These Salted Chocolate Tahini Cream Pies are sweet and decadent, with fluffy tahini buttercream sandwiched between two fudgy brownie cookies. Topped with a pinch of flaky salt for a delicious and undetectably vegan treat.

What’s in a Chocolate Tahini Cream Pie?

These chocolate tahini sandwich cookies are one of my new favorite treats. The combination of nutty tahini and rich dark chocolate is unbeatable, plus a pinch of sea salt just makes everything better. This recipe is a little more involved than your average cookie recipe, but trust me, it’s worth it. There are two main parts:

Brownie Cookies: Also, did I mention that everything is vegan? These crinkly brownie cookies are kept super moist and fudgy by the addition of applesauce instead of eggs. They’re also made with dark chocolate which adds another layer of richness.

Tahini Buttercream: If you’ve never tried tahini before, it’s this wonderful nutty sesame seed paste. (Think peanut butter but a little thinner and made from sesame). It has a strong flavor and a slight bitterness that goes really well alongside all that powdered sugar in the buttercream.

How to Make Chocolate Tahini Cream Pies

Start by making the cookies. Preheat the oven and line a couple baking sheets with parchment. The cookies do spread quite a bit so you’ll probably need two.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl then beat together the applesauce and sugars using a mixer. I recommend a stand mixer, but a hand held mixer is ok too.

Once you have the wet and dry ingredients prepped, it’s time to melt the chocolate with the vegan butter. I like to do this over a double boiler on the stove to prevent the chocolate from burning. Simply fill a pot with water and place a heat safe bowl on top. Add the chocolate to the bowl and turn on the stove. Heat the chocolate and butter until both are completely melted and keep warm until you are ready to move to the next step.

With the mixer running on low, stream in the melted chocolate and let everything come together. Use a spatula to fold in the dry ingredients. At this point, the batter will be very loose and a little oily. That’s ok. Use a cookie scoop to portion out the dough onto the sheet pans. Let those little splotches sit for about 10 minutes or so, until they harden slightly. Once firm enough to handle, use your hands to roll each one into a ball and return to the sheet pan. This ensures they will be circular once baked.

Bake the cookies for 17 minutes. They will be very soft and seemingly under baked when they come out of the oven, but the tops should by crinkly and cracked. The cookies will harden as they cool. Let them sit on the baking sheet until they are firm enough to transfer to a wire rack then let cool completely,

While the cookies cool, make the tahini buttercream. Super simple, just beat softened vegan butter with tahini and powdered sugar until smooth and workable. Keep in mind that it will harden significantly if refrigerated, so I recommend keeping the buttercream at room temperature before frosting the cookies.

Last step: assemble! Once the cookies have cooled for at least a few hours and are firm to the touch, use a piping bag or spatula to apply the buttercream. Careful not to add too much or it will escape out the sides! Make a sandwich with each cookie and top with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Enjoy your chocolate tahini cream pies at room temperature.

Tips for Success

• When they come out of the oven, the cookies will be very soft. Let them cool on the baking sheet for at least 20 minutes before attempting to move them. If you’re having trouble, try transferring the sheet of parchment to the wire rack instead of each individual cookie.
• It’s extremely important that the cookies cool completely or they will melt the frosting. If after several hours, they still seem a little soft, place them in the refrigerator to finish hardening.
• I made these chocolate tahini cream pies vegan by using vegan butter, but feel free to substitute traditional butter if you wish.

More Treats to Try:

• Sweet potato snickerdoodles
• Miso chocolate chip banana bread
• Salted maple granola fig tart
• Raspberry chocolate chip cookies
• Chocolate tahini mousse

Made this recipe? Tag @wandering_chickpeaon Instagram to be featured in my stories and follow along on Pinterest for more delicious recipes!

Yield: 12 cream pies

Salted Chocolate Tahini Cream Pies

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Salted Chocolate Tahini Cream Pies with fudgy brownie cookies and a thick layer of rich tahini buttercream. Add a pinch of flaky sea salt for a decadent and undetectably vegan treat!

Ingredients

For the cookies

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 3/4 cup cane sugar
• 3 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup vegan butter
• 7 oz dark chocolate (>70%)
• Flaky sea salt for finishing

For the tahini buttercream

• 1/2 cup vegan butter, softened
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1 1/2-2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

For the cookies:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer (a hand mixer also works), beat together apple sauce and sugars until smooth.
4. Heat a pot of water over the stove and place a bowl on top to create a double boiler. Add the chocolate and vegan butter and heat, stirring occasionally, until completely melted.
5. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the chocolate mixture until well incorporated then use a spatula to fold in the dry ingredients. The batter will be very loose.
6. Use a small cookie scoop (about 2 tbsp) to portion out the batter onto the baking sheet. Leave a couple inches in between each cookie. Allow the batter to sit on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes or until firm. Use your hands to roll into balls and place back on the baking sheet.
7. Bake for 17 minutes. Let the cookies cool for 15 minutes on the sheet pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

For the tahini buttercream + assembly:

1. Add the softened vegan butter and tahini to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until light and fluffy.
2. Add the vanilla extract and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Beat until smooth, adding 1/2 cup more powdered sugar at a time until the frosting has thickened.
3. Use a piping bag or spatula to spread frosting onto the flat side of one cooled cookie and place another on top to make a sandwich. Garnish with flaky salt if desired and serve at room temperature.

Notes

It works best to bake one baking sheet at a time on the center rack of your oven. If using a convection oven, you can reduce the oven temp. to 325 and and bake both baking sheets at once.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 426Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 32mgSodium: 188mgCarbohydrates: 62gFiber: 2gSugar: 51gProtein: 3g

All nutritional info is an estimation