Tahini Sourdough Cookies
November 10, 2025
Recipe: Tahini Sourdough Cookies with Brown Butter Maple Glaze.
Tahini Sourdough Cookies are cozy, nutty, and made for curious bakers. 🌿 Inspired by vegan baking but made cozy with brown butter 💛
These tahini sourdough cookies are soft, nutty, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious, the kind of cookie that feels both wholesome and indulgent. Brown butter adds a rich toffee flavor, while sourdough discard brings that signature chewy texture. Drizzled with a maple-tahini glaze and finished with a golden maple-cinnamon dust, these cookies are cozy, elegant, and just a little bit addictive.
This tahini sourdough cookie began as a curiosity pull from the vegan baking world. There’s a whole universe of tahini cookies out there that get their warm, nutty flavor without peanut butter, and I love that. The idea of a cookie that feels rich without being heavy just sounded right. I thought I was going the full vegan route, but then the brown butter came out and the kitchen went quiet for a second. The flavor was too good. So this version became cozy, buttery, and full of caramel-toasty flavor from tahini and sourdough.
The glaze had its own little journey. It started simple with tahini and maple sugar because I was feeling calm and mature. Then the sweet tooth said hello, and powdered sugar stepped in to make it silky and smooth. Then we played a little more — maple sugar, cinnamon, a drizzle, and a sprinkle of turbinado for sparkle. The cookie had found its full personality.
The best part is that this recipe still keeps the door open for easy vegan swaps if you need them. Use a good vegan butter and dairy-free white chocolate and you’re right back in that original plant-based cookie dream.
This recipe is all about experimenting in the kitchen and letting flavors find each other. Sometimes the best bakes start as a little curiosity and turn into a whole new favorite.
💛 Why You’ll Love These Tahini Sourdough Cookies
- They turn leftover sourdough discard into something magical.
- The nutty tahini and brown butter combo tastes like bakery gold.
- They’re not too sweet, just perfectly balanced with maple warmth.
- The dough chills beautifully, making them ideal for prep-ahead baking days.
🌱 Vegan Option
This recipe started with flavor inspiration from vegan baking, where tahini brings nutty richness without peanut butter. If you prefer to bake vegan, it’s easy to adapt:
• Use a high quality vegan butter and brown it the same way
• Choose dairy free white chocolate chips
• Keep the tahini as the star
• For the maple glaze keep it simple with tahini and maple syrup
You still get the warm nutty cookie glow with that soft bakery center. Cozy. Indulgent. Plant friendly.
🍯 Kitchen Experiments Are Where The Magic Lives
Tahini brings its own quiet warmth to these cookies, and vegan butter supports it beautifully. The result is soft, toasty, and full of cozy flavor. Trust the process — it works. The best recipes shape themselves slowly. Let curiosity lead and enjoy what unfolds.
Baker’s Tease:
These tahini sourdough cookies had a little personality moment. On the first batch, I scooped straight from the bowl and the cookies baked up soft and dome-shaped, like a bakery cookie that wants to stay thick and chewy. Then I flattened the second batch just a touch before baking, and they spread into that classic cookie look with golden edges and a soft, chewy center.
🍁 Tips for Perfect Texture
- Slightly flatten for a gentle spread and chewy center, or keep domed for a soft, doughy rise.
- Chill the dough at least 30 minutes to deepen flavor and give structure.
- Sprinkle the maple-cinnamon sugar while the glaze is tacky for sparkle and crunch.
- For the chewiest texture, chill overnight if you have the patience. The flavor deepens and the crumb turns dreamy.
🍪✨ Keep ‘Em Fresh: Storing and Freezing Tips
Warm cookies today, perfect cookies tomorrow.
Room Temperature
- Keep cookies in an airtight container for 3–4 days.
- For extra softness, add a slice of apple or soft sandwich bread to the container. The cookies gently pull moisture from it and stay chewy.
- Replace the apple or bread slice every 24 hours.
Note: This does not make the cookies taste like apple. It just keeps the texture tender.
❄️ Freezing Baked Cookies
These cookies freeze beautifully.
- Let the glaze set completely.
- Freeze in a single layer for 30 minutes, then transfer to a freezer-safe bag or container.
- Keeps well for up to 2 months
- Thaw at room temperature or warm at 300°F for 3–4 minutes to bring back that bakery glow2 months
Soft today. Soft tomorrow. Soft next month too 🍪✨
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Ingredients
Adjust Servings
| 113 g (½ cup) unsalted butter, browned and slightly cooled | |
| 120 (½ cup) tahini (well-stirred) | |
| 175 g (¾ cup + 2 Tbsp, packed) light brown sugar ⬅️ (added 25 g for balanced sweetness) | |
| 50 g (¼ cup) granulated sugar | |
| 1 large | |
| 1 tsp vanilla extract | |
| 1 Tbsp) pure maple syrup 🍁 | |
| 120 g (½ cup) unfed sourdough discard | |
| 270 g (2¼ cups) all-purpose or “00” flour | |
| 1 tsp baking soda | |
| ½ tsp fine sea salt | |
| 285 g (1¾ cups) Ghirardelli white chips ⬅️ (added ¼ cup for more sweetness pockets) | |
| flaky sea salt for topping |
For the maple-tahini glaze
| 2 tbsp tahini | |
| 1 tbsp pure maple syrup | |
| ¼–⅓ cup powdered sugar (adjust for sweetness) | |
| ½ tsp vanilla extract | |
| Pinch of cinnamon | |
| 1-2 tsp milk or water, to thin |
Nutritional Information
Directions
Brown the butte
Mix wet ingredients
Combine dry ingredients
Add chips
Chill
Bake
Cool on Rack
Glaze and Sprinkle
Enjoy the Afterglow
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