Middle Eastern-inspired tea cookies (vegan, gluten-free, grain-free)

A week and a half ago, I promised my Instagram followers that I would post this recipe last week… Well, here we are now. Time flies by when we’re having fun!

I don’t spend a lot of time on Pinterest (if you’re on Pinterest, come and follow me!) but when I do I always get inspired, and sometimes I find recipes that I just can’t wait to make. This was one of them. I found the recipe on the blog Nuance & Bubbles which was written by Renée from the blog Will Frolic For Food (blogs always have such funny and creative names!). I changed a couple of ingredients, to fit with what I had on hand, and also because the original recipe calls for all-purpose gluten-free flour, and I don’t use that (to know why, read my post on gluten-free myths).

These are made with tahini (sesame seed butter) and sesame seeds, which are a great food source of magnesium, an important mineral that we all need. I remember many years ago, I had a twitch in one eye and I went to see a naturopath who said I needed magnesium. After taking a magnesium supplement, the twitch went away! It helps all muscles and nerves to contract properly, so it’s good to keep our hearts pumping properly too.

Information About Magnesium

• Magnesium is a mineral that you need every day for good health.
• Magnesium helps you take energy from food and make new proteins.
• Magnesium is an important part of your bones, and helps keep your muscles and nerves healthy.

(source: Dieticians of Canada)

I have to say, I thought these cookies would be easier to make than they turned out to be. It’s not that the process was complicated, but the dough was hard to mix (I used my hands), it was too dry and I was out of tahini, so I added some raw almond butter to help. I also found the end result not sticky enough so it was difficult to get the sesame seeds to actually stick. It took some work, but in the end, it worked out fine, and I really enjoyed them, so don’t let this scare you away from giving it a try. Definitely not your classic kind of cookies, they are very dry to eat, so I call these “tea cookies” because they are perfect to eat with a warm tea. I love the sesame flavour, it really reminds me of our trip to the Middle East from a few years ago.

Dipping the cookies in chocolate is purely for decoration, although, who am I kidding? It’s chocolate! Go for it! haha I used pure cacao paste so it’s as healthy as chocolate gets! I simply melted some pure cacao paste, a dash of pure maple syrup, and a spoonful of unrefined coconut oil.

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Chocolate dipped tahini cookies, adapted from Nuance & Bubbles blog, makes 20-24 small cookies

• 1 cup organic (raw, fair-trade) tahini
• 1/4 cup organic almond butter (I used raw almond butter)
  
• 1/2 cup evaporated organic cane sugar (I used Sucanat)
  
• 1/2 small organic orange, washed, zested
  
• 1/2 cup naturally gluten-free organic coconut flour 
• 1/4 cup naturally gluten-free organic chickpea flour
• 1/4 cup naturally gluten-free organic buckwheat flour
  
• 2 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
• 1/4 tsp unrefined grey sea salt
• 1/4 cup (150g) mixed black and white raw organic sesame seeds