If I’ve learned anything from devotedly following of the Ottolenghi team, it’s that tahini makes everything better.
I’ve been noodling with different recipes for tahini-flecked blondies, where I think the roasted savoriness adds a nice bit of pep.
While it’s hard to really mess these up, I think the results are a bit nicer with distinct pieces of chocolate. Chopping away at a block of couverture chocolate, you’ll inevitably create lots of fine pieces and shavings. Those have a tendency to melt together into a chocolate blob. It will still taste great, but it ruins the look. If you’re going for broke, I would sift the chocolate rubble to get rid of those fine pieces. You can always save them for later when you need to melt down chocolate for something else.
If you’re looking for an easier out, you can always substitute chocolate chips. Those require no chopping to get down to bite size, and they have emulsifiers that ensure the chips hold their shape and don’t run together. I prefer the texture of couverture chocolate — it’s a bit smoother without the added sufactants — and I don’t think chips look quite as seductive.
By contrast, I wouldn’t worry about the tahini swirl step. The pale beige of the batter almost perfectly matches the color of tahini, so you’re not ruining the effect here the way you might if you were making tahini-laced brownies.
This makes 16 nicely-sized bars via three cuts along both dimensions. You could easily double this (and use a half sheet) to do a bigger batch.
Ingredients
- 250 g unsalted butter
- 100 g (about 2 large) eggs
- 200 g light brown sugar
- 4 g vanilla extract
- 225 g all-purpose flour
- 4 g baking powder
- 3 g salt
- 150 g dark chocolate, chopped into large chunks (see headnote)
- 100 g tahini
Method
Start by melting the butter over low heat in a small saucepan. Once it’s melted, set the butter aside to cool slightly.
Line a quarter sheet pan with a parchment paper sling.
Preheat an oven to 160 °C (325 °F), with fan (convection) if available.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and brown sugar until the mixture is homogeneous and lightly frothy.
Then add the butter and vanilla, and whisk until those two ingredients are fully incorporated.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a spatula fold in the dry ingredients until the mixture is mostly smooth and uniform again. Then, add half (ca. 75 g) the chocolate and continue folding with the spatula until the chocolate pieces are uniformly incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared quarter sheet pan, and then use an offset spatula to spread it into a roughly even layer. Sprinkle over the second half of the chocolate. Drizzle over the tahini, and use a knife to swirl it into the batter.
Bake the blondies until the surface is matte and lightly golden, but they still have some give and wobble, about 25 minutes.
Let them cool in the baking tray for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to come down to room temperature before cutting them to size.
Store them in an airtight container for up to three days, or freeze them for longer-term storage.