or cherries, if I make them again.

The biggest compliment I can pay a dessert or pastry is "Mmm -- and not too sweet!" So I was surprised and disappointed that these cookies didn't turn out ... sweet ... enough. Lovely short texture and nutty flavor, but barely a hint of sweetness. Just a slight nudge in the savory direction and they would make fantastic treats to serve with co*cktails.

The texture on these is amazing! They crumble into nothing on your mouth. I love them! Not sweet (but I think they’re delicious). Didn’t have sesame seeds, but did dust with powdered sugar at the end. Baked for 23 min at 300 F.

Gorgeous. The tahini lightens the texture of the shortbread delectably. Scattering the toasted sesame seeds on parchment sheets, then rolling the dough using the parchment (instead of trying to roll the soft dough in the seeds) worked well. Dusted with little fleur de sel before baking. I ended up with about 18 cookies per roll. Doubled the recipe, so yielded about six dozen. Won't be saving any for Santa.

After a few days refrigerated,these were amazing! Definitely less salt next time I agree with everyone,way more cookies than stated

So good! I used chocolate tahini which was an amazing addition. I also refrigerated the dough as I was halfway done mixing and then took it out, waited for it to cool again and then was able to get it into the amazing dough after another spin. Refrigerated overnight and skipped the sesame seeds!

After reading notes I added a little more confectioners sugar. Used a hand mixer but as I did it I realized why you should use a paddle in the stand mixer. Also forgot the kneading step but they still came out so delicious. Melt in your mouth addictive.

These are addictive!

These are amazing. My guests couldn't stop eating them!

I, too, rolled logs that were @ 1.5” diameter. Would rather have a 2-bite cookie than be forced to pop the whole 1” coin. To J - table salt is even MORE “salty” by volume than kosher so that wouldn’t be a great sub. Try Diamond Crystal Kosher (above Morton) or maybe use salted butter and zero added salt. IMHO a little saltiness is to be expected in a shortbread. That said I’m not a fan of the “top everything within reach with flaky salt” trend. It’s like the new fried egg. Don’t do that either.

Made a half batch as many people said the yield was greater than the recipe states. Ended up with about 30 cookies.Dough was very delicate and a bit hard to work with - another user suggested making twice as many logs, half as long. That would have helped tremendously, I wish I had done that.Cookies came out... ok. A little one-note, IMO. I'm getting sesame and NOTHING else, a bit like I'm eating tahini straight from the jar.

Oh, and it's difficult to tell when they are done, because the edges don't really firm up until they cool, but 18 minutes worked in my oven. I also didn't find that they needed to cool on the baking sheet- I slipped them on the parchment onto a rack because I needed the baking sheet and they were fine.

These are delicious, impossibly tender, and made three times as many as the recipe said. And they don't need to be 2 inches apart on the baking sheet, because they don't spread (unless I'm missing something)...

Quite a strong after flavor of salt with these cookies. I compared the 2 teaspoon amount in the recipe with other shortbread recipes and they had zero to 1/2 a teaspoon for similar amounts of butter and flour. Even cutting the amount in half would not be sufficient IMHO. I tried dusting them with confectioners sugar as recommended by one reviewer and it helped a bit. Loved the nutty tahini flavor and crunchy sesame seeds, however. I might try them again with much less salt.

I yielded way more than 2 dozen both times I made these delicious cookies. What I’d do next time is roll 4 logs instead of 2 which I believe will make the dough easier to handle and store in the fridge.

These were delicious and made about 36 (with my eyeballed 1/4" width). Yes, the dough was fiddly to work with, but once I got it roughly I'm a log and onto parchment paper, I used it as a sling to both cover with sesame seeds and to make it an even log. I'll make these again.

I used 0.75 superfine sugar to replace confectionery sugar and these were excellent. I did use 1/2 of the recommended salt. Very delicate and not too sweet.

Kosher salt was too overpowering, will try again with table salt, maybe halved or 3/4. I wonder if they use a flake salt in practice but wrote kosher salt in the recipe to appeal to everyday chefs who may not have that type of salt. Either way, kosher salt in baking is usually not a safe bet in my experience (except when topping pretzels!)

Delicious. Used 50:50 roasted & un-roasted tahini. [Try 100% un-roasted, also 50:50 white & black sesame seeds.] Roll as tightly as you can (may not be really tight). Make smaller logs if fridge is limited. Keep log intact when cutting chilled dough (cut 1" segment, halve, quarter / repeat). Transfer in batches to cookie sheet, no need for 2" spacing. Bake 300F, 24 min (rotate sheets halfway). When cool, gently "roll" parchment underneath cookies to release, transfer. Makes 48+ tiny cookies.

Since I’ve been making these, they are so tasty that they never last 5 days!