Sweet Tahini Buns

Sweet Tahini buns or halva buns are a Turkish bread made from tahini, brown sugar and pastry dough.

If you know me I am a cookbook hoarder. And whenever I get a new cookbook I love going through it, oggling at the pictures, making mental notes of what I want to make from them and getting inspired. I have a fairly good collection of cookbooks and put a lot of thought before picking a cookbook out. Recently I got to a review copy for Food with Friends by Leela Cyd. I love cookbooks with beautiful pictures (well, you do eat with your eyes first, don’t you) and this one doesn’t disappoint at all. Each recipe is accompanied with perfectly styled photographs, tempting me to bookmark each and every recipe.

“Leela Cyd is from Santa Barbara, California. She is a lifestyle and food photographer, shooting for editorial clients such as Sweet Paul magazine, Kinfolk and Conde Nast Traveler. Food with Friends: The Art of Simple Gatherings focuses on accessible, quick and joyful food to share.”

At a very young Leela traveled with her photographer dad as an assistant visiting countries like Spain, Morocco, Laos, Myanmar and South India, and you can find a lot of influence from her travels in the recipes that she shares in her cookbook, which is what I love about this cookbook.

The only issue I have with the cookbook is that while most recipes are simple to make and don’t require too many steps, some ingredients called for in the recipe might not be everyday pantry items- like rose petals (rhubarb rose petals), edible flowers (blooming flower salads), lavender (lemon lavender french toast). And while I like the idea behind these recipes with such fancy ingredients, I am not sure I will be making them. Having said that the cookbook does have great styling and recipe ideas to get inspired from for your next party.

The cookbook is divided into 5 sections: Breakfast and Brunch, Tea Time, Happy Hour, Potlucks and Picnics and Desserts. As mentioned before I have bookmarked quite a few recipes from each sections. Some of the recipes I am looking forward to try – bubbling savory oats with broccoli and cotswald cheese, pickled fig, pistachio and ricotta canapes, south indian-style cutlets, almond honey financiers, salty everything cookies, chocolate orange challah with saffron and toasted nuts with lemon and chili.

Today I am sharing Leela’s recipe for sweet tahini buns. Her version uses store bought puff pastry, making these halva buns easy to put together and ready to eat within 30 minutes. Rich and decadent with sweetened sesame seed paste, these will be a great addition to a breakfast table. And since in my last post I spoke about throwing an Olympic theme watch party- this could be your Turkish entry on the table.

You can buy Leela’s book Food with Friends here.

Sweet Tahini Buns

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 12

Ingredients

1 cup tahini paste
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sesame seeds
all purpose flour, for rolling pastry dough
2 sheets frozen, puff pastry, thawed
1 egg

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a bowl mix the tahini paste with sea salt, brown sugar and the sesame seeds. I actually was out of sesame seeds and so did not add them.
Roll pastry dough out to 10 by 20 inch, 1/4 inch thick. The long sides should be the top and bottom
Spread the tahini mixture onto the pastry dough, leaving one inch on the top and bottom.
Roll the dough tightly like a jelly roll, and place seam side down on the board.
Cut roll into 12 equal slices.
Put the rolls on the baking sheet and brush with egg wash.
Bake buns for 25 minutes, until deep golden.
Cool on rack for 2 minutes and serve warm.

3.5.3208

Disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. All opinions are my own and I have not been compensated for the review.