Sweet Tahini Rolls

These sweet tahini rolls are like cinnamon rolls but then with tahini instead of cinnamon. Tahini is a sesame paste that is very popular in the Middle East. These sweet tahini rolls, called Kubez el Tahineh in Palestinian, are a great sweet snack or dessert. I’ve got the recipe from the Falastin cookbook from Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley. On this page you can find the recipe and the instruction video that I made.

I know Tahini, or sometimes spelled Tahin or Tahina, from my trips to Israel, but it’s also popular in Libanon and Armenia. These tahini rolls are a popular snack in Cyprus, Turkey and Greece. The sweet tahini rolls are great to eat like this, or you can cut them in half and top them with more tahini.
The tahini rolls make a very original and tasty sweet snack.
Below is the written recipe and at the bottom of the page you’ll find my YouTube video, showing you how to make these tahini rolls.

Recipe Sweet Tahini Rolls

Ingredients (for 8 rolls):

Dough
1,5 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
110 ml lukewarm milk
300 gram flour
75 gram butter, melted
1 egg, whisked

Filling
100 grams sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
120 grams tahini

Garnish
1 egg yolk, whisked
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Instruction

Put the yeast, sugar and milk in a small bowl, stir and set aside for 5 minutes.
Put the flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt in the bowl of a freestanding mixer with a dough hook (I used my KitchenAid). Mix on low speed. Slowly add the yeast mixture. Add the melted butter and mix for one more minute.
Add the egg and mix on middle-high speed for 5 more minutes.
Form a ball from the dough with your hands. Put it in a lightly greased bowl. Turn the dough around so that it’s completely covered with oil. Cover with a clean tea towel and let it rest on a warm spot for 1 hour.

Roll the dough to a rectangle of approximately 35 by 50 centimeters. Sprinkle the tahini over the dough and use the back of a spoon to divide it evenly. Mix the sugar with the cinnamon and divide over the tahini. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

Roll the dough from the long side inwards to a long sausage. Cut 1cm off on both sides. Divide the roll in even pieces of about 4cm thick. You can probably make around 8 rolls. Put every piece on its side so that the cut side is facing upwards. Push them wlat with your hands, so that you’ll get a roll that’s about 6 to 8 cm wide. Cover them with a damp towel an leave them for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 160°C.
Put every bun on a parchment lined baking sheet, 2 centimeters apart. Cover the top and sides of each bun with the whisked egg yolk. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake them in the middle of the oven in 18-20 minutes until they’re golden brown.

They’re the tastiest on the day that you’ve made them, but they’re good for 2-3 days. Just quickly heat them in the oven before serving.
You can also save the buns in the freezer.