Food writer Ben Mims has your homemade Halloween cravings covered. This isn’t technically how halva is made, but it gets close enough, tasting like a tahini-flavored filling of a Butterfinger candy bar. The fat and the bitter notes in the tahini create a smooth, crumbly, and less-sweet candy. Coat the halva bars in chocolate to make your own candy bars, or crumble the plain bars over chocolate ice cream for a sophisticated take on chocolate and peanut butter. For more tahini-infused recipes from Ben, purchase our September/October issue!
Homemade Halva
Makes 30
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (384 grams) tahini
- ¾ teaspoon (2.25 grams) kosher salt
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (255 grams) light corn syrup
- 2 tablespoons (30 grams) water
- 1 tablespoon (14 grams) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon (4 grams) vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (2.5 grams) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (3 grams) toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°F (93°C). Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil, letting excess extend over sides of pan. Spray with cooking spray.
- In a large heatproof bowl, combine tahini and salt. Place bowl in oven, and keep warm until ready to use.
- In a medium saucepan, stir together sugar, corn syrup, and 2 tablespoons (30 grams) water until smooth. Add butter, and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Cook until a candy thermometer registers 285°F (141°C), about 10 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together vanilla and baking soda. Carefully stir vanilla mixture into sugar mixture (syrup will foam and bubble up). Immediately pour syrup into warm tahini mixture, and using a heatproof spatula, fold together as quickly as possible (mixture does not have to be completely homogenous).
- Immediately scrape tahini mixture into prepared pan. Using the spatula, press into a flat, even layer. Immediately sprinkle with sesame seeds while tahini is still hot so they stick to the top. Let cool completely.
- Using excess foil as handles, remove halva, and peel off foil. Cut into 2x1-inch rectangles. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
