Brownies with halva and tahini - the chocolate classic with a difference!

I'm sure we can all agree that chocolate in brownie form is irresistibly good. Even though the classic chocolate brownies always deliver, you might also want to try something new. These Arabic cuisine-inspired brownies with tahini and halva are at least as good as the classic version! In addition to the chocolate, sesame paste and the Arabic sweet treat halva find their way into the dough. In this blog post you will find out how you can bake these wonderfully gooey, slightly different brownies!

This recipe may contain some unknown ingredients. Possible questions about the recipe may be answered in our FAQs at the end of the article. :)

Chocolate brownies with tahini and halva

For about 16 brownies you need the following ingredients :

• 250g unsalted butter, cut into 2cm cubes (plus extra for greasing the tin)
• 250 g dark chocolate (about 70% cocoa content), broken into 3-4 cm pieces
• 4 large eggs
• 280g sugar
• 120g flour
• 30g alkalized cocoa powder
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 200 g halva, broken into 2 cm pieces
• 80g tahini

What's next?

1. First of all, preheat the oven to 200 °C top/bottom heat, 180 °C fan oven or gas level 6. Then grease a mold - square with an edge length of 23 cm or 30x20 cm rectangular - and dust it with additional flour so that the brownies not stick to the shape.
2. Prepare a water bath with the butter and chocolate in a bowl. Let the two ingredients melt over low heat, then remove the bowl from the water bath. Stir the melted mixture until well combined and then allow it to cool to room temperature. Meanwhile you can prepare the remaining dough. Beat the eggs into a bowl, add the sugar and mix both with a hand mixer until the mixture is light yellow and creamy and the sugar has dissolved. Then add the cooled chocolate-butter mixture and fold it in with a spatula.
3. Next, sift the flour into another bowl along with the cocoa powder and salt and mix it together. Carefully add it to the chocolate-butter mixture and fold it in. Finally, carefully mix in the halva pieces, this is best done with a dough scraper. The finished dough can now be put into the mold. Then smooth the surface with a spoon or scraper. Now the tahini comes into play (or in the form höhöhö): Distribute it in small blobs of about a teaspoon over about 12 evenly distributed dots and then use a skewer to pull it through the brownie dough so that it has a nice chocolate-marble effect receives.

Into the oven!

Now put the dish in the oven and bake the whole thing for about 23 minutes. The brownies are ready when the center still wobbles slightly and is a little viscous. To achieve this, the baking time can vary between 20 and 25 minutes. Don't be unsettled if the chocolate brownies still seem a bit raw to you, because as soon as they cool down, their consistency will become a little firmer. Let the brownies cool for about 30 minutes before cutting them into pieces.

Of course, the brownies taste best fresh and slightly warm. Stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, this delicacy will last for about 5 days. Frozen even for a month.

The recipe published here is inspired by the recipe of celebrity chef Yotam Ottolenghi and dessert expert Helen Goh.

FAQ about the tahini halva chocolate brownies

In order to avoid any confusion, you can find possible answers to our chocolate brownie recipe here:

What is halva and where can I buy it?

Many people are already familiar with tahini, the delicious sesame paste. Halva, another Arabic specialty, is probably something that very few people know about. Halva is a sweet confectionary specialty made from oil seeds, honey and sugar. It originally comes from India, Iran, Pakistan and Central Asia. Today it is mainly used in Arabic cuisine.
You are most likely to find this sweet ingredient for our special chocolate brownies in Arabic delicatessen shops. We recommend you buy the tahini there too.

What is alkalized cocoa powder?

Maybe you stumbled upon the “alkalized cocoa powder” when reading the ingredient list. Alkalized cocoa powder goes through another step in production, alkalinization. It is darker, milder in taste and more easily soluble. If you would like to find out more about it, please take a look at our blog post about the different cocoa variants .

Can I also bake the brownies vegan?

In any case. Basically, all you have to do is swap the butter and eggs, because most dark chocolate is already vegan - not always, so be sure to check the ingredients beforehand. We recommend buying a high-quality margarine for the butter.
Eggs can easily be replaced with applesauce or very ripe bananas. Of course, both of these give the brownies a slightly different taste, which many people may not like. An alternative could be chia seeds, which have a slightly more neutral taste, but you have to let them soak first.
Basically 1 egg can pass through

• 1 half, mashed banana
• two to three tablespoons of applesauce or
• a tablespoon of chia seeds, mixed with 3 tablespoons of water and soaked for about 10 minutes

substitute.

Photo by Michelle Tsang on Unsplash