I am a regular, almost chronic, tea drinker. Almost by happy default, I have also become quite an avid fan of all things cookie-like and biscuitty, and am always on the lookout for the next perfect biscuit to try.

A lot of the biscuits I make are a celebration of butter, sugar and flour. While I’m normally a moderately healthy eater, biscuits are an area where I try not to skimp. They are often such small treats anyway that it’s best to consider them something special that you could have on a regular basis and not go too overboard with. If something is going to be consumed in 2 to 3 bites (or 4 – 5 nibbles), you’d definitely want first impressions to last. So bring on the good butter, muscovado sugar, pure vanilla beans, free range eggs and organic flour!

With that in mind, I thought I would create a new category that I plan to add to, as often as possible. The Good Biscuit will feature the biscuits that I have encountered in my kitchen travels, that I consider more than worthy as a companion to a comforting cup of tea (or coffee).

(A couple of things I’ve made in the past that also fit into this category include Belinda Jeffery’s Anzacs, these Mexican Wedding biscuits and OatCakeMan, which is really more of a biscuit to have with cheese, but I love them so much I like eating them on their own too!)

First up however, are these Sesame Coins from Alice Medrich’s latest book. Gorgeous, very tender biscuits that remind me a little of the Chinese peanut cookies I had as a child, every Chinese New Year. The surprise ingredient for me was the tahini paste, which I would never have thought to incorporate into sweet cookery. Tahini even turned up in Katrina Kanetani’s recipe for homemade Pocky. I suppose it makes sense, because it’s like a sesame version of peanut butter. Until now however, my jar of tahini had been confined to making hummus and miscellaneous other savoury concoctions. Happy days, when you find new uses for the ingredients in your cupboard! 🙂

Sesame Coins :
(makes 48 x 1 1/2 inch cookies; from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich)

85g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
195g unsalted tahini (pure ground roasted sesame seeds)
60g unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons natural or black sesame seeds

Whisk the flour and baking soda in a small bowl until thoroughly blended. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix the tahini, butter, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Add the flour mixture and work with your hands until blended. The dough will be slightly crumbly, and you will have to push or squeeze it together.

Divide the dough in half – form it into 2 patties, and wrap the patties in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 2 hours, or, preferably, overnight.

Position the racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 162’C. Line the baking sheets with baking paper.

Remove one piece of dough from the refrigerator and allow it to soften slightly. Roll it between two pieces of wax paper to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Sprinkle the dough with half of the sesame seeds and roll over them gently to secure them to the dough. Cut as many rounds as possible, trying to minimize dough scraps, and transfer to the lined pans, spacing the cookies 1 inch apart. Repeat with the second dough patty. Press all of the scraps together, without overworking the dough, roll out, and cut additional cookies.

Bake until the edges of the cookies are golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the sheets from back to front and top to bottom halfway through baking. Set the baking sheets on racks to cool completely.

The cookies will keep in an airtight container for at least 1 month.

I woke B up last night from laughing out too loud in my sleep. Apparently my slumbering brain had invented the most brilliant word ever. It was ingenious, and the more I thought about it, the funnier it seemed, which got transposed into a sound that jumped the gap between sleep and consciousness. Unfortunately I can’t remember what the word means, and the reason behind its being. Such is the tyranny of dreams. I do however recall being half asleep and very irritated that he didn’t think it was a very good word at all. Doesn’t it sound exactly like.. ?

We finally cracked open the Deus last night. Beautiful beer, with a nice fine fizz and honeyed tone, but probably not worth the asking price. Still, it’s all about experiencing new things, right?

Something else I experienced a good few weeks ago, inspired the above dessert : a dinner at Rockpool(fish) which was capped off by a refreshing, mildly bitter Trumer Pilsner granita with salty peanut ice-cream. The dish came with a few tuilles on the side; the whole effect of which reminded me of the experience of having a beer with salted peanuts and chips. Simple, yet clever enough to keep you interested with each bite.

My version involves a similar granita with vanilla ice-cream and salty peanut nougatine baked to look like potato crisps. While it was good, it could never replicate the feeling of delight I got from tasting the original.

As for that word? Yes B, it sounds like I took the word spleen and changed one letter, but unlike my dessert, spleem is a highly original word in my opinion – a definite improvement on it’s predecessor. A word with an infinity of uses. As in, that was a spleemingly good dessert.

The Dictionary people will be knocking at my door any day now.

I have just poured myself a cup of tea and am eating the most tantalising cake.

This cake has the touch of the exotic about it, from the use of black sesame seeds that fleck the batter and the few teaspoons of sesame oil that makes this cake so different; so special. It’s also the kind of cake to make when you feel like having cake, but don’t want anything too complicated or time consuming. So excuse this short post, but I’m off to have my cake and eat it too!

(You can serve this moist cake with a honey ice-cream as recommended by Alice Medrich, but I like to enjoy it plain, in celebration of that delicate sesame flavour.)

Sesame Seed Cake :
(from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich)

170g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room tempearture
2 1/2 teaspoons Asian or toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
113g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1/4 cup toasted black or natural sesame seeds

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 176’C. Spray the sides of an 8-inch round cake pan with vegetable oil spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt thoroughly in a medium bowl and sift three times. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs together briefly with the sesame oil and vanilla. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter at medium speed for a few seconds until creamy. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until light coloured and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in a little of the egg mixture at a time, taking about 2 minutes to add it all. Stop the mixer, add one third of the flour mixture, and beat on low speed only until no flour is visible. Stop the mixer and add half of the buttermilk, then beat only until the liquid is absorbed. Repeat with half of the remaining flour, then all of the remaining buttermilk, and finally the remaining flour with the sesame seeds, scraping the bowl as necessary and beating only enough to incorporate the ingredients each time.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then slide a thin knife or spatula down the sides of the cake to detach it from the pan. Invert the cake onto a rack and remove the pan and parchment liner. Turn the cake right side up and let cool completely on the rack.

The cake keeps in an airtight container at room temperature for at least 4 days. Or freeze, well wrapped, for up to 3 months.