Eid Mubarak! and Chinese Sesame Tahini Cookies

Toasted sesame seeds. Chinese tahini. Unfiltered raw honey.

I like to make something every year for the end of Ramadan, the occasion on which Muslims and those of us who understand it say “Eid Mubarak” which means Happy Eid. This year the manager where I live is neither Muslim nor Arab but I don’t let that get in the way of making something special. And so it was.

The honeybee was happy to have second place to the two types of sesame.

I’d made a different sesame cookie a few weeks ago (which I just noticed did not have a post; I’ll fix that in a couple days.) My Chinese lady friends liked the Sesame Butter Cookie based on my “minis” recipes, but one said that their Chinese sesame cookies are not made with butter so I decided to order some Chinese tahini and try again. I’m still not satisfied but my ladies don’t mind having the results of my experiments and they loved this one.

I looked for recipes which included the words “Chinese tahini” and “sesame seeds” and I found one which offers several options. None have butter or egg. This one has the expensive Chinese tahini, raw unfiltered honey instead of sugar, toasted sesame in the cookies and flattened in more toasted sesame (which makes them pretty, right?) It has both almond and all-purpose flours. It can be made gluten-free using only almond flour, and made vegan by substituting maple syrup for the honey. I’m going to do the GF next because I love the taste and texture of GF cookies made with almond flour but I’ll keep the honey because my palate loves it.

I’ve also found out that I don’t need such expensive tahini, that Trader Joe’s has some which works, meaning it isn’t brick hard, because the tahini, honey and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract are the only liquids in this cookie. Do send me a note if you want the recipe or use the ingredients I’ve listed in an online search to choose a different one.