Raisin Black Sesame Bars

Hopefully within a few months, I will be on my way to a brand new apartment with slightly more spacious kitchen. Until then, I'm on a mission to use all the dry ingredients I currently have in the cupboard and to not buy any new ones. Starting with a jar of Tahini (from making hummus in 2007....), a bag of raisins and a lot of black sesame seeds.



After hours of browsing, I found Benne Seed Raisin Bars on Epicurious.com According to the site, benne == sesame. I modified the recipe a little by reducing butter to 3/4 cup, sugar to 1/2 cup and using a mixture of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. The bars came out just sweet enough but not too sweet. They were crunchy with a nice contrasting texture from sprinkled sesame seeds. These could be energy bars in disguise with all the protein and fiber from sesame and raisins.



Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks butter at room temperature


• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar


• 1 egg


• 3/4 cup Tahini (ground sesame) or use unsweetened peanut butter


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1 cup all purpose flour


• 1 cup whole wheat flour


• 1 cup raisins


• 1/2 cup black sesame seeds

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 11x7 inch baking dish. I used 2.2 qt Pyrex dish.


2. With an electric mixer or by hand, beat butter and sugar together until combined. Add an egg. Whisk until well blended. Add Tahini, salt and vanilla extract. Continue beating until smooth.


3. Add all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. Stir until combined. Fold in raisins.


4. Pour the mixture into greased pan. Sprinkle generously with black sesame seeds. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool in the pan. Cut into bars and store in cookie jar (not airtight - the cookies will lose its crunch in airtight container.)

PS. I'm still alive. Apparently 3-year-old Tahini is not poisonous.