HALVA COOKIES

Yields 30 to 35 3-inch cookies

Halva is a Middle Eastern sweet sesame paste treat with a dense, rich, and crumbly texture. As a young girl in Tel Aviv, there was nothing more wondrous to Maya than “Shook Ha Caramel” (the caramel market). It was an outdoor marketplace filled with colorful stalls selling fruits and nuts and candy, but most markedly, endless bricks of halva piled high and stacked into towers. These chewy sugar cookies are an homage to the feeling of being a kid in a candy shop, but to be savored by kids and adults alike. Feel free to play around with different flavors of halva for the center—pistachio or chocolate work quite well.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

1½ cups sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2¼ cups flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

2 tablespoons white sesame seeds

3 halva bars (roughly 6 ounces)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.

Using the paddle attachment on a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until combined. Add the vanilla and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix just until combined, being careful not to overwork the dough. Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap, and flatten. Refrigerate until the dough firms up, roughly 30 minutes.

Mix the sesame seeds together and spread on a plate. Working with half the dough, cut equal-size strips, roughly 1¼ inches. Turn the dough and cut across again at the same width. You should end up with square pieces of dough all around the same size. Roll each square into a ball and flatten slightly between your palms. You may find that the corner pieces of dough are slightly smaller than the rest; combine the corners to resemble the size of the rest of the balls. Press one side of the dough into the sesame seeds; they should easily stick since the dough will be soft. If you are having an issue with the seeds sticking, wet the dough slightly with water and press again into the seeds. Place the slightly flattened balls onto the cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between each piece.

Cut the halva bars into ½-inch pieces. Lightly indent the center of each cookie with the tip of your finger and gently push a piece of halva into the center of each, being careful only to push it down halfway into the cookie. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes, or just until the edges of the cookies become golden and the halva has melted.