Baking power: Buckwheat, sesame & chocolate cookies 

This is one for the gluten-free crew, but also for everyone else. Buckwheat is a beautiful flour, bringing an earthy nuttiness and textural interest to whatever it gets incorporated into. If you’ve never baked with it before, these cookies are a good place to start. They’ve got just the right amount of chew, with a soft chocolatey interior – a keeper for the cookie jar.

MAKES 12

100g unsalted butter, softened

50g caster sugar

100g light brown sugar

1 egg

130g buckwheat flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

50g jumbo oats

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

¼ tsp salt

100g milk chocolate, roughly chopped

3 tbsp sesame seeds

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.
• Cream the butter and both sugars together with an electric whisk for 3-5 minutes until pale and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl every so often. Add the egg and continue to beat for another minute.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, jumbo oats, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Pour this into the butter mixture and mix on low speed until just combined, then stir in the chopped chocolate. Cover the bowl and chill the dough in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
• Put the sesame seeds into a shallow dish. Use an ice cream scoop or tablespoon to scoop balls of dough on to the baking sheets. Roll each one in the sesame seeds before placing back on the baking sheets, leaving 2.5cm between them, as they will spread a little.
• Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges are set but the middles are still a little soft. Let them cool for a few minutes on the sheets before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.