Halva Muffins

I'm always thinking of how I can get more techina into my life so I thought maybe I can make a techina muffin and then I realized sweet techina is basically halva. Halva is a mixture of techina and sugar that is turned into a sweet confection. I remember growing up in NY at my shul kiddushes there would be a loaf of halva on a platter garnished with candy corn, Twizzlers, and Swedish fish. I loved the halva then and I love it even more now that I live in Israel. If you've walked around Machane Yehuda you've seen a few stands that sell all different flavors of halva. There are loaves of halva filled with different types of nuts, some are flavored with coffee, I've seen halva that's been soaked in whiskey to impart that intense alcohol flavor and even one that has chili flakes in it. 

If you've been following my Instagram page you know how much I love techina. The funny thing is I didn't eat techina until I moved to Israel. When I lived in America my only knowledge of techina is the watery stuff in a squeeze bottle at the falafel and pizza place. Then I moved to Israel and I was a madricha at a seminary in Jerusalem. My co-madricha who would soon become one of my closest friends would put techina on everything and I thought it was so weird because techina goes on falafel and that's it. She convinced me to give it a try and my life was changed for the better.

Fun fact - the summer after we were madrichot we were counselors on a summer program together and the two of us along with the other two female counselors loved techina so much that we were actually known as the techinis.

I also learned from her how to properly make techina (you can too check out this blog post).
I now drizzle techina on pretty much everything.

This recipe calls for plain halva, but you can use one with nuts or fold in chopped nuts like pistachios and almonds, or chocolate chips would be a great addition too! 

2 cups flour 
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup techina/tahini paste*
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk of your choice 
1/2 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon for sprinkling 
3/4 cup halva chips - halva cut into small cubes like chocolate chips 
1/3 cup halva to crumble over the top 
1 Tbs sesame seeds 

*make sure to stir the oil that's at the top of the jar of techina back into the techina. 

Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C
Line a standard-size muffin tin with paper liners. 

In a medium bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
In a large bowl whisk together the techina, oil, eggs, vanilla, milk, and sugar until thick and creamy. Slowly whisk in the dry ingredient mixture until just combined. Fold in the halva chips. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin and crumble the halva over the top pressing the halva slightly into the batter. Sprinkle with sugar and sesame seeds. Bake for 20-25 minutes. 

When you take these out of the oven don't be worried if you have halva exploding out the tops of the muffins those little bits of toasted halva are the best part. If there is batter and halva stuck to the pan soak for a few minutes in water and it will wash off easily.