Tahini blondies

Building Feasts was introduced to me by my foodie friend extraordinaire @tasting.and.musing (check her out Miss self-made-chef-who-recently-got-her-PhD-and-will-probably-find-a-vaccine-for-COVID-19). They were hosting a supper club ft. Sarit and Itamar which we had to go to. They had serious house goals with an airy kitchen, floor to ceiling windows, beautiful backyard where we had dinner...I miss that summer night.

A month ago, I received an email from Building Feasts inviting me (and others) to bake together virtually. Since then, I've been getting fortnightly invites like these. The first recipe was for lemon yoghurt cake, which I tried and A loved. Then came these tahini blondies. I was very excited. I'd never worked with tahini before and this was the perfect excuse. I bought tahini in preparation for this bake and then my oven died. But it arrived on Sunday! Very efficient Currys PC men - thank you thank you.

*Whilst oven was dead and tahini was sitting around, I had it 2 ways - both heavenly. One was to spread it on toast, with a little honey and sea salt on top (creds to Loulou); and the other was just to scoop it into pitted medjool dates (leftover from STP) and take a bite out of that shizzzz. Both eaten with tea might change your life.

Now for the recipe! She's so great she's done the conversions. I also like this recipe because you don't need an electric whisk! All done by hand.

Tahini blondies by Hanna from Building Feasts

Made in a 20 cm (8 inch) square pan

3 tbsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted and cooled I was gonna omit this because I didn't wanna buy sesame seeds but glad I didn't! Adds that crunch and toasty goodness

115g (1/2 cup or 1 stick) salted butter, melted and cooled

150g (1 1/4 cups) plain flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cardamom, I crush the seeds from 4 cardamom pods Never used cardamom before...removed the seeds from the pods but didn't crush them but they turned out ok! Probably a bit stronger if you bite into them oops

1/2 tsp malden salt

250g (1 1/4 cups) light soft brown sugar my sister another baker extraordinaire says brown sugar is the key for blondies but I didn't have any so used demerara sugar oops. I think they would taste better with brown sugar! Also only used 150g

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

130g (1/2 cup) pure tahini paste looked like a lot so I used 110g

100g chopped dark chocolate, 70% minimum (or chocolate chips) used Menier 70% and it was mm mm MMMM please get good quality chocolate

1. Preheat your oven to 180C (350F)

2. Butter your baking pan and line with two criss crossing strips of baking parchment, buttering between each layer leaving an overhang on all sides.

I used my reusable oven sheet thing

3. Place the sesame seeds in a small frying pan on a medium heat and toast until they are fragrant and slightly browned. This will take about 3 minutes, but will happen very quickly at the end so do not take your eyes off them or they will burn. Once they are done, transfer them into a bowl to stop cooking and cool.

A did this step *so proud* he definitely took longer than 3 minutes but was very satisfied with the end product

4. Place the butter in a small saucepan and melt. Allow to cool slightly while you gather the remaining ingredients together.

Microwave for me, around 40s then stir

5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cardamom, salt and sesame seeds.

6. In another medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract until smooth.

Did it till it looked like this. Around 5 minutes?

7. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until just incorporated, and then fold in the tahini until smooth.

8. Stir through the chopped chocolate and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Look at that shine! I would recommend more chocolate or try to spread the chocolate out more evenly cos the parts with the chocolate bits are the best!

9. Bake until the blondies are golden on the outside and the centre doesn't jiggle but is still soft, 22-25 minutes.

I baked it for around 24 minutes, till it looked golden brown

10. Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pan before slicing, sharing and devouring.

Obviously did not do this. But they do taste better when cooled!

This picture makes it look kinda dry but I promise it isn't. Every time I open the container the smell of sesame and cardamom fills the air. All it needs is a cuppa tea. Or not. Visit buildingfeasts.com and subscribe to their newsletter for more recipes and zoom bakes!

Nic x