recipe: maple miso sesame cookies

What I’m reading: Wintering by Katherine May. The irony of launching into reading this during one of the hottest Junes on record is not lost on me - but I really enjoyed. It’s less about winter in a seasonal sense and more about the importance of personal fallow periods - taking time to rest and reset. Here’s a quote I particularly enjoyed:

To get better at wintering, we need to address our very notion of time. We tend to imagine that our lives are linear, but they are in fact cyclical. I would not, of course, seek to deny that we gradually grow older, but while doing so, we pass through phases of good health and ill, of optimism and deep doubt, of freedom and constraint. There are times when everything seems easy, and times when it all seems impossibly hard. To make that manageable, we just have to remember that our present will one day become a past, and our future will be our present. We know that because it’s happened before. The things we put behind us will often come around again. The things that trouble us now will often come around again. Each time we endure the cycle, we ratchet up a notch. We learn from the last time around, and we do a few things better this time; we develop tricks of the mind to see us through. This is how progress is made. In the meantime, we can deal only with what’s in front of us at this moment in time. We take the next necessary action, and the next. At some point along the line, that next action will feel joyful again.

What I’m listening to: Patrick Radden Keefe on How to Fail. It’s unsurprising that I enjoyed listening to Radden Keefe speak as much as I enjoyed reading his books - this was a great interview

What I’m eating: a very lovely dinner at The Victory - a new pub in East Dulwich (below)

For anyone who had to endure last week’s heatwave in the UK and Europe - I feel your pain. My personal experience of the heatwave - in London, working in a kitchen, sleeping (or trying to sleep) in an un-air-conditioned flat - was nothing short of a hellscape. Temperatures in London reached 36 degrees and the highest temperature we recorded in the kitchen was 48 degrees. The implications from a global warming perspective are, of course, appalling, but it’s hard (especially while in a heat-induced stupor) to see past the immediate personal implications: relentless sweat, perpetual dehydration and lack of sleep caused by an apartment that resembles a mild sauna.

The bad news is that another heatwave is coming in (hot). The good news is that I’ve compiled a list of ways to beat the heat - even momentarily - so you can arm yourself with ways to survive the rest of the summer.

• Cool/tepid shower: apparently an ice-cold shower is NOT the move as it your body responds by conserving the heat

• Ice-cold tea towel around the neck: in the kitchen, we’ve been putting tea towels in ice-cold water in the freezer and tying them around our necks (like little boy scouts) and let me tell you, the relief is IMMENSE

• Ice-cream: my personal faves are Snickers, Twisters and Calippos

• Standing in the walk-in fridge (if you have access to one)

• Fan + dehumidifyer combination: apparently one of the issues in London specifically is that it’s so humid - so I’ve invested in a dehumidifier and it seems to be helping

• Cycling a Lime bike: I highly recommend cycling around the block a few times for that sweet sweet feeling of breeze on your skin

• Walking around Tesco: particularly in the fridge aisles (unless, like me, the fridges in your local Tesco are eternally broken)

• Air-conditioned trains/trams: bonus points if it’s Circle or District line - avoid Central at all costs

• Entering a body of water: the lidos are booked up weeks in advance but if you can get a slot, being in and around a large body of water is a genuine godsend

• Shaving your head: I haven’t quite reached this level of desperation but this serves the dual purpose of cooling your cranium and finally finding out what shape your skull is

This week’s recipe is one that satisfies a craving I’ve had for quite some time. These cookies are (IMHO) the perfect combination of sweet and salty, soft and chewy. Maple, miso and tahini is such a classic combination and I love the look of the black and white sesame seeds. This cookie has earned its place in my freezer right next to the OG choc chip cookie (which of course still has its place - but I dare say this sesame loaded cookie might just have the edge when you’re craving something sweet AND salty).

I found most of the ingredients I needed at my local health food shop. I used a good quality white miso, but yellow would also work well here - proceed with caution if you’re using anything stronger than a classic “shiro miso”. I prefer a tahini with a slightly coarser texture as the super smooth ones tend to separate and can be a nightmare to incorporate into baked goods. You could also make this with black sesame paste, and I think the colour would be just sensational - let me know if you try it out.

Finally, I topped these particular cookies with a smoked Maldon salt I got at an event recently - and it really complemented the nutty, salty flavour - I highly recommend (although regular Maldon would of course work as well).