Japanese sweets often have an intriguing blend of sweet and savoury, and if you like the black sesame cookies in our Month of Japanese, you’ll love these miso-spiked ones too. I like white miso for its mild taste, but you can experiment with different ones if you like a more savoury flavour. Use whatever sesame seeds you have on hand – white, black or a mixture – to coat the cookie dough. These cookies do soften quickly, so are best eaten within a day or 2 of making. Try these with a glass of nutty palo cortado like the 12 year old Leonor from Gonzalez Byass.
Makes 16 cookies
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup plain flour
- ¼ cup castor sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 60g cold butter, diced
- 1 tablespoon white miso paste
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
Method
- Blitz flour, sugar and baking powder in a small food processor until well combined.
- Pulse in cold butter, miso and egg yolk.
- Tip onto a clean, dry work bench and shape into a log about 16cm long.
- Wrap in baking paper, twisting the ends to secure, and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Preheat oven to 175°C.
- Roll log in sesame seeds to coat well.
- Cut into 16 discs and place on a baking paper-lined oven tray.
- Bake for about 15 minutes, just until coloured around the edges.
- Remove from oven and set aside for 10 minutes or so then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
