Tahini Thumbprints Cookies with Dulce de Leche

Do you remember the 2019 New York Times cookie special? Well, it’s back this year in the form of 24 Days of Cookies. There was no fold-out spread in this past Sunday’s newspaper, so maybe it’s online only. We decided to make holiday cookie boxes again, so we started to bake one cookie a day this week.

We picked this tahini cookie to start (recipe). On its own, the sesame paste can be quite bitter so it needs other strong flavours to balance it out. I doubled down and decided to use a smoky tahini made by Parallel Brothers.

The dough was quite oily, so I was reluctant to pick up the portioned balls and roll them. In the end, they turned out fine, but a little misshapen. If you’re going for presentation, then by all means, get your palms greasy and make them more uniform.

I loved the combination of smoky, bitter, sweet, and salty in this cookie. It’s just a bit out of the ordinary, and exactly the kind of delightful discovery I want in a cookie box.