Crunchy Tahini Biscuits

Two or three years ago, I found this recipe to use up a pot of tahini (toasted sesame paste) I'd initially bought for another recipe that called for just a little of the stuff. The biscuits turned out fantastic, with a distinctive, deep nutty flavour. This year, I carried a pot of tahini all the way from Europe to Africa during my Christmas break from university, specially to make these biscuits again for New Year's Day.

The recipe I used can be found here: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/239826/fast-and-easy-israeli-tahini-cookies/. I love it because it requires only a handful of readily-available ingredients and produces a large batch. I plan to make an adaptation of the recipe sometime soon, so stick around!

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour (c. 390 g)

1 cup white sugar (200 g)

2 teaspoons baking powder (8 g)

14 tablespoons unsalted butter (200 g)

1 cup tahini (c. 250 g)

No specialist equipment is required for this recipe. All you need is a measuring cup, a couple of bowls, some cutlery, baking paper and an oven with a baking tray.

Preheat your oven to 180 °C (355 °F).

Stir the tahini well. Measure all your ingredients. Melt the butter by cutting it up into a bowl and microwaving for a couple of minutes in short (30-second) bursts until just melted and creamy. Line a baking tray with baking paper, waxy side up.

Tip the flour, sugar and baking powder into a bowl and mix.

Add the butter and tahini to the bowl and stir to form a crumbly dough (it doesn't have to be very dry). Do not overwork the dough or the gluten in the flour may cause the biscuits to become tough.

Roll the dough into small balls, about 3 cm (just over an inch) in diameter and place in a baking tray with space between them. Use a fork or your hands to flatten the balls into circles. They may crack at the edges; try to squish together and smoothen the edges a bit.

According to the original recipe, these quantities of ingredients gives 24 servings. I ended up with 37 biscuits that were neither particularly small nor thin - I'm happy with that!

Bake them in the 180 °C (355 °F) oven for at least 10 minutes, until lightly golden brown. I left mine in for almost 20 minutes, so they could become darker and dryer. I like my biscuits dry and crunchy rather than moist or chewy.

Let the delicate biscuits cool for a few minutes on the tray once it's been removed from the oven, then transfer them carefully to a wire rack to cool completely. They will firm up - I was surprised by how well they held together even when dropped.

Savour the light crunch and satisfying flavour!