Turkey has a wide variety of cookies – both sweet and savory. They are generally referred to as "kurabiye." Many of the sweeter varieties have a dash of tahini – and of these, I’d like to introduce you one of my favorites: tahini molasses cookies. Although rather rich, these treats melt beautifully in your mouth and are the perfect addition to a cup of tea or coffee.

Ingredients:

450 grams flour

250 grams butter at room temperature

200 grams tahini

80 grams (grape) molasses

180 grams sugar

1 egg, separated

1 packet of baking powder

1 packet of vanilla sugar (or a few drops of vanilla extract)

90 grams ground nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts or almonds)

A pinch of salt

Sesame seeds

Recipe

Toss everything but the egg white and sesame seeds into a bowl and knead until you have a malleable cookie dough. If the dough is too soft, add a tablespoon of flour and continue kneading. If the dough is too hard, just add a tablespoon of vegetable oil and knead again until you get the right consistency.

Arrange your cookies in your desired shape – I like making balls the size of walnuts, which will make roughly 40-45 cookies according to this recipe.

Then, in a separate bowl, whisk the egg white with a fork and spread some of it onto the cookies, before sprinkling a few sesame on top. Bake these yummies at 180 degrees Celsius (355 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 10-15 minutes until they turn a golden brown.

Tips

You can dip the cookie dough into the egg white and then roll in the sesame seeds. Mind you, with that much sesame, the cookies can become too heavy and the process itself can get a bit messy – so be careful.