As a longtime enthusiast of Middle Eastern-style halvah, my favorite halvah breakthrough came when I discovered that if you swap out the typical tahini for peanut butter, you get a confection that tastes just like the inside of a Butterfinger, but slightly softer. A whole dang pan of Butterfinger innards!! If you cut up this pan and coated the bars in chocolate for a pile of homemade Butterfingers, I would 100 percent eat them all, but I’d also encourage you to just try it with the cacao nibs as written here, which lend an awesome bitter, crunchy counterpoint to the sweet, crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth halvah. And it’s just easier. Moreover, this is the only time I’m going to insist that you use a peanut butter with oil added to the ingredients, because the oil prevents the final texture from being overly crumbly.
From “Sweet Farm!” by Molly Yeh. Copyright © 2025 by Molly Rebecca Yeh. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Note: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to several weeks.
Peanut Butter Halvah Recipe
This peanut butter halvah delivers the rich, crumbly texture of traditional halva with the nostalgic taste of Butterfinger innards, balanced by crunchy cacao nibs for an irresistible treat.
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 36 small squares
Ingredients
- nonstick spray
- 1 ½ cups (384 g) unsweetened unsalted peanut butter (preferably a kind with palm oil)
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup (76 g) cacao nibs
- 2 cups (400 g) sugar
- ½ cup (120 g) water
Instructions
- Grease an 8-inch square pan and line with enough parchment paper to allow for 1-inch wings on two opposite sides.
- In a large heat-safe bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, salt and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the cacao nibs.
- In a small saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer, combine the sugar and water and set over medium-high heat, whisking to dissolve the sugar. Once it bubbles, stop whisking and allow it to continue to heat until the mixture reaches 245°F. Carefully pour the sugar mixture into the peanut butter mixture with one hand while quickly but carefully stirring with a heat-safe spatula with the other hand until just combined, 10-15 seconds. Pour it into the prepared pan and flatten it out evenly.
- Let cool completely at room temperature, about 1 hour. Remove from the pan and cut into 36 little squares. Some may break while cutting and that’s ok, eat those first.
Notes
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to several weeks.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes + 1 hour cooling time
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: One-pot
- Cuisine: Israeli
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