Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies with Sesame Seeds

This recipe takes inspiration from Christina Tosi’s excellent (and easy!) version and presents it through a Middle Eastern lens: some of the butter gets replaced with nutty tahini, some pistachio takes the place of a little chocolate, and the dough gets rolled in two types of sesame seeds. The final product has the rich, tender, buttery qualities of a chocolate chip cookie, with a whole other, savory dimension coming from the wave of sesame in the form of both tahini and seeds. 

Ingredients 
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 ¾ sticks butter, at room temperature 
½ cup white sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar 
1 egg, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
¼ cup tahini 
½ cup chocolate chips 
¼ cup pistachios, roughly chopped 
about ½ cup sesame seeds, including black sesame, if available 

parchment paper or silicone mat

Directions 
Preheat your oven to 375° F and line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Pour the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into a mixing bowl and stir them together until combined.

In a separate bowl, add the butter, and both sugars, and use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to mix them until combined. Add the egg, vanilla, and tahini and stir again until combined. Add the chocolate chips and pistachios, evenly distributing them throughout the dough. 

Place the sesame seeds in a small bowl. 

Divide the dough into golfball-size portions (a little over 2 tablespoons) and roll them in the sesame seeds until coated. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheets at least 3 inches apart from one another and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown at the edges. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving. 

If not eating immediately, store in an airtight container once they’ve cooled.