Greek Pasteli

My first time making Greek pasteli, 10/10 on taste and level of easiness. Was craving it and found the easiest recipe on YouTube that I tweaked to make it better. Will be a new staple of mine, and a great alternative to the cookies and brownies that I have been baking like crazy for 2 months straight. I have become quite the baker, and will blog about that at some point.👩‍🍳

So amazing and will be making my mom a fresh batch tomorrow for her Bday. :) Literally ate like all of it.. Want proof?

It’s that good. Don’t be fooled. It’s sesame candy. If you have a sweet tooth like me and end up loving this, you can at least rejoice in reaping the health benefits of this snack if you eat a serving. Sesame seeds are high in fiber and several vitamins including iron. For reference, one individual package of pasteli in Greece would typically contain 2 sesame bars. Each bar would be about the equivalent of 4 of my cubes because they would be less dense and a little thinner than mine and would be rectangular shaped. So you could probably safely eat about 8 of my cubes to stay within a serving.

Ingredients:

1 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup maple syrup

*I did 1/4 cup honey + 1/4 cup maple syrup

*I added a few chopped pistachios & pumpkin seeds

*Pinch of salt

Instructions:

In a pan on low heat, lightly brown sesame seeds while constantly stirring for a few minutes. [took me about 10] Add sweetener, and continue to cook on low heat while stirring for a few more minutes until it thickens. [also took about 10] Transfer onto a small pan lined with parchment paper and spread with a spatula. Flatten with a glass. Transfer parchment paper onto a cutting board and cut into slices before the pasteli hardens. Let it cool down and serve. Store in an airtight container and should be good for several days.

I saw several other YouTube videos on how to make pasteli but this one stuck out to me the most due to its simplicity. Some videos required baking the seeds which would be a bigger production. I like the fact that I only have to use one pan in this recipe. While pretty much every other recipe I saw seems great, you are guaranteed to create a perfect, authentic-tasting pasteli as if you were eating it in Greece if you do it my way.

Xoxo 💋