Tahini and halva brownies for Passover

Passover is a wonderful holiday that brings to the table the exodus of the Israelites from slavery to freedom. It’s less exciting when it comes to cakes, and definitely when it comes to parve cakes. It’s probably the hardest part for many Jewish cooks.

Israeli’s discovered the advantages of tahini based baking, no flour added, when the recipe for tahini bread became popular a few years ago. In this recipe the tahini paste is first whipped with water, taking advantage of the unique quality of tahini to become very thick and creamy when mixed with water (the same process is done when making tahini dip.) Eggs, coconut flour, cocoa powder and chopped halva are added, and the results are moist and wonderful brownies that are gluten free, nutritious, easy to make and Kosher for Passover. And I’m going to make them year round.

*Sesame seeds are considered “Kitniyot” (legume) for Passover and therefore are forbidden during the holiday in some communities. Most Sephardim consume legume during Passover.

Tahini and halva brownies for Passover

Recipe by Vered GuttmanCourse: CakesCuisine: Jewish, IsraeliDifficulty: Easy

Yields

12

brownies

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Total time

40

minutes

In these brownies, tahini paste replaces the flour and fat which makes them gluten free, nutritious, easy to make and Kosher for Passover.
*Note: tahini and halva contain sesame and are kosher for Passover for those who consume legume. There are kosher for Passover version of both.

INGREDIENTS

• ¾ cup tahini paste

• ½ cup water at room temperature

• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder

• 3 tablespoons coconut flour

• ½ teaspoon kosher for Passover baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

• ¼ cup bittersweet chocolate chips

• For the toppings

• ⅓ cup chopped walnuts

• ¼ cup crumbled sesame halva

• ¼ cup bittersweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Grease a 8 inch by 8 inch pan, line with parchment paper and grease the paper as well.
• Put tahini and water in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a flat beater (or with a hand mixer) and mix on medium speed until very smooth and creamy. Reduce speed to low, add sugar, then add eggs one at a time and mix. Add cocoa powder, coconut flour, baking powder and salt and mix just until smooth. Add ¼ cup chocolate chips and mix again. Pour into the prepared pan.
• Sprinkle walnut, halva and ¼ cup chocolate chips on top of the batter.
  
• Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the edges are set and the center is not runny anymore (it can be a little wet.)
• Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely. Use the parchment paper to remove brownies from pan and cut with a large knife to 16 small brownies.
• Brownies keep at the fridge up to a week.