Tahini Cookies

My bookshelf is full of baking books. But that shouldn't be something surprising to all who know me. The baking bug always makes me end up buying more and more books on baking. The irony is that I hardly try any recipes from them. It is just this fancy, this unexplainable pleasure that I get from collecting baking books. 

This month while cleaning my bookshelf, I took a solemn pledge to at least leaf through one baking book a month. And this month happened to be The Big Book of treats by Pooja Dhingra which I had bought while attending one of her classes held at The Corner Courtyard, Kolkata. The book has easy recipes with simple instructions and I have earlier tried her recipe of Chai cupcakes. 

While leafing through the book, I came across the recipe of Tahini Cookies. Now, we have 2 jars of Tahini sitting pretty in our cupboard which was sent all the way from Israel by Vishal's friends. Having only tried a Tahini Chicken by our friend Vikas, I have been wanting to put the jars to some good use for a long time. So the recipe of Tahini cookies lit a 440 Volt bulb in my head and I was on my toes to make them soon. 

The cookies have a beautiful lingering on taste of the Tahini and the almond adds a lovely crunch to it. 

Pair these irresistible and decadent cookies with a hot cup of tea this Monsoons.  

Adapted from : The Big book of Treats by Pooja Dhingra

Ingredients : Yields around 15 cookies

• 25 gms butter, softened
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp tahini
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp milk
• almonds

Procedure : 

Preheat oven to 170 degree Celsius.

Take a bowl and mix sugar, flour and butter with your fingers till they resemble breadcrumbs in texture. 

Add tahini and lemon juice and mix.

Add milk and knead the mixture to a dough. 

Take a little mixture and shape it into an oval shape with your hands. You can make a round shape too and flatten it from top. My mixture was not very pliable so shape it with a little patience. 

Press half of an almond on top and place the cookies on a baking tray lined with baking paper. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes or till the cookies get a beautiful golden brown colour.

Cool them to get crisp.

Sending this recipe to KFB's Monsoon Celebration event.

Happy Tahini Cookies relishing

Amrita