Halva

4.93 from 26 votes

This tahini halva recipe is made with simple ingredients. A dense, rich sweet treat that is nut-based with so many variations. Halva is eaten as a dessert or an energy-boosting breakfast.

Prep Time5 mins

Refrigerate:1 d

Total Time1 d 5 mins

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: Egyptian, Mediterranean, Middle East, Turkish

Diet: Gluten Free, Halal

Servings:

Calories: 204kcal

Author: Amira

Ingredients

1 cup tahini paste
1 cup instant dry milk
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or use ⅛ teaspoon vanilla powder
½ cup walnuts roughly chopped.
Vegetable oil for brushing

Instructions

In a deep bowl combine tahini, milk, and sugar until well mixed. Note4
Add ¼ to ⅓ cup of walnuts and fold them in the mixture.
Brush a container lightly with vegetable oil, divide the remaining walnuts into two halves. Sprinkle one half of the walnut at the bottom of the container, add the tahini mixture and press down until firmly packed into your container.
Sprinkle the other half of chopped walnuts on top and press into the Halawa.
Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Scoop into sandwiches directly from the container or turn it into a parchment paper and slice to serve the whole amount.

Video

Notes

Use a well stirred tahini paste and avoid lumps. You can use homemade tahini (sesame paste) or store bought.
If you do not want to use, or can't find, dry milk you'll have to use more powdered sugar to compensate for the dry ingredients. This approach made halva too sweet for our taste. Others use toasted plain flour instead but to be honest I haven't tried that, so you might want to experiment in a small amount first.
It is a good idea to sift the powdered sugar before using.
Halva mixture should be more like lightly wet sand, not too crumbly and not too doughy like bread dough. If your Halva is too crumbly, add little bit more tahini. To check, take some of the mixture and squeeze it in the palm of one hand, if it crumbled and did not hold a shape for even 2 seconds then it needs more tahini. Do not go overboard with tahini though as it will affect the taste. Most probably one cup will be enough.
Homemade tahini halva is usually softer than the store bought ones. Manufactured tahini halva uses an ingredient that is not available in the market called "Erk Halawa".
Halva needs to stay in the fridge for 24 hours before serving to firm up.
When I was growing up, many moons ago, traditional halva was usually plain so feel free to leave the nuts out if you like.

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Nutrition