using up that tahini

How many times have you bought a jar of tahini? You open it up, stir and stir and stir that rock hard sediment at the bottom splashing sesame oil all over your hands, get it perfectly smooth and creamy. You make your delicious batch of hummus, and then that jar that you worked so hard for, and paid a fair amount for, goes in the fridge. Which is such a shame. 

You see it sitting next to the peanut butter. You think "I really should find some way to use that up." You take out the peanut butter, and forget about the tahini. Maybe even until it spoils. 

So how about a few recipes to use some of it up? 

The first idea I have for you is to mosey over to Smitten Kitchen. She has a - Carrot Tahini Muffin - recipe that I had to try because it sounded so wacky. It was really good! I highly recommend going all the way with the tahini glaze on top. The only difference with mine was that I added some orange to brighten up the flavors a little (thus the orange on my cutting board below), but I will leave it out next time and just enjoy the earthy sesame flavor.

This next one is of my own. Have you heard of the 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies? Peanut butter, sugar, and eggs mixed together to turn out as a fudgy, almost truffle like cookie? This is a vegan version with tahini substituting some of the peanut butter. It has a grown-up complicated flavor that is so nice with coffee.

4 Ingredient Peanut-Tahini Cookies

3/4 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup tahini

1 cup of sugar

1 tbsp flax seeds, ground in a grinder, or whole

optional add-ins:

chocolate chips

peanut butter chips

coconut

Preheat your oven to 350 degree fahrenheit. 

In a small bowl stir your flax seeds with 2 tbsps of cold water. Let sit.

Mix the rest of the ingredients. 

Check on your seeds. They will have a slightly eggy texture. If it seems like they have soaked up most of your water and there wasn't anything left over to make a smooth and slimy consistency add a splash of cold water and stir it in. Add to the peanut butter mixture.

Mix mix mix. 

Roll into balls about the size that your forefinger and thumb make when making an OK sign and place on a cookie sheet. 

Bake for about 8 minutes. If they look wet bake them for another minute. But trust me, leave these soft. The fudgey center is completely safe because there aren't any eggs!

Next up, oil-free dressing! You can hack this one so many ways, including adding oil if you'd like. 

Tahini Dressing

1/3 cup tahini

2 tbsp tamari or soy-sauce

2 tsp honey or maple syrup

water to thin to desired consistency

optional add-ins:

fresh minced garlic

apple-cider vinegar

lemon juice sub for tamari

Mix it up!