(What the) Halawa (are in these) Treats (?)

One of my favorite places to explore is the Flint Farmer's Market. One of the permanent spaces at the market is occupied by Jawhari's Beirut Restaurant from Linden, Michigan (click here for a review and directions). In addition to cooking up all sorts of great-smelling dishes, they sell a large variety of Middle Eastern specialties. Since going vegetarian (and then vegan) I always make sure to stop at their booth and pick up something I haven't tried before. Yesterday I came home with sugar-free Halawa (a tahini "fudge") and a bottle of pomegranate syrup. I grabbed a fresh pomegranate as well and on the ride home I started to think of what I could do to create something new.

Here's my experiment. I added a few ingredients (like chocolate and pistachios) and came up with a truffle-like treat. It's sweet, but not too sweet, and definitely a new and unique flavor combination for someone like me.

Halawa Treats

4 tablespoons sugar-free halawa
3 tablespoons pomegranate syrup
Fresh pomegranate seeds from 1 wedge of a quartered pomegranate (or ¼ cup dried pomegranate seeds)
½ cup salted pistachios
2 tablespoons natural sugar (plus more for rolling)
1 king-sized bar dark chocolate



1. Combine all ingredients (excluding seeds and chocolate) in a food processor and blend until smooth. Alternately blend with a hand mixer in a bowl.
2. Fold in seeds. Take a tester of the mixture; if it's not sweet enough, add more sugar until it's to your liking. Using a tablespoon measure, portion out mixture into balls and roll in additional sugar.
3. Place balls in freezer for about 10 minutes until they firm up a bit.
4. Melt chocolate in the microwave or in a double-boiler.
5. Roll balls in melted chocolate and allow them to harden on wax paper.
6. If you use fresh seeds your ingredients will be more moist, so you may want to freeze the treats and serve them cold. If you used dried seeds you'll find that they hold up nicely at room temperature. Makes about 1 dozen.