Thursday, September 13, 2007

have a halvah

After reading Kathy's post about halvah, I was interested to find out more about it.

I googled and found an explanation and a recipe that seemed similar to the halvah that she had.

This recipe is very simple and quick.

Halvah adapted from Recipezaar #134298

3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 pinch salt
1-1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 cup coconut
1/8 cup macadamia nuts
1/8 cup cacao nibs

dark chocolate (for drizzling)

Preheat the oven to 375F (190C)
Cream the butter and tahini
Add the salt and sugar, blend until smooth
Sprinkle flour and mix well
Mix in the coconut, macadamia nuts and nibs--the dough will be stiff
Lightly grease 2 7-inch pie pans or a shallow baking dish
Press dough into the bottom with a thickness not more than 1/4-inch
Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown
Cut while warm, if not it will crumble while trying to cut later
Drizzle melted dark chocolate

NOTES: I got lazy and just scooped the dough out into little cookies onto my baking sheet. The batter spread quite a bit, so after they came out of the oven, I used a butter knife to "form" my bars.

I really liked this, it reminded me of peanut butter kind of shortbread, very flaky with lots of texture from the coconut, mac nuts and nibs.

9 comments:

  1. Kat, I just can't believe this...! I saw that post from Kathy and admired it but then soon forgot all about halvah. And now after reading your recipe find and the ingredients involved, I am totally stoked because I had been wanting to find a way to use up the jar of tahini in the fridge. It's been there for over one month! Hehe...still good though.

    Question...what kind of coconut? Dry finely grated or flaked (like in Baker's Angel Flake)? I imagine that it should(?) be unsweetened because of the sugar called for but I'll have to check around to see what I can find.

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  2. Wheeee! SUPER COOL! I'm glad you liked it! :) And now you can use the leftover tahini to make hummus...or MORE halvah, hehe :) Cheers! I've seen variations with pistachio and cashew halvah...the possibilities are endless :)

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  3. Cool Rowena! I hope you like the recipe. My coconut says "coconut long" (Japanese brand) on it, so I ran a knife through it, don't know if it is grated, flaked or unsweetened, use what you have.

    Thanks for the inspiration Kathy! ooh, pistachio with cashew sounds awesome too.

    Take care you two.
    Kat

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  4. Hey Kat,

    Looks like you had a great time. Sorry about your plants. Anyway I am in Seattle right now and when I return I'll post all about my adventures. I actually took a good amount of food photos. Welcome Back! Take care and God Bless, Laura

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  5. Cool Laura! Can't wait to hear about your adventures.

    Take care.
    Kat

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  6. I had a Greek boyfriend once who made halva for me. Tried as I might I could never find the same type. I just checked the link to Wiki and discovered it is the semolina style halva. Thanks Kat.

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  7. K&S, I have a meme on my blog called What's in your fridge? which I'd love you to join. Consider yourself tagged!

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  8. Thanks Jaden!

    I hope you can re-create your halva, Barbara!

    Cool, Planethalder, I'll check out the rules on your page.

    Take care everyone!
    Kat

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