Tahini Brownies (gluten-free but adaptable)

One of the things I love about traveling is when I run across a food or flavor that is totally new to me. And in this case, I was able to come home and start experimenting with it right away in my own cooking.

My dad and I took an awesome trip to Israel and Jordan last May, an epic week exploring tons of historical areas in the north and Negev Desert, Tel Aviv and Old Jaffa, Jerusalem, Masada, the Dead Sea, Wadi Rum, and Petra—and much more. One of the constants on every part of our journey was tahini, a paste made from ground sesame seeds. It is omnipresent in the Israeli and Jordanian diets, taking both sweet and savory forms.

It was one of the first things we ate upon landing (on that delicious falafel pita below) and one of the last things before taking off (that delicious sweet halva that looks like cheese wheels below). We ate halva in a Bedouin camp in Jordan and tahini on our Yemeni malawach in Jerusalem. So tahini kind of got its hooks in me, and I’ve been experimenting with different recipes since returning (like this Chickpea Sweet Potato Buddha Bowl with a tahini dressing). But this is my first dessert recipe using tahini, and it’s super delicious.

If you’re interested, you can read more about our travels in Israel and in Jordan!

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the tahini, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and eggs until smooth.

Gently fold in the cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking soda until the batter is smooth (it’ll be rather thick). Then fold in the chocolate chips.

Spread the batter evenly in baking pan and sprinkle some sea salt on top, just a little.

Bake for 22-30 minutes, or until knife inserted into the middle comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached (I’m a fan of gooey, myself).

These are especially great about 10 minutes after they come out of the oven, but will keep well for a few days in an airtight container.

Tahini Brownies (naturally gluten-free)

Notes: The original recipe for these brownies is gluten-free and also refined sugar-free (using coconut sugar and maple syrup; I substituted granulated sugar for the coconut sugar). It’s safe to say you can make it as healthy and/or “___-free” as you’d like. Also, the original recipe has a chocolate drizzle that I just felt wasn’t needed, but the link is below if you’d like to go that route.

1 cup of tahini (unsweetened, obvs)
1/2 cup of granulated sugar (original called for coconut sugar, which I didn’t have)
1/4 cup of pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon of coconut flour (or whatever kind you want)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup of chocolate chips (I use dark chocolate)
Kosher sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine the tahini, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and eggs until smooth.
Gently fold in the cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking soda until the batter is smooth (it’ll be rather thick). Then fold in the chocolate chips.
Spread the batter evenly in baking pan and sprinkle some sea salt on top, just a little.
Bake for 22-30 minutes, or until knife inserted into the middle comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached (I’m a fan of gooey, myself).

Tahini should be fairly easy to find these days, Trader Joe’s always has it, as do Amazon and many health food or international sections in grocery stores.

Original recipe from Ambitious Kitchen