Introducing Halva Brownies AKA thick fudgy brownies swirled with ribbons of halva, my favorite middle eastern confection. Think tahini brownies, but better!
Brownies
May 17, 2019

Halva Brownies

Is it just me or has this been the longest week of all time? I honestly thought Friday might never come. And on weeks like that, you know what you need? A brownie. Nay, brownies…many of them. Specifically Halva Brownies AKA thick fudgy brownies, swirled with ribbons of halva. And if you’re like, but what…

Brownies
May 17, 2019
Halva Brownies
Introducing Halva Brownies AKA thick fudgy brownies swirled with ribbons of halva, my favorite middle eastern confection. Think tahini brownies, but better!

Is it just me or has this been the longest week of all time? I honestly thought Friday might never come. And on weeks like that, you know what you need? A brownie. Nay, brownies…many of them. Specifically Halva Brownies AKA thick fudgy brownies, swirled with ribbons of halva. And if you’re like, but what…

Halva Brownies

Introducing Halva Brownies AKA thick fudgy brownies swirled with ribbons of halva, my favorite middle eastern confection. Think tahini brownies, but better!

Is it just me or has this been the longest week of all time? I honestly thought Friday might never come. And on weeks like that, you know what you need? A brownie. Nay, brownies…many of them. Specifically Halva Brownies AKA thick fudgy brownies, swirled with ribbons of halva. And if you’re like, but what is halva…don’t worry. Read on.

Introducing Halva Brownies AKA thick fudgy brownies swirled with ribbons of halva, my favorite middle eastern confection. Think tahini brownies, but better!

What is Halva?

Ugh, guys.

For those of you who have never had halva, it’s SO GOOD. Halva is a Middle Eastern candy made from sesame paste mixed with hot sugar. It has a nutty vanilla taste, a unique creamy, yet crumbly texture, and generally comes packed in a one pound block that you can cut off nibbles of. You guys know how obsessed with tahini I am, and halva essentially tastes like sweetened tahini. A win in my book.

And we just discovered that not only is halva delicious on it’s own, it is UNREAL in brownies. The fudgy, super chocolatey richness of the brownies is perfectly complemented by the sweet, sesame flavor of the halva. Match made in heaven.

Introducing Halva Brownies AKA thick fudgy brownies swirled with ribbons of halva, my favorite middle eastern confection. Think tahini brownies, but better!

We had a big block of halva in the cupboard that was going to expire, and there’s nothing I hate more than wasting food. Particularly, fancy Middle Eastern candy that’s hard to come by. So Sofi and I put our heads together and thought about what we could make with this nutty, sesame confection. We cut ourselves big chunks and devoured our candy as a “brainstorming session,” before landing on these halva swirled brownies.

Remember those amazing brownies we posted about a little while ago? As in the best brownies ever. Like EVER. Well we’ve made them like 3 times in the past two weeks, but we knew we had to make them again. Only this time with a halva swirl.

Introducing Halva Brownies AKA thick fudgy brownies swirled with ribbons of halva, my favorite middle eastern confection. Think tahini brownies, but better!

I mean the texture of these brownies is seriously unreal.  I believe we eat with our eyes, and baby I am FEASTING on these brownies.

Introducing Halva Brownies AKA thick fudgy brownies swirled with ribbons of halva, my favorite middle eastern confection. Think tahini brownies, but better!

How to Bake with Halva?

While I do deeply enjoy eating halva as is, if  you have a large quantity on your hands it’s incredibly fun to bake with! It would be so tasty cut into chunks and folded into cookie dough, swirled through quick breads, or in a homemade candy bar. This is our first time baking with it, but we’ll keep you in the loop next time we make something with it! I’m seeing visions of vanilla halva cinnamon rolls. Anyone else into that?

Introducing Halva Brownies AKA thick fudgy brownies swirled with ribbons of halva, my favorite middle eastern confection. Think tahini brownies, but better!

It’s Friyay…go ahead halva a brownie. HAHA sorry that was very corny. But the pun was right there.

Still make these halva brownies. You won’t regret it.

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  1. Ooo! I am excited to try this. I have never mixed halva with water in baking, I always just crumble and add in. I like to swirl tahini in as well and then tip with halva, curious about the texture of this halva water technique.

  2. Wow! Delish — super-rich and chocolatey!!! Maybe it was the brand of halvah I used, because even though I thought I was careful not to overmix to preserve the marbling (I make marbled cakes a lot) it seemed to melt in as it baked and wasn’t as discrete as I’d hoped. But it was still super-tasty even though it didn’t look as pretty as I’d hoped. YUM!!!

  3. So yummy. Although halva has a very different meaning in Indian cuisine – its whole wheat flour, sugar and ghee – I was so excited to learn its definition in the middle east. What a great take on brownies.