No Bake Chocolate Tahini Tart

A no-bake chocolate tart on an almond and walnut crust, with a tahini and dark chocolate ganache filling. It sets in the fridge over several hours.

Twenty minutes of work, then two to eight hours of waiting. Overnight is better.

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups fine almond flour
• 1/2 cup walnuts (or pecans)
• 1/3 cup granulated monkfruit sweetener
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp sesame seeds (white, black, or both)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil

Custard filling

• 250 g dark chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups full-fat coconut cream
• 3 tbsp Gold Standard 100% Whey in Double Rich Chocolate
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/3 cup tahini

Optional: additional sesame seeds to garnish.

Method

Prep time 20 minutes. Setting time 2 to 8 hours, preferably overnight.

1. For the crust, place all the ingredients except the coconut oil in a large food processor and pulse until a sand-like consistency is reached. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the melted coconut oil until the mixture just starts to come together. Press firmly into the bottom and sides of an 20 cm tart tin. Refrigerate while you make the filling.
2. For the filling, place the chocolate chips, coconut cream and protein powder in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking slowly until the chocolate melts. Once melted and silky, remove from the heat and stir in the maple syrup, salt and tahini until well combined.
3. Remove the crust from the fridge and pour in the filling. Return the whole tart to the fridge and chill for at least 2 to 3 hours, preferably overnight.
4. Garnish with extra sesame seeds if you like, then slice.

What does tahini do here?

Three things, and it is not just a flavour.

• It cuts the sweetness. Tahini is bitter and savoury, which stops 250 g of chocolate becoming cloying. This is the main reason it works.
• It adds fat and body. Sesame paste is around 50% fat, so it enriches the ganache and helps it set smooth rather than grainy.
• It makes it taste more chocolatey. The same way salt does. Bitterness alongside sweetness deepens the perception of both.

If you have only had tahini in hummus, it is worth knowing it appears in Middle Eastern desserts routinely. Halva is essentially tahini and sugar.

Why did my ganache split or go grainy?

Heat, almost always. Chocolate seizes if it gets too hot or meets liquid at the wrong temperature.

• Keep the heat low, lower than the recipe's "medium" if your stove runs hot. Melt slowly and whisk constantly.
• Take it off the heat before adding the tahini, as the recipe says. Adding cold tahini to a hot pan on the burner is the most common way to split it.
• Use full-fat coconut cream. Light versions have too much water and the ganache will not emulsify.

If it does split, a tablespoon of hot water whisked in vigorously will usually bring it back.

Is tahini healthy?

It is a genuinely useful food, with the honest caveat that it is very energy dense.

Tahini is ground sesame seeds and nothing else in most brands. It is high in unsaturated fat, a decent source of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and iron, and contains some protein and fibre. Sesame is also one of the better plant sources of calcium.

The caveat is the calories: around 90 per tablespoon, almost all from fat. That is not a criticism, it is simply what a seed paste is. And sesame is a common allergen, which matters if you are serving this to others.

Buy the kind whose only ingredient is sesame. Some brands add oil or sugar.

What other desserts use tahini?

• Halva. The classic: tahini and sugar syrup, sometimes with pistachio.
• Tahini cookies. Works as a straight swap for peanut butter in most cookie recipes.
• Tahini brownies, usually swirled through rather than mixed in.
• Tahini caramel, stirred through dates and maple syrup.
• Drizzled over ice cream, with honey and a pinch of salt.

Anywhere peanut butter works in a dessert, tahini generally does too, with a more savoury, less sweet result.

Does the protein powder matter?

Less than you might think. Three tablespoons across a whole tart is a small addition, and its main job here is deepening the chocolate flavour rather than the nutrition.

Any chocolate whey will do. The recipe recommends a double rich chocolate, and that is a flavour preference rather than a requirement. Plant protein works but can make the ganache slightly grainier.

Be clear-eyed about it: this is a rich chocolate tart with 250 g of chocolate, a cup and a half of coconut cream and a nut crust. It is a dessert with protein powder in it, not a protein dessert.

Can I make it dairy free or vegan?

Almost. The crust and the coconut cream are already plant based, and tahini obviously is.

Two changes needed: a plant protein powder in place of the whey, and dark chocolate chips confirmed dairy free, since many are not. With those, the whole tart is vegan.

The plant protein range has the options.

How long does it keep?

• Fridge. Up to five days, covered. The texture is best from day one to day three.
• Freezer. Up to two months. Slice before freezing.
• Serving. Ten minutes out of the fridge. Straight from cold it is very firm.

Cut it into small slices. This is one of the richer things you can make, and a thin wedge is plenty.

For more like this, browse the full recipe collection.