These are the best tahini brownies you will ever find. Never had a tahini brownie? I am about to fix that minor problem in your life with this recipe.

What is tahini?

Tahini is sesame paste. Simple as that. Now what it tastes like is maybe not so simple, it kind of tastes like a nut butter, but more savory I suppose. My biggest use for tahini is hummus or these tahini brownies. But I have also had tahini as a sauce on shwarma, used in a dressing (amazing and here is the recipe) and in ice cream (very good).

Where do I buy tahini?

Tahini is readily available at most grocery stores. I buy Trader Joes tahini, myself.

Browning butter for tahini brownies

Browning butter couldn’t be easier, and I do it all the time to bring out a deeper and nuttier flavor. Just cook melted butter past the melting point. The butter will bubble and foam, and eventually settle down. The milk solids in the butter will brown and the flavor resut is nutty and delicious. Super complimentary of the chocolate and the tahini.

Last thing I will say is about the salt. If you are not a fan of salty sweets, cut the salt down. I cannot get enough of salted chocolate (or caramel for that matter) and after trying these not salted up, and salted up, I like the salt by far. The salt with the chocolate is amazing, and with the nuttiness of the butter and the savoriness of the tahini it really elevates these to new brownie level of awesomeness.

The best tahini brownies

Ingredients

2 1/2 sticks of butter, browned
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder, I use 1/2 black cocoa powder and 1/2 regular unsweetened
1/2 tablespoon sea salt or kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all purpose flour
five tablespoons of tahini

Instructions

Heat oven to 325 and line an 8x8 square baking pan with foil and butter or spray with cooking spray.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Keep cooking until butter stops foaming and bubbling, you will notice the browned bits forming at bottom of pan, scrape those up with a wodden spoon. Remove from heat; immediately add sugar, cocoa, 2 teaspoons water, vanilla, and salt. Stir to blend. Let cool 5 minutes (mixture will still be hot). Add eggs, beating hard with a wooden spoon to blend after each egg addition. When mixture looks thick and shiny, add flour and continue stirring with a wooden spooning until blended.
Pour batter into prepared baking dish and spread to level out. Drop five tablespoons of tahini over the batter separate from eachother. With a toothpick or a knife, swirl the tahini gently with the batter. You can create any kind of swirled design you like. Bake at 325 for about 35 - 40 minutes, a toothpick in the center should come out mostly clean, and the brownies should be kind of pulled away from the sides of the pan.
Cool completely and then pull from the pan with the foil overhang.