FOTW: Salted Chocolate Tahini

the perfect balance of sweet and salty

I’ve always been one of those people who love sweet & salty things—chocolate-covered yogurt, kettle-corn popcorn, salt on fruit, etc, etc. That’s why this ice cream was so good to me. The deep flavor from the dark chocolate paired with the salty and savory tahini was literally a match made in heaven. Paired with Maldon flaky salt? Took it to a different dimension. It was a very popular FOTW this time around. Bonus points because the extra fats in the tahini made this extra creamy.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

250 ml oat milk (I find Oatly barista milk the best)

250 ml plant-based double cream (I like Flora the best)

(you can make this recipe with regular dairy products- it works the exact same)

4 egg yolks

90 grams brown sugar (can use white)

a splash of vanilla extract/paste

pinch of salt

50 grams of tahini

100 grams of dark chocolate, roughly chopped

3-5g salt (I use Maldon flaky salt- and I start with less and add more according to my taste preference)

25 grams of sesame seeds

Method:

Mix the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until smooth.

In a saucepan, put in your 250 ml milk and vanilla, and bring to a scalding point. The scalding point is when steam starts rising and small bubbles form around the edge.

Slowly pour your hot milk into the yolk and sugar mixture, making sure to stir constantly. This is called tempering the eggs and will stop the egg mixture from cooking.

Once half the milk is combined, you can add in the other half all at once.

When it is fully combined, give a quick cleaning to your saucepan, and add the mixture back in.

Next to the stove, have a bowl with a fine-mesh sieve in it ready to go.

Put the saucepan on medium-low heat and start cooking your custard. You want to be scraping the sides and the bottom a lot so it doesn’t catch and scramble. You’re looking for a runny custard consistency, as we are technically making a crème anglaise.

Bring the mixture up to a temperature of 165°F or 73°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can do it by eye. When the mix starts steaming and can coat the back of a wooden spoon, it should be done. It’ll be slightly thickened.

As soon as it’s up to temp, pour it through the sieve into the bowl. Let it cool slightly. This is your custard base.

Melt the roughly chopped chocolate, tahini, and 3g of the flaky salt together. Mix until fully combined.

Pour the tahini/chocolate mix into the custard base.

Pour in the double cream into the custard base. Mix to fully combine. Taste and add more salt if you want.

Pour the mix into your pint tub if using a Ninja Creami, and freeze for at least 24 hours.

If using a regular ice-cream machine, you can churn according to the machine instructions.

Before churning, toast your sesame seeds in a dry pan until golden brown. Set aside and let cool.

For the ninja creami, churn on the regular ice-cream setting.

Then, add in your cooled sesame seeds.

Churn again on the mix-in setting.

Put back in the freezer to set up a little.

Scoop your ice cream and drizzle with some good-quality extra virgin olive oil.

I like topping it with some more flaky salt.

Enjoy!