Hello, earthlings! Guess what this week was? My birthday!!! Yes, the whole week. Just kidding. I realized I kind of overcompensated with talking about my birthday ahead of time and then people did 1,000 nice things for me rather than the 5 to 10 that I kind of anticipated. I got free fancy dinners, gifts, macarons, a babka, a bacon egg and cheese, mad drinks at da club (a bar or two), and a surprise party that I had to cancel cause all the previous fun knocked me down and I caught a lil flu!

I stayed home all weekend recovering, but that might have been the best gift of all? I watched all of season 7 of The Real Housewives of New York, including 4 reunion specials, I watched all of You're the Worst (great show), I read my book, and I re-listened to Femme Fatale. Listen, Glory is obviously great and "Make Me..." is some of Brit's best work in years. But we need to all agree that "Till the World Ends" is a fkin banger.

Then there were these treats!! Last weekend I went to the cool markets in my neighborhood--the Japanese one (from where I texted Yuni, what does cooking sake look like!?), the Romanian meat and cheese one (I had to get the exact right salami for me and Iris's sleepover), and the more general Balkan one where I bought some top shelf tahini. And sumac. And halloumi. And almonds in bulk. I resisted all of the turkish delight and baklava that was whispering sweet nothings to me from behind the bakery case glass.

Today we're talking tahini, though! All of the cool kids have been putting it in all sorts of stuff other than hummus. Like Molly's oreos. And Beau + Matt's overnight oats. And Deb's muffins. I wanted to join in. And since tahini always reminds me of nut butters, I thought what's a great peanut buttery treat that could use the tahini treatment? Scotcharoos!

Leigh (my big sister) ALWAYS makes scotcharoos and every time I'm like, OK, how? And she laughs at me cause it's so easy. Like, you could pull this off with a microwave and nothing else easy. So I gave it a go and they were wonderful! Not too sweet. Like a grown up version of treats you'd bring to share with your friends at school on your birthday.

And now we're full circle. BIRTHDAYS! Hope you like these.

Tahini Cereal Treats

1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup tahini
1 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate pieces
a few pinches sea salt

Cooking Directions

In a small saucepan, combine corn syrup and sugar over medium heat. Heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Bring mixture to a low boil and then turn off heat. Allow to cool slightly.
Add Rice Krispies to a large bowl and pour tahini over the cereal. Also pour the corn syrup mixture over the cereal. Using a rubber spatula, fold ingredients together.
Spray a 9' x 13" (an 8x8 would work too for thicker treats!) with cooking spray. Press in cereal mixture in an even layer.
Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate pieces until smooth and glossy. Pour over the top of the cereal and spread evenly. Place bars in fridge to set for about an hour. Once bars are set, slice and serve!