Tasty, enticing, and bursting with flavour, Crystelle’s recipes make cooking and baking with the most vibrant and exciting flavours easy.

“With charming anecdotes and vibrant photography, this cookbook is a beautiful feast for the eyes that will help cooks create a bountiful feast for their stomachs” – Ahliah Bratzler, Library Journal

Cooking has always been an equal passion to baking for Crystelle, as shown by the coveted ‘Hollywood Handshake’ she received for her curried chicken and potato pie on The Great British Bake Off, a dish showcasing her Portuguese-Goan roots. Inspired by her travels and heritage, Crystelle’s book encourages people to experiment with flavours and shows how – just by adding a few more condiments to your cupboard – you can elevate classic dishes.
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Divided into two halves – savoury and sweet – the book showcases the baking that took Crystelle to the final of The Great British Bake Off, as well as her flair for creative savoury dishes. Drawing inspiration from around the world, there is a flavor-packed dish for every occasion, from zingy curries, mouth-watering pastas and zesty salads to scrumptious cakes, pull-apart breads and indulgent brownies. Featuring a handy guide to Crystelle’s hero ingredients and star seasonings – all of which feature in multiple recipes – it couldn’t be easier to raise your flavour game.

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Miso Tahini Oat Cookies

MAKES 32 | PREP: 30 MINS | BAKE: 15 MINS | CHILL: 2 HOURS VG

I always want more salty, umami, and nutty flavours from a bog-standard chocolate chip cookie, and I also want it to be chewy, yet slightly crispy around the edges. These cookies deliver on all fronts. To balance out the saltiness from miso, we’ve got white chocolate chips, as well as tahini for that added nuttiness and sesame for crunch. The oats also provide extra texture, and the brown butter creates that lovely, mellow, nutty flavor, which marries everything together. This recipe makes a lot of cookies, which is intentional because they will all vanish before you can even blink! I could suggest that you halve the recipe, but really, I wouldn’t bother.

scant ½ cup (3½ oz) unsalted butter (this will be browned so we should end up with 2 ¾ oz)

1 ½ cups (6 ¾ oz) all-purpose flour

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (4 ½ oz) jumbo oats, divided in method

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

2 ½ tablespoons (1 ¼ oz) extra virgin coconut oil

3 tablespoons (3oz) white miso paste

1/3 cup (2.3/4 oz) white tahini

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

1 cup (8½ oz) light soft brown sugar

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons (2.oz) superfine sugar

1 extra-large egg

scant 1 cup (5 ½ oz) white chocolate

chips (I like a mixture of chocolate chips and chocolate chunks)

2 ½ tablespoons (1 ½ oz) white sesame seeds

2 ½ tablespoons (1 ½ oz) black sesame seeds

1. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium–low heat, stirring continuously for about 10 minutes. Once it froths vigorously and you start to see light brown solids form at the bottom immediately take it off the heat, stirring continuously for a few more seconds, then transfer to a bowl to stop it from burning and use a rubber spatula to scrape out all the brown solids. After this process, weigh the butter again and top off with regular butter if necessary, so you have 2¾ oz. Set aside to cool.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, 1 cup (4oz) jumbo oats, baking soda, and baking powder.
3. Add the coconut oil to the brown butter and whisk to combine, then add the white miso, whisking until homogeneous, then the tahini, vanilla bean paste and both sugars and whisk well. Making sure the batter is cool to the touch, beat in the egg until smooth.
4. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet batter until just combined, then stir through the white chocolate chips and chunks. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour, to firm up.
5. While the dough is chilling, toast the white and black sesame seeds in a dry skillet over low heat for about 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and mix with 2 tablespoons jumbo oats.
6. Once the dough has chilled, divide into 32 portions, about 1.oz each (or use an ice-cream scoop, if easier) and use your hands to roll these into balls. Toss each ball in the bowl of sesame and oats until coated before placing on a baking sheet.
7. Chill all the dough balls in the refrigerator for 1 hour to firm up, then, 10 minutes before the time is up, preheat the oven to 350F/160C fan/gas mark 4.
8. Arrange about 8 dough balls on a lined baking sheet, wellspaced as they will spread, and bake the cookies for around 15 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through, until golden. Repeat with the remaining dough, then allow to cool on the sheet first, before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

TIP

You can chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator overnight, and then scoop into balls and bake immediately the next day. The cookie dough balls can also be frozen and baked straight from frozen for 20 minutes.

Recipe reprinted with permission from Kyle Books.