These took me by surprise. I like to experiment, and my coworkers are willing testers. I thought tahini in brownies sounded more interesting than the customary peanut butter. I was not, however, expecting it to be better than peanut butter.
These did actually taste similar to peanut butter brownies, but the tahini was just a little more subtle. Instead of battling the chocolate for dominance, it was a quieter complement.
No one ever complains about treats in the office kitchen, and certainly they didn’t mind brownies, even brownies with ground up sesame seeds in them instead of ground up peanuts. My favorite comment was from a coworker who grew up in New York, who said these reminded him of the halvah he remembers eating as a kid. I’ve never had halvah, but after these, I am definitely on board with tahini in desserts.
Printer-Friendly Recipe
Tahini-Swirled Brownies (rewritten and doubled, but not changed from Milk Street)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons (32 grams) cocoa
6 eggs
2¼ cups (446 grams) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla
2 teaspoons salt
1½ cups (360 grams) tahini
⅔ cup (94 grams) all-purpose flour
1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch square pan with cooking spray.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate and cocoa, and stir until melted and smooth.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar, vanilla, and salt until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Whisk in the tahini. Add the flour; use a rubber spatula to stir until just combined. Measure out 1 cup of this mixture; set aside. Add the chocolate to the remaining egg/tahini mixture and stir to combine.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Dollop the reserved tahini over the chocolate mixture; drag a sharp knife through the dollops to create swirls.
5. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until the edges are set and the center appears slightly moist, about 40 minutes. Cool to room temperature before serving.
