Author Notes
Back in India, I grew up eating candy made of black (unhulled) or white (hulled) sesame seeds. The sesame would be toasted and cooked in unrefined sugar. The mixture would be formed into balls that hardened into delicious jaw-breaking candy. I decided to make something a lot more gentler on the teeth and a lot more versatile too. I adapted a pretty standard almond praline recipe to make a sesame candy that is easily broken into smaller bits for easy consumption. You could break the candy for a praline like topping for breakfast porridge or muesli, ice-cream, cakes, whatever needs a little bit of open sesame magic! —The Minimalist Indian
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Ingredients
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1/8 cup
black or white sesame seeds
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1/2 cup
granulated sugar
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2 tablespoons
water
Directions
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Line a large tray or baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Toast your sesame seeds in a pan over medium heat, stirring continuously until they start to make a crackling sound. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl. They will continue to crackle in a rather pleasant way!
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In a saucepan over medium-low heat, add the water and the sugar. Mix well to make sure that the sugar is wet through. Heat and keep stirring, to make sure that all the sugar is melted.
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Bring to a boil and cook, without stirring, until the mixture reaches a temperature of 250 Fahrenheit, as measured by a candy thermometer. Or until a drop of the sugar syrup forms a firm ball when dropped into a bowl of cold water.
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Add the sesame seeds and turn off heat. Mix well and immediately pour onto the baking sheet in a thin layer. Allow to cool and harden before breaking into pieces or chunks. You can also use a mortar and pestle to break the chunks into a crumble like in the picture. You can use it to top anything that needs a bit of toasted sesame sweetness, like a bowl of breakfast muesli, ice-cream, cakes, anything except maybe savory dishes. By the way, if you use raw or brown sugar, your candy will be even more flavorful.
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