Want candy that’s good for you? Consider halva. Made primarily from sesame seeds, the confection is an excellent source of minerals. (A cup of sesame seeds has more iron than a cup of broccoli.) There ...

When the poor Persian woodcutter Ali Baba overheard the leader of a band of thieves stand before a cave and say “open, sesame,” it changed his life forever. Those magic words unlocked unimaginable ...

Halva – or baked tahini paste – is a baker’s best friend. Its salty, melt-in-the-mouth quality lends itself beautifully to this batch of spelt brownies and sesame-laden, gluten-free cookies. Make room ...

Rumored to possess mystical powers, the sesame seed goes above and beyond. The oldest oilseed crop has roots dating back centuries. Sesamum indicum, the cultivated sesame seed, originated in India.

The combination of tahini and halva candy marks these accidentally vegan cookies with an unmistakable sesame flavor. The halva candy melts while baking, forming a delicious, sweet sesame pool on top ...

We asked several L.A.-area pastry chefs and cooks to contribute their favorite holiday cookies. Each is a simple, homestyle cookie that reflects the contributor’s memories of holidays past. I grew up ...

When self-taught pastry chef Tzurit Or moved from Tel Aviv to Boston, she found herself missing the foods that she grew up with. So, after a summer selling baked goods at local farmers markets, she ...

If you didn’t grow up eating halva, the food item might be a mystery. But this simple confection is a treat to eat straight—it almost has the texture of fudge—or it can elevate other desserts, from ...

The sun never sets on halva’s sweet empire. Since the first recipe appeared during the 13th century in the “Kitab al-Tabikh”, or “The Book of Dishes”, a medieval Arabic cookbook, cultures from central ...