Helwa tat-tork (Maltese tahini fudge)

Method
Prep:15min  ›  Cook:10min  ›  Ready in:25min 

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the sugar and water over medium-high heat to almost 130 degrees C (hard-ball stage). (If you don’t have a thermometer, use the syrup-drop-in-cold-water method after about 10 minutes of hard-boiling.) Leave this to heat whilst you get on with the rest of the steps, but keep a close eye on the sugar.
2. Preheat the oven to 200 C / 180 C Fan / Gas 4. Spread the chopped almonds in one layer on a parchment-lined baking tray. You can also toast the almonds in a very hot, dry frying pan on the hob.
3. Bake the almonds until they are toasted light brown, about 3 to 5 minutes, flipping/stirring them around once per minute. Remove the tray from the oven and pour the almonds into a large mixing bowl. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Turn off your oven.
4. In the bowl with the cooled toasted almonds, mix the vanilla and tahini with a wooden spoon until well combined.
5. Pour the hot sugar mixture into your tahini bowl, and stir quickly until you have a stiff dough.
6. Pour the mixture onto your baking tray. Using your wooden spoon, shape it into a rectangle, keeping the height to about 1.25 to 2cm (1/2 to 3/4 in). Alternatively, you could use a 15.5cm (7 in) square baking tin lined with baking parchment. Or, as per my photo, a 23cm (9 in) square tin. If using a a larger tin, to keep the height, spread it out only over about 2/3 of the space.
7. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then chop into bite-sized pieces. Leave to cool until fully cold.
8. This fudge can keep on the counter in an airtight container for a couple of days.

Tip

Roasted unsalted pistachios would be a wonderful substitute in this fudge. And whilst we're going totally off-piste from traditional helwa tat-tork – hazlenuts or macadamia nuts could work, too.

See it on my blog

Shazz Bakes