This halva is soft, sweet and perfect for your Clean Monday festivities. Bonus: it’s also super easy to make!

 

Ingredients:

 

1 cup butter, olive oil or, if fasting, use corn oil

200g raw skinless almonds

3 cups coarse semolina

 

For the syrup:

 

3 cups sugar

4 cups water

1 cinnamon stick

2 whole orange peels

 

Directions:

Dry roast the almonds until they are golden brown by spreading them on a baking dish or on a piece of wax paper, and placing them on the middle rack of your oven for about 8΄ at 200°C.

 

When they are finished, move onto the halva. Put your butter or oil into a very large pot and allow to heat up. Next add the roasted almonds, stirring with a wooden spoon. Turn down the heat a bit and add the semolina, stirring until the mixture browns nicely.

 

To make the syrup, heat up the water and sugar in a pot until the sugar is fully diluted. Next add the cinnamon stick and the orange peels and stir briefly. Allow the syrup to heat up. Remove the cinnamon stick and the orange peel, and carefully pour the syrup into the halva pot. Lower the heat and stir until the halva absorbs all the liquid. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a bit. Then, pour the halva into your desired cake pan or pans. Fancy bunt cake pans, personal sized pans, or even one large pan all work well. Serve with lots of cinnamon, ground walnuts or pistachios. Enjoy!