These olive oil and tahini chocolate chunk cookies are soft, chewy, delicious and full of healthy fats. They can also be made vegan!
You don’t know how happy I am, sharing this recipe with you! I first made these big, soft and chewy olive oil and tahini chocolate chunk cookies some while ago, and they were so good, that I had a hard time holding myself from posting them before planned. Why? Because this is a very easy recipe to make (no melting the butter or bringing all the ingredients at room temperature), it’s healthier than your usual chocolate chip cookie made with butter (lots of good-for-your-heart fats here!), and it is SO GOOD AND DELICIOUS that you’ll want to make it over and over! Plus, look how good they look!
In a way, these cookies remind me of these tahini and chocolate fudge popsicles because they too have all of the above characteristics but in the form of a popsicle! 🙂 And remember, if you want them to be vegan, all you have to do is mix 1 tablespoon ground chia (or flax) seeds with 4 tablespoons water and use this mixture to replace the egg in the recipe 🙂
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My inspiration for these tahini chocolate chunk cookies was a Cretan traditional recipe for olive oil almond biscotti (kalorizika) which is made only with olive oil and is naturally vegan since it has no eggs or milk. These kalorizika are some of my most favorite cookies and absolutely divine when dunked in hot coffee! Like every biscotti recipe, they are double baked in order to dry out and become crispy. But, before I bake them for the second time, I always keep some aside (to eat) because they’re so soft and moist. So, it was while eating one of these cookies when I realized I should make a chocolate chip cookie with no butter, but with olive oil.
Here, ALL the butter is replaced with tahini and olive oil. That is what makes these cookies so moist and chewy. So, can you taste the olive oil or the tahini?
When these cookies are still warm, you’ll get just a hint of tahini. When completely cooled, you’ll have to try really hard to tell if there’s tahini (or olive oil) in them.
How can this be possible? This is because of the vanilla, cinnamon and instant espresso coffee, which have the ability to complement the flavor of the tahini and olive oil resulting in an amazing cookie! And no, you can’t taste the cinnamon or coffee (so don’t omit them!). In fact, when you taste these cookies the next day, you’ll ask yourself: did I use butter instead of tahini and olive oil?
OK, I won’t taste the tahini or olive oil. What will I taste? (you’ll wonder)
I’ll tell you.
You’ll taste a DELICIOUS soft, extra moist and chewy cookie with crisp edges, deep chocolate flavor, and nutty undertones.
And the next day it will be even better!
Scoop 12 cookies, refrigerate, then roll into balls….
Bake!
Some notes/tips:
- How to make a vegan egg: mix 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds (or flax seeds) with 4 tablespoons water and let it rest for 5 minutes. Replace the egg with this mixture to make the cookies vegan.
- Don’t omit the cinnamon or espresso powder (also known as espresso instant coffee). You can’t taste them, but they make a difference!
- Use good quality instant coffee granules if you don’t have espresso powder.
- Use your favorite chocolate bar instead of chocolate chips (chopping the chocolate will produce both big chunks and trimmings each of which flavors the cookie in a different way). The result will be so much better!
- Reserve some pieces of chopped chocolate to place on top of each cookie for a better look.
- The dough will be soft. To get big, fat cookies you’ll have to scoop them and chill them in the fridge for several hours before baking (I do this overnight).
- After chilling them, you can freeze them and have them ready to bake for when in need.
- When you take the cookies out of the oven they’ll be puffed-up. Tap the pan on your counter 2-3 times and you’ll immediately see them transform into bakery-style cookies!
- These tahini and olive oil cookies will keep fresh for 3-5 days, stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
You may also be interested in these recipes:
Olive oil, apple, and cocoa cake with caramelized white chocolate
Olive oil baklava fingers
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- 1/2 cup (100 grams) extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup (80 grams) tahini
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
- 1 tablespoon (20 grams) maple syrup or honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 large egg (60-65 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour
- 5.3 oz (150 grams) chopped dark chocolate, at least 55% cocoa
- Some sea salt flakes for topping
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Transfer the olive oil, the tahini, the sugars, the honey, the vanilla, the cinnamon, the espresso powder and the salt to a bowl and beat with your electric mixer (or a whisk) for 1-2 minutes until sugar is almost dissolved. Add the egg and beat for 1 minute until creamy.
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Combine the flour with the baking soda in a small bowl and add them to the olive oil/tahini mixture. Mix gently with a spatula until almost combined. Reserve some pieces of the chopped chocolate and mix the rest with batter.
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Using an ice cream scoop (about 1/4 cup capacity), scoop 12 cookies and place them on a pan or a large plate, the one next to the other. Place the chocolate pieces you have left on top of each cookie, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight.
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Preheat oven to 356°F (180°C) and line your pan with baking paper.
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Roll each cookie into a ball and transfer to the pan, leaving about 2-3 inches distance between each cookie. Sprinkle the cookies with some sea salt flakes and bake for 11 minutes. The cookies will puff up a bit.
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Take the pan out of the oven and
TAP/BANG IT 2-3 TIMES 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.
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Eat!
Recipe Video
- To make the cookies vegan: Mix 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds or flax seeds with 4 tablespoons water and let it sit for 5 minutes until thickened. Use this mixture to replace the egg. Also, replace the honey with maple syrup.
- If you make the cookies smaller or larger the cooking time will have to be adjusted accordingly.
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Tried this recipe today and they came out absolutely delicious. Like you said, Soft and Chewy without any traces of olive oil. Thank You for this amazing recipe Makos :-).
That’s awesome Akhilla!
Thank you very much!
Does it tasteike tahini though?
Hi!
No, these do not taste like tahini. When still warm, you get just a hint of tahini (which actually gives them a nutty flavor and complements the chocolate) but when they are cool, you’ll probably not even notice it!
Please let me know if you try them, thanks! 🙂
Do you think I could add more tahini and take out some olive oil or the egg? I love the taste of tahini with small bursts of chocolate!
Hi Penny!
I haven’t tried this, but I would replace half of the olive oil with double the quantity of tahini, since tahini is about 50%-60% fat (meaning that I would subtract 1/4 cup of olive oil and add 1/2 cup more of tahini). In this case, I would also keep 2 tablespoons of the flour aside and decide whether to use them or not after the dough is mixed. I can’t answer about the egg since I haven’t experimented without it, but I am planning to make a vegan version of these cookies some time in the future. Please let me know if you try them! Thanks!!!
A few weeks ago I made another tahini chocolate chip/chunk cookie recipe made with butter and I like this recipe with olive oil better. Something about the combination of tahini and olive oil made the cookies amazing. I think next time I will use a little less oil and a little more tahini to deepen the tahini flavor in them. Though really as is this is a great recipe. Granted I used organic chocolate chips not chunks of a cut up chocolate bar because I had the chips.
I’m so happy you liked them Mowse, and thanks very much for commenting!
P.S. Sorry for the late responce, I just noticed I hadn’t replied to your comment 🙂
I tried these last night and they didn’t spread out at all. I realized after that I’d missed one of the sugars – would this effect the spread? I was looking forward to the thin/store bought look!
Hi Alison,
Yes, using less sugar will certainly affect the consistency and the spreading. Too much flour can also prevent them from spreading, that’s why I always recommend measuring by weight when baking. Good luck for the next time! 🙂
hi, could you substitute the tahini with penaut butter?
Hi Jane,
Yes, go ahead!
Hi I tried to make these but they didn’t spread out at all- I measured all the ingredients very carefully. They tasted great but were a little dense. Any ideas what could have caused this?
Th
Hi Jane,
The only thing I can think of, is that maybe the flour was too much. Did you measure it by cups or weight? When we measure by cups, we usually spoon the flour lightly into the cup rather than using the cup to scoop the flour from the bag.
Next time you can set some flour on the side and use it only if the dough seems very runny. The dough is supposed to be soft, that’s why it needs some refrigerator time.
I hope this helps!
Thanks , will give it another go. Does the cookie dough need to be thawed after remaining in the fridge overnight?
No, I just roll it into balls and bake in the oven. Also, another thing I thought, is to check if your baking soda is fresh. If it’s too old it may not be strong enough.
Hope everything works out fine!
I just made your recipe substituting Bob’s Red Mill Super-Fine Natural Almond Flour (not blanched) for the all purpose flour, and eliminating the 1/2 cup of sugar (I used only the 1/2 cup of brown sugar, specifically dark muscovado) and they came out OMG OUTRAGEOUSLY DECADENTLY INCREDIBLY AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS! I am not a skillful baker and I prefer grain-free and not overly sweet desserts, but its tricky to convert recipes and it usually don’t work out for me very well. I am THRILLED! THANK YOU!
I am so glad to hear this Susan! Now I’m wondering if oat flour will also work! I should give this a try when I have the chance 🙂
These are truly fabulous. The third time I made them I upped the olive oil to 5 oz, the tahini to 4 oz, the white sugar back to 1/3 c, used 2 tsp vanilla and no espresso (because I take no chances with sleep and I might want these at night). I then added — all at once because it seemed to help with the stiffening of the batter I otherwise experienced — 100 g of all-purpose flour, 100g of whole wheat pastry flour, a cup of rolled oats, and a cup of chocolate chips (because I always have those around). I baked them for 14 minutes at 356, being careful not to overbake (they don’t brown in the same way as butter cookies, so if you wait for that they may be too hard). I got 17 cookies out of this via my small ice cream scooper. FANTASTIC. Thank you!
Thank you very much Anne!
I laughed really hard with the part that you take no chances with sleep and you might want these at night, hahaha!
I made these and they tasted amazing! BUT, they were super dry and crumbly. I used the flax egg mix, but I could tell when it was scooped that it wasn’t the right consistency. The tahini i used was more paste-like than liquidy, could that be the problem? What would you recommend to add if the dough is too dry?
Thanks again for this delicious recipe (:
Hi Emily,
I recommend tahini with no additives (100% sesame seeds). Also, stir it well before use because the longer it sits on the counter, the oil separates. Otherwise you can use less tahini and maybe add some additional sesame oil.
If you have a kitchen scale try to use it next time, just to be sure that all the ingredients are correctly measured. Hope that helps 🙂
Is there a way to use this recipe to make stay-soft after baking cut-out cookies?
Hi Susan,
I’m afraid I can’t think of a way you can do that with this recipe.
These cookies are amazing! I had the same problem as some others with the cookies not flattening. With the second batch, I flattened them some before I put them in the oven; that helped. Rereading through the comments though, I caught that you said the dough should be soft. Mine wasn’t, it was fairly thick. Considering the fact that I weighed my ingredients, I was a bit confused, but then I wondered whether, or not, it has to do with the brand/type of flour used. I would assume that flour in different parts of the world is different, based on the type of wheat used to make the flour. That’s the only thing that makes sense for the discrepancy. So, next time I make these, I’m going to use the European flour I have (wish I would have thought to use it this time), and see if that makes a difference. I’ll let you know.
Oh, I just realized I forgot to mention that I’m in the USA.
I’m very happy you liked them Kit! I have the impression that maybe the flour isn’t the problem, but the type of tahini. Here, the tahini is made of 100% sesame seeds and has no additives, so the consistency is a bit thin. Was the tahini you used the same consistency as you can see in the video, or was it thicker?
My tahini is just ground sesame seeds as well, no fillers or additives. It looks to be the same consistency as yours. My end cookie dough was close in texture to yours, but I do have to say that my cookie dough looked a tad thicker though. I’m still suspecting it’s the flour at this point. I guess the other possibility is the refrigeration time. I did leave mine in overnight. I’m wondering if that firms up the dough too much. Maybe several hours is all that is needed to achieve the best consistency.
BTW, Happy Easter if you celebrate Easter.
Happy Easter Kit!
We celebrate Orthodox Easter one week later than the Catholic
Ok, I’ve made these two more times. With the first of these two batches, I used the same all purpose flour, but only refrigerated the dough balls for 3 hours. That helped; they flattened a little bit more than refrigerating the dough balls overnight. Still, they didn’t flatten out all the way when banged on the counter. The second of these two batches, I used the Pivetti brand “00” flour, and again, only refrigerated the dough balls for 3 hours. As with the previous batch, that flattened a little better than overnight refrigeration, but still didn’t completely flatten when banged on the counter. I can’t think of any other variable that is causing this except atmosphere. My best outcome of all three batches has been when I refrigerated the dough balls for only 3 hours and then flattened them by hand first before I put them in the oven (with each batch, I flattened half the dough balls by hand before baking). Maybe next I’ll just bake the cookies right away and not refrigerate the dough at all. But, you know what? I don’t care how I get them to flatten, they are sooooo good!!! They are my new favorite cookie. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. So happy I discovered your site!
Yes, you can totally skip refrigeration!
Thanks for your feedback Kit!
Sorry, don’t mean to be a pest with so many post, but I had to come back to share something else. I, initially, was making the cookies using toasted tahini. I ran out of toasted tahini and only had raw tahini in my pantry, so, I used that with my recent batch of cookies. WOW, world of difference! The toasted tahini in these cookies makes them sooooooooo much more flavorful. I’m making sure to only use toasted tahini from now on.
BTW, I didn’t refrigerate the dough this time, and the cookies flattened nicely on their own in the oven. Shrugs. I guess whatever works for each person.
That’s great!
Hi makos, tried these for the first time and they came out brilliantly well! Thanks so much for this amazing recipe! Take care bro!
Hey Rohan,
I’m very happy you liked them!
hi how can I make it sugar free any alternates..
Hi,
Sugar is needed for the right texture, so I don’t know if they can be sugar free. The only option I can think of is to make them refined sugar free by using coconut sugar or date sugar, but I haven’t tried it 🙂
Hi! I’m about to try these— can ground espresso substitute for instant espresso?
Thanks 🙂
Hi Mary, I haven’t tried it but I believe it will depend on how coarsely ground the espresso is. The coffee is used here to complement the taste of the chocolate, so the cookies will be good even if you omit it 🙂
Thanks for responding!