Tehina Chocolate Spread

Adapted from Levana Cooks, using Cocoa Coffee Levana Nourishments

In this amazing Tehina Chocolate Spread, sesame paste, or Tehina, costars beautifully with chocolate. Sort of a new age Nutella, only much less sweet and much healthier!

There’s nothing you would do with Nutella that you couldn’t do with my Tehina Chocolate Spread!

Tehina often plays second fiddle to other, more muscular ingredients,  hummus being the most ubiquitous, followed by sauces and dips. Actually it is the main ingredient in Chalva, but most commercial Chalva errs hopelessly on the sweet side (not so my Quick Chalva, loosely inspired from its cloying  counterpart, and nutritionally correct), so it hardly counts except as a guilty splurge.

Here I am using poetic license with Tehina,  sesame seed paste, and using it here just as I would use a nut butter.

Tehina co-stars on equal terms with the mighty chocolate, and stands up to it fearlessly, elevating the humble paste beyond its wildest dreams in terms of flavor and texture.  Nutella was the dessert comfort food of my expat student years ages ago, so of course I think of it very fondly, but I never buy it as it is loaded with sugar. So I make my own spread, and please forgive this bit of swagger: My Tehina Chocolate Spread blows Nutella and other chocolate nut butter spreads out of the water. Super Delicious, Super Nutritious and Super Natural, it gets whipped up in a couple minutes.  So healthy you could even use it for breakfast! One more thing: It is Super versatile, and you can take it places, as you will see below: Scroll down for all variations.

The amount of sweetener I use in my Tehina Chocolate Spread is very reasonable:

Way below the amount used in commercial spreads, naturally and deliciously augmenting the ratio of Tehina and chocolate per serving. Attention sugar-restricted friends: You’ll love to hear that you can even make it without sugar or other sweetener altogether, using Stevia or Truvia instead of the agave used here, or even a dozen plump pitted medjool dates.
Please do not use honey in this tehina chocolate spread recipe, as it adds a very good but unwelcome layer of flavor in the spread; stick with the perfectly neutral-tasting agave syrup. Likewise, do not substitute anything for the coconut milk, and use the full-fat kind, it is responsible for the amazing creaminess of the spread.
This is a nice large recipe,  and will yield you about 2 pints. It won’t last you too long: it’s that good! Here’s a perfect way to satisfy your craving, the superfoods, gluten-free, dairy-free, low-carb, natural and delicious way. What more could you possibly ask for? You’re welcome!

Variations

Chocolate Hazelnut Butter: Substitute 3 cups toasted hazelnuts for the Tehina, but process them thoroughly in a food processor before adding the remaining ingredients. You might want to use other toasted nuts as well: Peanuts, cashews, almonds, pistachios, pecans, even roasted chestnuts (even though it’s not a nut).  Proceed just as instructed here.

Cake Topping: Add 2-3 tablespoons rum or brandy to the mixture, and use it as top layer to ice cream cake (the rum will prevent it from freezing solid). Likewise, use it as topping or filling to any cake, like a ganache. Spread while it is is still liquid, before it firms up, so it will spread easily.

Tart Filling, Truffles: Add some chopped toasted nuts, or toasted sesame seeds, or grated unsweetened coconut, and a little coconut milk to thin the mixture, and use as a filling for a tart (bake the crust all by itself, then fill it and chill).  Or shape the mixture into little balls, and roll in cocoa powder or grated coconut.

Bars: You could also combine the mixture with 3 cups Granola or Rice Crispies, pat the whole mixture firmly into a pan, chill, then cut into squares or bars.

Dip: Slather on apple, pear or banana slices, or on berries.