Pastelli ... The Perfect Marriage of Sesame Seeds and Honey

I made pastelli today to give to all of my family members for Christmas.

Every year Christmas has a theme in my house.  The food for our party, the gingerbread house, the wrapping paper and the little food gift for my family members.  This year the theme is Greece.  So for my food gift I picked a classic Greek candy made of sesame seeds and honey called pastelli.

The pastelli is quite simple to make and really tasty.

You need equal parts honey and a sesame seed/nut combo.  To fill a sheetpan I used a 680 gram bottle of honey and 600 grams of sesame seeds and 80 grams of chopped almonds.  

Line a sheetpan with parchment and spray with cooking spray.

Pour the honey into a large pan and heat into liquidy.

Add in you seeds/nuts dried fruit and stir to combine.

Cook the mixture over medium heat without stirring for about 10 minutes or until the honey has turned a deep amber color.

Pour your mixture into your sheetpan and smooth out.

Allow to cool and harden for about an hour at room temperature.

Remove the parchment from the pan and cut the candy in squares.

A few notes!

I think the classic version has pistachios but there was no way I was shelling all those nuts so I went with almonds!  I believe you could also add dried fruit but just remember that the total weight of your dry stuff has to equal the weight of your honey.

If your candy does not harden after it cools, it means you did not cook it long enough.  I did that with one sheetpan so I shoved it in the over at 350 fir about 10 minutes and then let it cool again.  It hardened up perfectly.

I believe you can keep these for quite a while as long as they are kept airtight.

Enjoy!