Halva is a middle eastern sweet made from ground sesame seeds. I spent 2022 making a batch of halva every week and slowly refining my recipe and technique. Commercially-made halva has a frothy crispiness to it that I haven’t yet been able to replicate. Most recipes you find online result in something closer to a sesame fondant, which is fine, but I found them both too sweet and too soft. My version has less sugar and cooks it commensurately hotter to preserve structural integrity. I also borrowed a flavor from Chinese cooking, whose sesame paste is deeply roasted. That turns out to be a fabulous idea. Enjoy!

Makes: about 30 pieces

Ingredients

• 240g tahini
• 140g granulated sugar
• 2g honey
• 2g flaky salt
• water for making the syrup
• coconut oil or ghee for greasing

For a cardamom rose version:

• 1/4t ground cardamom
• 1/2t to 2t rose water (start small unless you know you like it)

For a booze version:

• 1-2T bourbon, whiskey, or brandy

Equipment

• a small-diameter pot for the sugar syrup
• a smooth-bottomed pot for the tahini (as few ridges and corners as possible)
• a heat-proof spatula
• a candy or probe thermometer
• 1qt glass or metal tray
• a large heat-proof bowl you can easily hold with one hand
• a damp kitchen towel
• optional: a silicone or bristle pastry brush
• optional: a liner for the tray

Procedure

grease the inside of the pot for the sugar syrup. measure the sugar and honey into the pot. add water up to 1/2″ above the level of the sugar (it doesn’t matter exactly how much). set over high heat. there’s nothing more to do with the sugar until it comes to a boil. if it boils before you’re done with the tahini step below, turn the heat under the sugar down to a simmer and finish the tahini first.

twist the towel a bit and form it into a ring on the table. place the heat-proof bowl in the ring. it should be relatively stable. measure the rose water or alcohol into the bowl. there’s nothing more to do with the bowl for now.

place the tray on the table. if you plan to store the halva in the tray, there is no need to line it. if you plan to remove the halva from the tray for storage, line it with parchment or a silicone mat. there’s nothing more to do with the tray for now.

measure the salt and keep it ready in a small dish for later.

measure the tahini into the tahini pot and set over medium heat. you’re going to toast the tahini solids in its own oil, which isn’t remotely traditional but is extremely delicious. stir constantly, making sure nothing sticks at the bottom. you’ll know you’re getting close when tiny bubbles appear; turn the heat down and keep stirring. the tahini along the bottom and sides of the pan will thicken like pudding. if bringing the thickened bits up from the bottom reveals large frothy bubbles, either the heat is too high or you’re not stirring enough (neither is unrecoverable so long as it doesn’t yet smell like an ashtray, and even then, it depends what you like). you can stop as soon as it starts to thicken or take it as dark as you dare. keep in mind it will darken a bit further as it rests. I push it until I can detect a hint of an orange hue. turn the heat off but leave the pan on the stove.

stir the sugar syrup until all the sugar has dissolved. if your candy karma is of poor or unknown status, use the pastry brush and some not-sugary hot water to dissolve anything that became stuck to the interior sides of the pan while it was simmering. having greased the sugar pot first makes this step quicker and easier, perhaps even unnecessary if you are lucky. I was lucky for the first four batches and unlucky for the fifth, and now I always rinse down the sides with a brush.

arrange the candy or probe thermometer so as much of it is submerged in the syrup as possible without touching the bottom of the pan. turn the heat to medium. if using a probe thermometer, set the alarm for 270F and go do something else until it beeps. if using a candy thermometer, stick around and check it every few minutes.

once the sugar syrup reaches 270F, turn down the heat a bit and re-set the alarm for 290F while you finish the tahini, which will have set up as it cooled. turn the heat back on under the tahini and stir until it is fluid once more. the target tahini temperature is pretty wide; you want it above 170F so it doesn’t immediately seize the sugar and below 200F so it doesn’t sputter when you add it to the liquid flavorings in the bowl. if adding dry flavorings like ground cardamom, stir them into the warm tahini now. if your alarm goes off, turn the heat under the sugar all the way down; you are out of time.

pour the warm tahini into the heat-proof bowl with the liquid flavorings but do not stir. put the salt on the tahini and away from the liquid flavorings. do not stir.

disable any remaining alarms on the sugar syrup and heat it to 300F. 304F is also fine but the sugar will start to burn at 307F so it’s worth being degree-precise here. pour the hot hot sugar onto the tahini while you stir vigorously. it will bubble up, so be careful of your fingers. there is no need to scrape the sugar pan to get every last scrap; whatever clings to the sides can stay in there while you put the hot pan somewhere safe and return to the halva. continue to stir vigorously, taking care to scrape the bottom and sides where solidifying syrup tends to accumulate. once the halva begins to pull away cleanly from the sides of the bowl, pour it into the tray. ditch the halva bowl and tilt, shake, and shimmy the tray to get it into the corners and flatten the surface. place the tray on a cooling rack.

cool for at least an hour before cutting into one-inch squares. store at room temperature or in the fridge. if your house is warm, oil may seep out; if you don’t like that, store in the fridge.

Failure modes

if the sugar is not cooked hot enough, the halva will be softer and the cut edges may fuse back together. at certain temperatures, you may end up with toffee halva, which tastes fine but will attempt mischief with your dental work.

if there is too much honey, the sugar mixture may threaten to burn before reaching the stated temperature. this isn’t totally bad; if there’s enough honey that you have to stop early (1/3-1/2 the quantity of sugar) the resulting mixture is not halva but more of a gooey sesame-flavored caramel. it will cement your jaws together but it is delicious. millionaire shortbread made with this would be transcendent.

if the sugar crystallizes and you go ahead anyway, the halva will not hold together and will instead become crumbs. this isn’t totally bad; halva crumbs are a great ice cream mix-in. a bit weird on oatmeal.

if the halva cools too much before going into the tray, it won’t shimmy into a flat layer, and may crumble into shards when you try to slice it. purely aesthetic.