Tahini Vanilla Bean Blondies

I've been getting that old desire to blog again.  And bake!  I've mostly been doing a lot of cooking recently, with inspiration from Vietnamese and Japanese cuisine.  I just love the flavor of sesame so, so much.  I'm a big fan of seed pastes/butters, especially tahini  Also, I had these lovely vanilla beans that my mom gave me for my birthday (Christmas??) one year and needed to use them.  Voila, there's the inspiration behind my Tahini Vanilla Bean Blondies.

The vanilla beans are infused with browned butter, then the mixture is whipped with eggs, tahini and dark brown sugar.After folding in some baking soda, salt, flour and white chocolate chips, the mixture is spread into a pan and sprinkled with sesame seeds and coarse sea salt.  Give these a try!  I think you'll really love the salty, nutty, caramel flavor.  Also, I think these would still be fabulous if you left out the white chocolate chips or just used vanilla extract.

Hope y'all have a great Galentine's Day and Valentine's Day!

Tahini Vanilla Bean Blondies

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean, split, seeded
1 1/3 cups dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup tahini
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds
Pinch of coarse sea salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line an 8x8-inch baking dish with foil; coat foil with cooking spray.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Cook and whisk until butter starts to turn golden and foam - about 3-5 minutes.  Remove pan from heat and whisk in vanilla beans.  Cool 5 minutes.

Pour butter in a large bowl and add brown sugar; beat together using a mixer on medium speed until combined.  Beat in eggs and tahini until well combined - about 2-3 minutes.  Beat in salt and baking soda until well combined.  Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour until just combined.  Stir in white chocolate chips until combined.

Spread mixture into prepared pan.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and sea salt.  Bake 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into blondies comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12 blondies