This easy vegan Halvah Shortbread recipe comes from Andrew Schloss, the author of Almost from Scratch: 600 Recipes for the New Convenience Cuisine. Though this cookbook is not exclusively dairy-free, it offers many recipes and ideas for those who are interested in cooking with convenient ingredients.
Halvah is a dense, sweet type of confection that’s native to the Middle East and other parts of Asia. It’s typically made from sesame seed paste (tahini) and sugar, with few other ingredients. It’s often sold in the kosher section or near the nut and seed butters, but is also readily available online. For ease, look for good, basic varieties, like Alkanater Halawa. Or you can use a basic recipe to make your own.
Photo credit: Nikchick
Special Diet Notes: Halvah Shortbread
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, optionally egg-free, optionally nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, optionally vegan, and vegetarian. Halvah can be made with eggs, nuts, and/or honey, so be sure to pick the right brand or recipe for your needs.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 ounces halvah
- ¼ cup dairy-free buttery sticks (we like Earth Balance)
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line the bottom of an 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper.
- Put the flour, halvah, buttery sticks, and ginger in your food processor and puree until smooth.
- Pack the mixture into an 8-inch round cake pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until the shortbread is firm and dry.
- Let the shortbread cool for 10 minutes, and then cut it into 16 wedges.
- Lift the wedges from the pan with a spatula.
