The Unexpected Ingredient Your Chocolate Chip Cookies Are Missing

Chocolate chip cookies are one of the most classic desserts. But, like many food items, they can always be improved from their standard recipe. If you're ready to kick things up a notch for this tasty treat with a rich, earthy addition, let us introduce you to tahini. This smooth paste, made by toasting ground sesame seeds in oil, is one of the best ingredients to upgrade your chocolate chip cookies.

To incorporate tahini (which is both vegan and gluten-free in its pure form) when making the ultimate chocolate chip cookies,  simply use it in place of butter in a 1:1 ratio for added flavor and chewiness, plus a creamy nuttiness that pairs well with chocolate. You'll even get a boost of protein when using this sesame paste.

While baking enthusiasts have long believed that butter is imperative to cookie recipes, the tahini works for this swap due to its high oil content, which lends the needed fat to the recipe. That said, tahini can be a bit thicker than butter — but that's nothing a splash of water in the batter can't fix.

When using tahini in your chocolate chip cookie recipe, lean into the swap by further enhancing the savory flavor with a teaspoon of salt in the batter, or a sprinkle on top of the cookies before they're baked. You should also consider other additions that would pair well, such as chopped nuts, a drizzle of honey, or dark chocolate chips rather than milk. You could even go the fruity route by adding toasted coconut to match the crisp notes of the tahini flavor, or incorporate some citric tang by adding lemon juice to your mixture.

After mastering your tahini chocolate chip cookies, delve into other desserts that feature this Mediterranean staple, including tahini shortbread sandwich cookies and dark chocolate-tahini cottage cheese ice cream. Then, check out Tasting Table's 15 unexpected ways to use tahini, which include trying it as a flavor booster in coffees and hot chocolates or as a thickener for smoothies. You can even use tahini to make icing for your cakes and cupcakes — and of course, on top of your tahini-infused cookies.