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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Tahini Almond and Pine Nut Cookies

Oh these pine nuts are just heavenly!  I can't stop schizophrenically eating them by the handful.  I've been so used to eating poor people's pine nuts that I completely fogot how wonderfully sweet minty waxy and nutty the real ones are.  I'm not sure I'll ever be able to substitute anything else for them in the future.
Nous n'avons pas les mêmes valeurs...
Back to the cookies.  I've been hesitating between this and coconut burfi, and possibly some dohkla, but I have a craving for almonds and tahini right now, so this is what's happening in the kitchen right now.  The day is just beginning, so dohkla is not completely ruled out.
These are a spin off my other tahini cookies but with a few adjustments.  They're actually more a spin off of this recipe.
Yield 56 cookies
Ingredients:
280g sifted whole wheat flour (2 cups)
2 tbsp creme de marrons (chestnut purée)
50g crushed almonds
20g crushed pinenuts
150g butter (5 1/2 oz)
150g (3/4 cup) sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla sugar
  2 tbsp water
200g (3/4 cup) tahini
Directions:
1.  Whisk together the butter and sugar until fluffy, then add the vanilla, creme de marrons, tahini, almonds, pinenuts, and salt until it is as homogenous as possible.  I crushed my nuts with a mortar and then got tired of it and left a few chunks.  I'm pretending it was part of my strategy.
2.  Add some flour little by little until your whisk is rendered useless.  Then use your hands to knead in the rest of the flour.  Add a little water to help it come together.
3.  Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F).
4.  Make tablespoon sized balls and roll them around in your hands before flattening them slightly on the cookie sheet.
5.  Bake for 17-18 minutes or until slightly golden, then let cool on a wire rack.  They will make you crumble.

I'm all out of tahini!  I had to scrape every last drop out of the jar to get to 200g.  I love how tahini can be accomodated to sweet or savory dishes.  It's like a better version of peanut butter.

This version is a nice twist.  I think you could mess around with the extras on this recipe and it will always come out nicely.

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