Spectacular Sourdough Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Tahini and Spelt.

Everyone loves a good chocolate chip cookie recipe, right? Crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, these cookies are the ultimate crowd pleaser. The tahini gives a wonderful nutty flavour and the chopped chocolate fills them to the brim with melty chocolatey goodness!

Sourdough Chocolate Chunk Cookie with Tahini Recipe Inspiration:

I was first introduced to chocolate chip cookies with tahini by my friend Bonnie Stern (you can find her recipe here). The combination of sesame and chocolate is very common and really amazing, but the pairing in cookie form is something I had never tasted before. After trying her cookies I set out to make a version using whole grain flour and sourdough. This formula for sourdough chocolate chunk cookies is adapted from baker David Lebovitz and you can find his recipe here.

What is Tahini?

Tahini is a paste or “butter” made from ground, usually toasted, hulled sesame seeds. On its own, it has a rich, nutty and slightly bitter flavour, but it is a great versatile ingredient to elevate your cooking. It is typically used in Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and North African food dishes and is most commonly found in dips like hummus, salad dressings, and sauces to accompany both vegetarian and meat dishes . We love using tahini in this recipe because of its subtle flavour and its nutritional value. Tahini is a wonderful source of calcium, manganese, potassium and phosphorus. It also has relatively high levels of protein which makes it a useful addition to vegetarian and vegan diets.

Ingredients and Their Functions:

Eggs:

For our family, quality and ethically-sourced products are important. Over the years, we have developed great relationships with our local farmers and always choose Ontario fresh, free-range eggs. A great way to tell if your egg is fresh is to place the whole egg in a bowl of water and see if it sinks to the bottom. As an egg ages, the air pocket inside of the shell grows and the egg will eventually tilt upwards or float. Fresh eggs are rich in healthy fat, proteins, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. So be a good egg and choose fresh, local eggs when you can.

For more information about eggs you can visit The Egg Farmers of Ontario official website and get cracking.

Fat:

The fat in the butter and in the tahini are necessary for giving the cookie a tenderness and wonderful flavour. The moisture from the fat also helps bind and hold the cookies together. We use an 84% organic butter for these cookies and a single source Soom Tahini but you could substitute any butter (if using salted, drop the salt from the recipe) or another nut or seed butter as a substitute for the tahini.

Flour:

If you look up cookie recipes online you will finds loads of different information about what flour to use in your cookies. Some call for bread flour, others all-purpose flour and you can even find lots of heritage grain flour recipes. Our sourdough chocolate chunk cookies call for a blend of all-purpose, bread and freshly milled spelt flour. The whole grain spelt adds health benefits, as well as a lot of flavour. The bread and all purpose are there to balance each other so that the dough has good gluten development without being overly tough.

Sugar:

Sugar plays an important roll in your cookies. Sugar gives sweetness and helps with the structure of your sourdough chocolate chunk cookie. The brown sugar is good for moisture retention and texture, while the white sugar helps your cookies spread (as the sugar melts) and the colour due to caramelization during baking.

Chocolate:

While you can use chocolate chips in your cookies we chose Valrhona Caraïbe baking chocolate that we chopped into chunks. When you chop the chocolate for your sourdough chocolate chunk cookie, you get all sizes of chocolate laced throughout the dough, which gives you that gooey, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate experience.

Valrhona has been long considered the Cadillac of chocolates by chocolatiers and pastry chefs around the world. We consider this type of cookie a luxury treat, rather than a day-to-day staple so we opt for the higher quality (and yes more expensive) chocolate, but you do you.

Note: Valrhona Caraïbe chocolate is “A grand cru blend this chocolate is aromatic with a long finish, its fruity and barely sweet taste reveals the delicate flavours of almonds and roasted coffee.” – Valrhona-chocolate.com

Sourdough:

For this recipe we are using a slightly overripe levain fed at 100% hydration. You can see in the video it is a little over ripe for bread but perfect for the cookies. You can also use sourdough discard but keep in mind the consistency of your sourdough starter. If it is old and very liquid you may need to add a touch more flour to your sourdough chocolate chunk cookies.

What You’ll Need:

• Ingredient bowls
• Measuring spoons
• Scale OR cup measures
• Stand mixer with a whisk and paddle attachment OR a set of hand beaters.
• Spatula
• Silicone baking sheets or parchment paper
• Ice cream scoop

Ingredients:

Weight	Volume	Ingredient	Bakers %
60 grams	1/2 cup	Bread flour	33.3%
60 grams	1/2 cup	All purpose flour	33.3%
60 grams	1/2 cup	Whole grain spelt	33.3%
100 grams	1/3 cup	Sourdough starter	55.5%
90 grams	7 tbsp	Butter	50%
120 grams	1/2 cup	Tahini	66%
95 grams	1/2 cup	White Sugar	53%
95 grams	1/2 cup	Brown Sugar	53%
58 grams	1	Large egg	32%
18 grams	1	Egg yolk	10%
4 grams	1 tsp	Vanilla extract	2%
4 grams	3/4 tsp	Baking soda	2%
6 grams	1 tsp	Salt	3%
280 grams	2 cups	Chopped dark chocolate	155%

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour salt and baking soda until combined.
2. Using a stand mixer and the whisk attachment cream the butter and tahini together until smooth OR use your hand beaters for all steps.
3. Add the white and brown sugar and continue whisking until light and smooth.
4. Add the vanilla, whole egg and egg yolk and mix until combined.
5. Switch to the paddle attachment on the mixer.
6. Add in the sourdough starter and mix until JUST combined.
7. Add in 1/3 of the flour and mix on 1st speed for a light incorporation about 1 minute.
8. Add in the rest of the flour and mix until just combined.
9. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chocolate chunks using a spatula.
10. Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for one hour, or up to overnight.
11. Preheat the oven to 350°F/176°C.
12. Remove from fridge and, using an ice cream scoop, scoop the dough onto a sheet pan covered with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet (3 inches apart, usually 8 fit on a baking sheet)
13. Bake for 12-15 mins, or until edges start to brown.
14. Cool on a wire rack.

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Sourdough Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Tahini and Spelt Recipe Card:

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If you liked this recipe for sourdough chocolate chunk cookies, check out our recipes for spelt honey cake and red fife apple crisp. You could also consider supporting this blog to help us grow.