Halvah Shortbread
Recipe By : Sunday at Moosewood Restaurant
- 3/4 cup butter -- softened
- 1/2 cup tahini
- pinch salt
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
- 2 cups pastry flour -- unbleached
- 1/2 cup toasted almonds -- or pecans
- (chopped or ground)
- a few pecan or walnut halves
Preheat oven to 375F. With a food processor or by hand, cream
the butter
with the tahini. Add the salt and brown sugar. Blend until smooth.
Sprinkle in the flour, blending well. Mix in the chopped nuts.
The dough
will be very stiff.
Lightly butter two 7-inch pie plates or shallow baking pans. Press
the
dough to evenly cover the bottom and sides of the pie plates to
a thickness
of no more than 1/4 inch. Press a few whole nuts into the surface
to
decorate.
Bake the shortbread for 15 minutes and then check it frequently,
every
couple of minutes, and remove it from the oven as soon as the
edges are
golden brown. Be careful not to overbake it.
While it's still warm, cut each shortbread into 8 or 10 wedges
in the pan;
don't wait until it's cool or it will crumble.