Please tell me you’re as nut about nuts as I am because otherwise I just can’t see out relationship working out.
Speaking of nuts, I feel like I’ve been going a tiny bit crazy and I’m trying to remember how I survived the last few winters without turning into an icicle. It’s only just starting to get cold and I feel as if my mind has totally dumped all instincts for self-preservation to stay warm and I can’t remember how to weather the cold.
It’s pretty ridiculous too, because where I live now in Patagonia is so mild compared to where I lived in the mountains of northern Idaho for a few years prior to moving down here. I mean, we used to get buried in double digit feet of snow and now we don’t even get snow. Not only that, but I would get up before the sun and go out in it to care for our farm animals. Clearly I need to suck it up and figure out that I should just wear more clothes. I’ve already broken down and pulled out my warmest house-wear.
At some point I know that I’ve mentioned to you guys how I’ve become a pretty unmaterialistic person over the past few years. Like, say there was a fire and I had to grab the most important things to me, I wouldn’t have to spend much time considering what to take because I don’t let myself get overly attached to just stuff anymore. Okay, but if there is one silly thing that I have a weakness for, something that I would be a little regretful of losing if my home was engulfed in an inferno of flames, it would be my fuzzies.
Have I told you guys about my HUGE little tiny addiction to fluffy pajamas (and all wearable things that are fluffy for that matter)? Well, it’s pretty bad. Yeah, I’m kind of thinking the world needs to declare a national holiday for staying at home and spending all day in plushy jammies and bunny slippers (I actually don’t have any bunny slippers but I seriously need them.) I do however, have quite a lovely collection of fluffy socks that I love and adore wearing all through the cold seasons and I’m currently wearing as I type this post.
Maybe that’s a huge part of what started drawing me into the kitchen for so many hours at a time, it’s always the warmest room in the house. In fact, I’m always really sad on days when I don’t have something that needs baking or boiling any time from autumn to spring because it helps warm the room so much. See, so baking is not only a passion for me, it’s also a great way to not freeze to death. Not to mention that everyone seems to be a lot hungrier during the winter. I’ve even heard that restaurants purposefully keep the temp down because it’s been proven to cause people to eat more food. Dude, it takes a lot of energy to stay warm so that totally makes sense.
Sorry, I know that it’s totally the wrong time of year to be talking about cold season for most of you because so many of you live in the opposite hemisphere, but Springtime can also have plenty of cold spurts. Plus, I’m not saying that these can only be enjoyed during when your cold. I guarantee that they’ll be just as delish on a hot summer day, and also a great way to fuel up for warm weather activities. Don’t you love recipes that aren’t limited to any season, I do!
Yep, these cookies are so good! It’s seems like tahini has been becoming more and more popular over the past few years and I totally see why, it’s so YUM! I was thrilled a few days ago when my mom came home with armfuls of random new and exotic ingredients because our local grocery was basically clearancing all of their imported section. Tahini was only one of the items she brought but I think it was the one I got most excited to see because I’ve had a hard time finding it in my area.
These were cookies were inspired by nutter butters of course, but instead of crunchy cookies I wanted soft cookies with the added crunch of nuts inside, and that’s where cashews come into the picture. So these are super yummy cookies but unlike the original they don’t actually have peanuts at all, which should be good news for those of you with allergies. The dunk into the chocolate is completely optional but you know I just couldn’t resist and, let me tell ya, neither should you!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks butter), softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup tahini
- 4 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup cashews, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
- 3 tablespoons tahini
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 - 1 cup semi-sweet dark chocolate
- 2 - 3 teaspoons sunflower oil (or your favorite oil)
- 1/4 more cashews, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F (180 C). Cream butter and sugars together in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with beater attachment. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add salt, soda, vanilla, and tahini and beat until smooth. Add flour one cup at a time until the dough comes together and is evenly mixed. Add the cashews and stir until they evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Roll the dough into 1 inch-ish balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Use a fork to press down cookies and make criss-crosses on tops. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until edges are just beginning to brown. Remove from oven and leave on pan for about 5 minutes, then remove to cooling rack.
- For the frosting, cream together butter and tahini until smooth. Add vanilla, salt, milk, and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Continue adding powdered sugar and beat until frosting is light and fluffy.
- When cookies are completely cooled, spread frosting on undersides of half of the cookies. Place the other half of the cookies on top. If the filling seems too soft you can refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour before spreading in between cookies.
- If desired, melt chocolate and oil in a small double boiler or microwave safe dish and dip nutter butters into it or drizzle over top. Sprinkle with extra cashews while chocolate is still wet and allow chocolate to set before serving. (You can chill cookies in fridge for about 10 minutes to harden the chocolate quickly.)
yes to tahini everything! these little sandwich cookies look so delicious, much better than usual nutter butters! Xx
Thanks a million Thalia!
How can I add peanut butter to this recipe?
This sounds good as it is.
Hey Carmen, thanks for stopping by! This recipe happens to be adapted from my favorite pb cookie recipe and if you’d like to make it all peanut you can simply replace all the tahini with peanut butter and cut out about 1/2 cup flour in the cookie dough. You can also replace the chopped cashews with peanuts or just skip them for smooth cookies!
i feel like there’s not enough cashew desserts out there, so i love this! and it sounds so deliciously toasty and nutty with both the cashews and tahini (:
Thanks Heather!