Vegan Tahini & Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookie

Author Notes

If there’s one thing I can’t resist, it’s a good chocolate chip cookie. They’re the perfect little treat, and I love that you can manipulate the most basic recipe into one that fits your exact preference–chewy, crispy, cakey, underbaked, thin, thick, the list goes on. It’s my most frequented baked good, and it’s even the dish that helped me get my job.

With that being said, since becoming (mostly) dairy-free over the last year, I’ve been on a mission to find a vegan chocolate chip cookie that I enjoy just as much as a regular one. That was until I tried the vegan cookie from Seven Grams cafe.

Their Vegan Tahini & Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookie uses tahini and olive oil instead of butter and eggs, and even without those two typically crucial ingredients, they’ve perfected not only the flavor but the structure and texture of the cookie as well. The following recipe was heavily inspired by their cookie, and although not an exact replica, I think you’ll find the tahini and olive oil make for an excellent substitution.

While you’ll find that most chocolate chip cookie recipes call for a higher ratio of brown sugar to granulated, I chose to use mostly granulated sugar. This was to develop a really crispy, chewy, and almost caramelized foot, and to keep the inside nice and soft. At first glance, it may also look like an overly generous amount of tahini and olive oil, but with the other ingredients, the flavors are very subtle and balanced.

Tips & Tricks
-Don’t overbake. Keep a close eye on them after the 15-minute mark, and don’t let them get too browned. You want them to be just golden brown, and look somewhat underbaked in the center still. Since the main ingredients are tahini and olive oil, they’ll harden up a lot once cooled.
-If you have time, let the dough chill overnight. This will help the flavors to develop even more.
-A whole tablespoon of salt and vanilla may seem extreme, but trust me on this. Since you’re not getting any salt from other ingredients, and since olive oil and tahini and fairly savory, you need the extra salt and vanilla to bring out the sweeter flavors. If you want, start with 2 teaspoons of salt and taste your way!
-If you divide the cookie dough into more than 12 cookies, adjust the cooking time accordingly.
-Use a cookie sheet over a rimmed baking sheet if you have one. Because cookie sheets are thinner than regular baking sheets, the bottom of the cookies will turn out crispier.

—Nea Arentzen