Chocolate halva cookies

There’s something special about a home made chocolate chip cookie, but sometimes you want something a little different, and these cookies are just that!

There are a few different types of halva around the world. The one we are using is sesame based, and is made by mixing a hot sugar syrup with tahini. You can get halva at specialty food stores (I get mine from Mum and Dad’s shop, Ontrays Scheckter’s Deli). If you can’t find halva, replace it for a few tablespoons of tahini in the cookie dough. 

Enough chat, here’s the recipe!

Brown butter choc chip halva cookies:

180g Butter (I use west gold SALTED butter, add a pinch of salt in your mix if you use unsalted)

120g Brown sugar

100g Caster sugar

1TSP vanilla essence (I use Heilala, its the best!)

2 size 7 eggs

250g Flour

8g Cornflour

3g Baking powder

3g Baking soda

200g chopped chocolate - I used Valrhona milk chocolate, you can use any chocolate you like!

180g Halva

50g Sesame seeds

To make the brown butter cook about 180g butter over a medium heat, whisking constantly, until it starts to brown. Cook it a little bit longer, until the colour deepens. Most people take their butter off the heat when its very light, but for baking I like to take it further so that you can really taste the nuttiness in the final cookies. Leave the butter to cool before using. Make sure to weigh it before using, as some evaporates off and you may need to top it up with some more butter.

Whisk the brown butter and both sugars together. Add in the eggs one at a time, whisking thoroughly between each egg. Whisk in your vanilla essence. 

Switch to a spatula and stir in the dry ingredients. Once fully combined fold in most of the chocolate and halva, leave a bit less than a quarter of each behind. 

Roll the dough into balls (if its a bit sticky, put it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm up a little). I rolled my dough and into 13 balls, but they were huge! So maybe make yours a bit smaller. 

Evenly push the remaining halva and chocolate into the tops of each ball. Roll each ball in the sesame seeds and chill them for at least 30 minutes, but preferably a few hours. They will spread less than mine did if you chill them longer. 

Heat the oven to 170c and space your dough balls out over a few baking trays. Bake for 12 minutes, turning half way through (adjusting the baking time if your dough balls are smaller or bigger) You want them to be a bit soft and chewy in the centre, and golden around the edges)

Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week, or freeze the dough balls for up to two months before baking. Fresh dough will last 1 week in the fridge. 

Enjoy!! 

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