Marbled Tahini Cookies

Continuing through the NYT 2019 Holiday Cookie Extravaganza, the next cookie I planned for our housewarming were these two-tone sesame cookies. The hardest part of the process? Sourcing the ingredients.

The recipe calls for two dark ingredients: black sanding sugar, and black tahini. My first stop was Bulk Barn, but two locations I checked had every colour of decorative sugar except black, and no black tahini either. Fresh & Wild and Loblaws were also no help. Ultimately, I found not one, but two options for black tahini at Nations Experience. But, I struck out on the black sugar.

Making the dough was simple enough, as it’s a basic sugar cookie, to which two varieties of tahini are added. The resulting doughs are layered and gently kneaded to yield a marble-like pattern in cross-section. I’m not sure why the instructions say to coat the loaf pan with cooking spray, then line with plastic wrap. I didn’t grease my pan, but my guess is it’s to help the plastic wrap cling to the metal pan.

I loved the strong sesame flavour of this cookie. The thin and crisp slices were generously sized, but not too filling. I would try experimenting with the marbling effect (pixel cookies anyone?) next time. Highly recommended.