Tahini Blondies, Halloween style

Mr. Nomad Foodie brought back a big jar of tahini from Israel. What was I going to do with 950g of tahini? There was only so much hummus I could make, so I started searching for recipes. Alas, the carrot tahini muffins were a rare miss from Smitten Kitchen.

I had two potlucks to go to on Halloween. My SIL had given me a big bag of Reese's Pieces that she had bought on clearance. I couldn't bring myself to allow the children to just snack on candy. How to use up the tahini and Reese's Pieces, plus bring something appropriately festive to two parties? Enter this Tahini Blondies recipe from Food52.

I doubled the recipe, but reduced the sugar by 20%, then sprinkled Reese's Pieces and black sesame seeds on top of the batter. It looked perfect as I put the pan into the oven. As I turned to clean up, I realized I'd forgotten to add the flour - no wonder the batter had looked particularly thin! I quickly pulled the pan from the oven, dumped the batter back into a bowl, added the flour, and repeated the decorative process. So the final product was sweeter than expected, with the incorporation of additional Reese's Pieces into the batter. Still, the end result was delicious. 

Here are the measurements that I used for a doubled recipe, which fit perfectly in a 9" x 13" pan:

• 200g APF and 175g whole wheat flour
• 2t salt
• 227g butter
• 300g sugar
• 200g brown sugar
• 6 eggs
• 2t vanilla bean paste
• 2c tahini

Honey-Oat Pain de Mie (Pullman bread)

I've made this King Arthur's Honey-Pat Pain de Mie twice now, using my brand-new pain de mie pan. The bread on the left is from my first attempt, while the bread on the right is from my second attempt.



The first time I followed the recipe exactly as written. The bread didn't fully rise to the top of the pan, but I think that was due more to my elementary shaping skills and that I could've let the dough have a longer second rise.

The second time I made the bread, I substituted 160g (about 44%) of the APF with whole wheat flour, some of the honey with maple syrup (as I'd run out of honey), 10g (about 15%) of the butter with vegetable oil, and added a few dashes of cinnamon. I also used 230g of water. The bread rose in the refrigerator, because I didn't have enough continuous time at home for it to rise at room temperature.

For next time, I would increase the water - the dough seemed like it could've used more water, and I might have killed off some of the yeast by using boiling water. I thought the oats would protect the yeast in the bowl, but perhaps not, given the lower rise. The second batch still had a fine crumb, and is still quite soft and very tasty. The kids love it.

I might have to buy another pan, because it's so yummy, the loaf disappears quickly!