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Chewy Sesame Butter Cookies (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Happy New Year (a week and change late…)! I’m not sure about you, but I’m excited for the start of a new year. Not necessarily because 2016 was so awful, but because 2017 has all the potential to be an awesome year. I’m not entirely thrilled to be starting it on a restricted diet, but because I am, I’m trying to make the best of it.
Baking is definitely one of the hardest things about being gluten- and dairy-free. I used to truly love whipping up desserts, and the elation that comes from perfectly executing a basic cake better or cookie dough. If you’ve baked as much as I have, you can tell whether you’ve succeeded or bombed with a recipe simply by the texture and movement of a dough or batter, and I used to completely adore running my spatula through cake batter, watching it fall back on itself in just the right way, knowing my cake would be beautiful, with a tender crumb, and oh so moist. With gluten-free and vegan baking, it’s just not the same. Gluten-free and dairy-free baking is possible, but the transformation, and the finished product especially, is a lot different and requires significantly measured expectations.
That said, it’s not impossible, and I’ve managed to produce a handful of pretty tasty desserts within those guidelines. Even my better half loved these cookies, and he’s in no way restricted by any diet, so I hope that’s saying something. 
These cookies have one surprise ingredient – avocado! – and feature an unusual seed butter in place of the more typical peanut or almond butter. Sesame butter, also known as tahini, is something I associate with savory dishes, but I’ve discovered a line of sweetened Sesame butter, and it’s opened my eyes to a whole different side of things!
Simply Sesame makes three different flavors of sesame butter, a vanilla flavor with chunks of almonds, one with chunks of pistachios, and another that is straight up, slightly sweetened sesame butter. For this recipe, I used the vanilla flavor, and it worked perfectly.
The dough for these cookies is definitely a little unusual, and if you handle it too much it’ll get pretty oily (I learned first hand!), so you have to make quick work of your mixing and portioning! I rolled my dough balls in granulated sugar for a really pretty, crunchy exterior, but the best part about these cookies is their ultra chewy interior, even after sitting out for a few days.
You can try these cookies with any nut butter, but I’d definitely suggest trying out Simply Sesame for something totally different and unique. Check them out on social: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and the product is also available on their website and on Amazon.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup avocado puree (ripe, but firm, and cold – just taken out of the refrigerator)
- 1 cup Simply Sesame, or your favorite seed or nut butter (creamy, crunchy, and natural nut butters all work)
- 1 cup brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Coconut sugar or granulated sugar, for rolling
- Optional, chocolate chips for finishing
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper, and set aside.
- Coarsely chop the cold avocado, and gently pack into a 1/4-cup measure. Place measured avocado in a medium bowl, and mash well with a fork or potato masher until nearly “pureed” (just make sure you don’t have any large chunks left, otherwise you’ll have avocado chunks in your finished product!) If you’d rather puree in a mini food processor, that’s even better, it just makes more dishes
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl, and mix to combine. Be careful not to overmix, or you’ll warm the avocado puree and we want that to stay nice and cool.
- With a small cookie or ice cream scoop, portion the dough and roll into balls. If desired, roll in coconut sugar, or granulated sugar for even more flair to get the pretty crackles you see above.
- Place the dough balls a few inches apart on your prepared baking sheet, and bake for 9-10 minutes, until golden brown. The cookies will look set, but will still be quiet soft in the middle.
- Let the cookies cool on their baking sheets for at least 10 minutes. This will help them to set and firm up a bit, then they’ll be ready to transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
- If it tickles your fancy, you can press a few chocolate chunks into the cookie dough before baking. I loved having the chocolate chunks in mine!
http://www.sweetlyserendipity.com/dessert/cookies/chewy-sesame-butter-cookies-vegan-gluten-free/
http://www.sweetlyserendipity.com/
Source: http://www.sweetlyserendipity.com/dessert/cookies/chewy-sesame-butter-cookies-vegan-gluten-free/
