Orange Chocolate Tahini Thumbprint Cookies {gf, paleo}

When your cookies are just a little bit extra. Orange Chocolate Tahini Thumbprint Cookies are brown butter, orange zest, and corn shortbread filled with a tahini chocolate ganache and drizzled with a tahini glaze. Both paleo and keto friendly (substitutions are to the left of original ingredients).

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Discovering Orange Chocolate Tahini Thumbprint Cookies

These cookies are 100% inspired by the recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine . The blood orange polenta shortbread recipe has captivated me for weeks. The idea of making cookies with polenta seemed like such an amazing idea. The sweet corn flavor could really add buttery-ness and creamy mouth feel to a cookie. So I tried making cookies with polenta. And guess what? It was a fail! Major fail.

Polenta is a course ground corn that you typically have to cook in water for at least 15 minutes to soften. Do you think it was nice and soft after 18 minutes of baking in a cookie? Not at all. It was crunchy and grainy. But the flavor was spectacular! So I tried medium ground cornmeal and then a more finely ground cornmeal. To no success. But then, I found a bag of corn flour tucked into a forgotten nook of my mom’s pantry (go mom!). The perfect solution. All the sweet corn flavor. No gritty crunch whatsoever! The beginnings of these orange chocolate tahini thumbprint cookies.

GOURMET AF

If you are looking to make a cookie that is uniquely mind blowing with subtle nuance and balanced flavor components, than this is your cookie. It was hard to come up with a title for this cookie because there is so much going on here. Orange chocolate tahini thumbprint cookies doesn’t really encompass the entirety of this cookie. If I had to give it a proper title it would be called “ brown butter, black sesame, orange sugar, and corn shortbread thumbprint cookie with tahini ganache and tahini sugar glaze “. Not really SEO friendly. But TRUUUE!

This cookie is so extra but really easy to make. No more difficult than any other thumbprint cookie except you brown the butter first and rub orange zest with the sugar before you cream it with the butter. But the combination of the flavors going on in here makes them seem really fancy. Did I mention that they’re gluten free? You would never ever know it.

Tahini and chocolate are a perfect combination. Chocolate and orange are a perfect combination. It just made total sense to make a tahini chocolate ganache to nestle in the center of these orange chocolate tahini thumbprint cookies. I also made t urtle pecan thumbprint cookies which are also very delicious but nothing experimental or exciting. These cookies I am seriously excited about and really hope you give a try.

If you are grain free you can swap the corn flour out for almond flour and use ghee or coconut oil as the fat. I also tried these babies out with xylitol. I even made powdered sugar out of it to use in the tahini glaze that’s drizzled on top. You can read a little about why I did that in this post here .

Be Extra For the Holidays

Sure, if you want to be basic for the holidays that’s up to you. You do you and make some cut out sugar cookies that you’ll regret eating 15 minutes later. I guess. Or you could be extra like me (wait, is that a good thing) and make orange chocolate tahini thumbprint cookies. Because nothing says Happy Holidays more than a plate full of cookies you stuck your finger into.

Long pause. Huge smile. Pan out.

MORE HOLIDAY PARTY FOOD

Looking for more ideas for your holiday party? Check some of these other POP KITCHEN recipes!

Turtle Pecan Thumbprint Cookies

The Ultimate Holiday Party Platter with

Fennel Goat Cheese Dip and

Ginger Spiced Cashew Dip

Coconut Sugar Cookies

Grain Free Chocolate Banana Bread

Mini Earl Grey Crepes with Lavender Ricotta

Rhubarb Tequila Negronis

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Mousse

Protein Power Chocolate Truffles

Vegan Beet Burger Sliders

Spicy Rose Gin Champagne Cocktails

HEALTHY HOLIDAYS AND ALWAYS

I recently asked you folks over on my Instagram account which you’d rather see over the holidays: healthy sweets or savory treats . Well it was an exact 50/50 split. So look forward to a lot of everything as we move toward the New Year.

These orange chocolate tahini thumbprint cookies falls under the healthy sweets category and will be right at home next to your other fave holiday treats.

Happiest of Holidays to you from me, Stacy, here at POP KITCHEN!

When you make these orange chocolate tahini thumbprint cookies, let me know! I absolutely love seeing your photos of POP KITCHEN recipes up on Instagram . Like POP KITCHEN on Facebook and follow along with all of my recipe inspiration on Pinterest ! Oh, and can you tell your friends about me? K, thanks, luh ew, bye!

Recipe

Orange Chocolate Tahini Thumbprint Cookies {gf, paleo}

Ingredients

1 cup butter (2 sticks) or ghee/coconut oil
¼ cup + 2 Tbsp coconut sugar, xylitol or cane sugar
2 tsp finely grated orange zest
2 egg yolks
⅔ cup stone ground corn flour or almond flour
1 cup coconut flour
½ cup tapioca flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp black or white sesame seeds plus extra for garnish
½ cup dark chocolate chips
¼ cup tahini
¼ cup powdered sugar/xylitol
2 Tbsp tahini
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp non dairy milk or water

Instructions

COOKIES: First, you need to brown your butter (if you’re using ghee or coconut oil, skip this step). Add your butter to a sauce pan and heat over medium heat until it starts to boil. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes or until the butter has become golden brown. If it gets too dark, don’t worry, it will still taste awesome. Fill a large bowl with ice and water and put the bottom of the hot sauce pan in the ice water. This will shock it and cool the butter down quickly. Let sit about 5 minutes or until the butter is cool to the touch.
Preheat your oven to 350 F/180 C/4 gas.
In a medium mixing bowl, sift all of the dry ingredients together except the sugar (corn flour, coconut flour, tapioca flour, and sea salt). Add the sesame seeds and stir to evenly combine.
In a large mixing bowl add the orange zest and sugar/xylitol. Rub the sugar and zest between your hands until the sugar is coated in zest and smells awesome. Beat together (with either electric beaters or an electric mixer) the cooled brown butter (ghee or coconut oil) together with the sugar/xyitol until the mixture gets light in color and fluffy.
Continue mixing and add one egg yolk at a time being sure everything is incorporated before adding another.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mixing as you go. Once all the dry ingredients are added, mix only until everything is incorporated and then stop to avoid over mixing.
Roll cookie dough into ping pong size balls and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Keep the cookies about 2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies for 8 minutes. Take the cookies out of the oven and with your thumb or the end of a serving spoon, press down the middle of the cookie to slightly flatten, leaving an indentation in the middle. Bake another 7 minutes or until just the slightest bit of golden brown appears.
TAHINI GANACHE: Either over a double boiler on in the microwave stirring ever 15 seconds, melt the chocolate and tahini together.
TAHINI GLAZE: In a medium size mixing bowl combine the powdered sugar/xylitol (see instructions for powdered xylitol in the notes below) with the tahini and milk/water. Beat with a whisk or eletric beaters for 2 minutes or until evenly combined.
ASSEMBLE YOUR COOKIES: Place a small dollop of tahini ganache in the center of each cookie. Finish by drizzling a bit of tahini glaze over top. Let the cookies sit for 2 hours to let the ganache set.

Notes

Notes To make xylitol powdered sugar add ¼ cup of xylitol and 1 Tbsp tapioca starch into a food processor and process for 5-7 minutes or until a fine powder has formed.