Tahini and chocolate - my favorite combo. These dark chocolate tahini Reese's cups are 3 ingredients.
the inspiration behind these dark chocolate tahini cups
When you add water to tahini, a magic trick kind of happens. Tahini goes from being like quicksand to becoming way thicker and more like peanut butter. Why is this?!?!
Because I'm a nerd and love to learn about the science of cooking. Here's what Cook's Illustrated says is happening here: "You’d think that adding a liquid would thin tahini rather than thicken it. Why the opposite? Tahini is simply sesame-seed butter, made by grinding hulled sesame seeds into a paste. Much of its makeup is carbohydrates, and when a small amount of juice (or any water-containing liquid) is added to tahini, a portion of each carbohydrate molecule is drawn to the water. As a result, clumps of carbohydrates appear. As the amount of water is increased, more clumps develop, causing the tahini to thicken overall.
If you keep adding water, eventually you’ll cross over the threshold of thickening it. Enough water in the system will cause the tahini to loosen and thin out. This is similar to what happens when chocolate seizes. A small amount of added water acts like a glue, wetting particles just enough to get them to stick together. Eventually, if you add too much water, the mixture turns into an evenly thinned-out liquid."
how to make reese's esque dark chocolate tahini cups
Basically what you're doing is melting chocolate into a cupcake liner. Plopping in the seized tahini. Then pouring more melted chocolate on top, finishing with cacao nibs or flaky salt. Throw into the fridge until you're ready to eat. Ta da!
Yum yum. I definitely did not eat this for breakfast today.
📖 Recipe
3-Ingredient Tahini Reese's Cups
Ingredients
- ½ cup tahini
- 8 oz dark chocolate chips chopped roughly
- 2-3 teaspoons cold water
- 2 tablespoon Cacao nibs
- 1 tablespoon Flaky salt
Instructions
- Melt the chocolate in a Pyrex in the microwave, in 30-second bursts, stirring until smooth and glossy and combined. Alternatively, you can set up a double boiler and melt over water. I'm lazy though and a microwave works.
- In a separate bowl, combine water with tahini one teaspoon at a time until seized and thick.
- Set out 9 regular size cupcake liners. pour a small puddle in each of the liners, and swirl around to coat the bottom.
- Plop a teaspoon of tahini in each, squishing it down with your finger to lay it flat.
- Pour remaining chocolate evenly over the tops of the tahini. It's okay to eyeball this
- Finish with a sprinkle of cacao nibs and flaky salt.
- Keep in the fridge until you're ready to eat