salted halva blondies

Following my last post, published a truly chaotic 10 months ago, it’s time…we back!

I don’t know a single person who has felt like their best selves over the last few years and while I still 100% coped with fear and burnout through butter, I didn’t have the bandwidth to navigate wordpress, which I never fully understood to begin with. Still don’t.

It was really my brother-in-law’s father that prompted this return to the stage. After not being able to visit or see their grandkids for over two years due to COVID, they finally crossed the pond from the UK this past Thanksgiving where he told me he occasionally checks oh, honey, honey to see if I’ve updated.

As a chronic people-pleaser, the idea of someone looking for an update and not finding was intolerable to me and made me realize I could probably spend less time answering emails at 9:00 at night and more time sharing nonsense on the internet.

To ease us back into my mediocre photography, salted halva blondies.

Clair Saffitz really came in hot when we needed her over the last few years and since I am not afraid of a bandwagon, I too loved the dessert person cookbook.

The texture of these blondies is perfectly chewy, yet also airy in some counter intuitive way I don’t understand and don’t care to question. The soft but shattery (it’s a thing) pockets of halva make these such a treasure. As someone who gets a headache from white chocolate, I don’t even notice it in the flavor but it does wonders for the blondies’ density and mild sweetness (not usually associated with white chocolate).

I used marbled tahini because that’s what they sell at trader joe’s but use any kind you like, life’s too complicated for rules right now.

salted halva blondies

(recipe from Claire Saffitz, Dessert Person)

1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
6 ounces (170 grams) white chocolate (chopped)
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter 
1/4 cups tahini
1/2 cups light brown sugar 
1 large egg 
2 large egg yolks 
1 tablespoon vanilla extract 
4 ounces (113 grams) crumbled halva
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
flaky sea salt (for sprinkling the top) 

directions

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and line an 8 x 8 inch pan with 2 sheets of foil, crossing one over the other. Butter the foil generously and set aside.  

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler or in 30 second spurts in the microwave. Add the butter and tahini to the white chocolate and stir gently to combine until smooth. Remove the mixture from the heat. 

Whisk the brown sugar into the white chocolate. It may start to look grainy and separate but don’t panic. Add the egg and egg yolks and vanilla to the white chocolate mixture and whisk enthusiastically until glossy.

Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mix and combine with a flexible spatula. Carefully fold in the crumbled halva, trying not to over mix at this point and break up the halva too much. 

Scrape the batter into the buttered pan, sprinkle with sesame seeds, flaky sea salt and bake for 20-25 minutes. The blondies will be golden and a little puffed (while staying chewy and dense inside). Allow to cool in the pan, remove and slice into squares.

Enjoy.