If You Love Hummus, You Might Already Have A Creamy Ice Cream Topping In Your Pantry

Take a deep breath, no one's telling you to put hummus on your ice cream. Well, not unless it's the brownie batter kind — then, by all means, go for it. But if you've ever made hummus at home, you likely already have one of its main ingredients sitting in your cupboard: a little condiment called tahini that's directly conducive to its rich, delicious flavor and smooth texture. If you like hummus, you're bound to like tahini, and you'll like it even more on your ice cream.

Tahini, a ground sesame paste that originated in the Middle East, is always used to make hummus — it just won't taste like hummus without it. Tahini, on the other hand, tastes fabulously on its own. Flavor-wise, it's essentially a runnier, silkier alternative to almond or peanut butter and, depending on the type of tahini you get, it can be drizzled straight from the jar. It's good to shake tahini before you buy it, but you can always mix it with water to thin it out.

Vanilla, chocolate, coffee, banana, strawberry, cookie dough, or rocky road, it doesn't matter, pretty much any ice cream flavor pairs well with a topping of rich, smooth, nutty tahini. Drizzled on top as it is, tahini provides the perfect counterbalance to the sweet flavors of the ice cream, but it can even be adapted into something a bit more experiential; something like a magic shell.

Tahini tastes great on your ice cream as is, but you should feel free to put your own spin on it. It's not uncommon to find tahini mixed with honey to make it sweeter or salt to elevate the savoriness. Magic shells, however, are a bit more fun because they bring the tahini an entirely new texture. Just like you would do with melted chocolate or chocolate sauce, you can mix your tahini with some liquid coconut oil and a pinch of salt, pour it over your ice cream, and watch it harden. The tahini shell will provide a satisfying crunch with each bite, adding another element of texture to your dessert.

With that, it's also possible for you to make tahini covered ice cream pops and cones. It's as simple as putting the tahini and coconut oil mixture into a bowl and dipping. For even more fun, you can add melted chocolate or chocolate syrup to the mix (like peanut butter, chocolate and tahini pair heavenly together) or other toppings like sprinkles and nuts; you'll just have to act quickly before the shell hardens if you want them to stick to it. An extra crack of fresh or maldon salt wouldn't hurt either. To further play on the peanut butter pairings, you can also add a drizzle of strawberry or raspberry syrup for that tangy note.