I'm home! After a painfully early (and chilly!) arrival this morning and a desperately needed 5 hour power nap, I found myself back in the normal rhythm of life with my family. Isn't it funny how that works? No matter how far away you live (2,458 miles to be exact) or how long it's been since you've been home, you just effortlessly slip back into life as if you were never gone. It only took about 2 minutes after I got up from my nap to find my spot on the couch, the corner spot that fits all the lumps and bumps of my body perfectly. I'm looking forward to the much needed sleep, lounging, eating, snacking, family seeing, present opening, and maybe some Cleveland sight seeing in the next week. I wish you all safe and smooth holiday travels to wherever y'all are going! Try not to let the stress of holiday air travel bring the evil out of you.

Okay, let's get to the cookies! There's 3 more days until Christmas, which is plenty of time to squeeze in some cookie baking time for Santa. These Marbled Tahini Sugar Cookies are freaking delicious and are so gorgeous! They would make the perfect gift for someone who would prefer a more edible gift rather than a stack of marble coasters. That would be me. The cookies are soft and chewy, like a good sugar cookie should be. The tahini gives them a beautiful nutty flavor that would make you never want a regular old peanut butter cookie again. Black tahini is what gives the cookies the the dark vein in the marble. Have you tried black tahini before?? I love it so much. I might be imagining it but I think the black sesame seeds taste worlds better. But that just might be my love for all things black sesame talking.

I was embarrassingly gleeful when I saw the cookies come out of the oven. I loved how they looked so much and wanted to tile my whole bathroom in tahini cookies! You probably already know this, but I work as an Architectural Designer/Interior Designer by day. I've spent countless hours looking at tile samples. I think I can safely say that these cookies look way better than a lot of tile out there. I have dreams of making more of these tile cookies with different colors! Chocolate! Matcha! Turmeric! Strawberry! So many Options! There will be a whole line of Eat Cho Food Tile Cookies! Maybe there will even be coordinating buttercream grout color options??? I could say a lot of really architect-nerdy things about the specification options for this tile cookie right now, but I will spare you the boredom. 

Happy Holiday Baking!!!

Oh! and if you're interested in these hexagon cookie cutters, I got them here!

Marbled Tahini Sugar Cookies

makes about 28 3" cookies

materials:

3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks (16 Tbsp) butter - softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup black tahini

steps:

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

In the bowl of your standmixer or with an electric beater, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add in egg and vanilla until combined.

Slowly add in the flour mixture and beat at low speed until dough is evenly mixed. 

Scoop out half of the dough into a bowl and set aside.

Add in regular tahini into the remaining half of dough and beat until incorporated. Place in a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Do the same with the other half of dough, but add the black tahini instead. Place in the fridge to chill for at least one hour. Chilling the dough helps the cookies keep their shape.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Divide both doughs into 3 equal parts. Arrange the dough balls in a 2x3 arrangement, alternating colors. Give it a quick knead to get the marbled affect. Try not to over knead so the color doesn't get too muddy.

Roll out the dough until it is about 1/4" thick. You can divide the dough in half if it is easier for you to work with that way. Lightly flour your cookie cutter and cut out your cookies.

Arrange cookies on parchment lined baking sheets, about 1" apart from each other. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Bake for less time if your cookies are smaller.

Allow the cookies to cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

recipe was based on this great Food52 recipe!