A Snack, a Sip and a Story

Your weekend resources all in one place!

Welcome to the first Friday issue! A few fun sidebars to kick your weekend off. Today you’ll find three sections:

• Spill Proof: A cocktail (and mocktail) with sweet and salty pairings

• Snack Drawer: Mini-review of a quirky store-bought snack

• Little Library: Two book recs—one for grown-ups, one for kids

Let’s get to it!

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Let me preface this by saying this is a more involved cocktail than I’ll normally be featuring in this column. The reason I’m including it today is because 1) it’s really tasty and perfect for February’s lingering winter blues and 2) I’m including modifications so it’s easier to make but still feels special. And you deserve special! Here’s how to get started:

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Five-Spice Sesame Old Fashioned

For the infused bourbon:

• 1 medium cinnamon stick

• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds

• 1 star anise

• 1/4 tsp whole peppercorns

• 1/4 tsp whole cloves

• 1 cup bourbon

Put all spices in a tightly sealed bag and smash them lightly (I use a meat tenderizer) to break everything up. Pour bourbon into a glass jar, add all the spices, and seal tightly. Allow to steep on your counter for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days. Once steeped, strain with a fine mesh strainer and reserve in a clean, sealable jar.

For the sesame syrup:

• 1 cup toasted sesame seeds¹

• 1 cup water

• 1/2 cup demerara sugar (or sugar in the raw)

Combine sesame seeds and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Allow to simmer for about 15 minutes, swirling occasionally, until about half of the water has evaporated. Remove from heat, allow to cool just slightly, then strain seeds out, retaining the warm sesame water back into the saucepan. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve (you can turn the heat to low here if the water has cooled too much). Allow to cool completely.

For the cocktail:

• 2 oz five spice-infused bourbon

• 1/2 oz sesame syrup

• a dash orange bitters

Combine all ingredients with ice in a mixing glass (a pint glass will do), and stir until very cold, about 30 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with an orange twist, cinnamon stick, and/or star anise.

Ok, give me the modifications, I’m tired

I see you. Instead of using all five spices in the bourbon, throw a broken cinnamon stick into the booze and let it steep overnight. You’ll get those spicy notes even if it’s a little less complex on the tongue.

If you can’t swing the sesame syrup, make a 1:1 simple syrup using one part demerara/sugar in the raw and one part water. That caramel flavor will come through to make the cocktail more interesting even without the sesame addition.

Make it a mocktail!

The sesame syrup will play nicely with ginger beer and citrus; combine 1/2 oz sesame syrup with 1 oz fresh-squeezed orange juice in a rocks glass; add ice and top with your favorite ginger beer. Garnish with an orange twist and a cinnamon stick if you’re feelin’ fancy.

Got leftover sesame syrup?

Add a splash to your morning latte (along with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top), or to any cinnamon-forward tea; I like this caffeinated one and this caffeine-free one (easy to find, inexpensive and honestly so delicious.)

Cocktails are best enjoyed with snacks, in my opinion. The two I’m recommending are sesame-based to pull the sesame notes from the cocktail. I’ve included a savory and sweet option; both are next-level delicious.

Black Sesame Rice Krispie Treats, Eric Kim for NYT Cooking

I’ve made rice krispie treats² several times and could easily eat the whole pan in a day. I would cut these into small squares so they have a bar bites vibe and are more snackable. And feel free to use white sesame if you don’t have black on hand; the difference is negligible.

Hot Honey Sesame Snack Mix

I LOVE a bar mix. I adapted this recipe to make for a fun and not-too-spicy snack—I didn’t want the heat to overwhelm the cocktail, especially with the already-zingy spice of the bourbon. You can easily double this if you’re serving a large group!

• 2 tbsp butter

• 1 (heaping) tbsp hot honey + 1 (heaping) tbsp regular honey

• 1 (generous) tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

• 2 cups pretzel goldfish

• 2 cups sesame sticks

• 1 cup unsalted, roasted peanuts

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut chips/flakes (not shreds)

• 3 tbsp sesame seeds, any variety

Preheat oven to 275.

In a large bowl, mix the pretzel goldfish, sesame sticks, peanuts, and coconut chips; set aside. Heat the butter, soy sauce and honey in a small saucepan over low heat; stir until honey has dissolved. Pour sauce over the pretzel mix and stir until everything is coated.

Spread the mix on a large parchment paper-lined baking sheet, then sprinkle with half of the sesame seeds. Bake for 20 minutes, then toss and sprinkle with the remaining sesame seeds. Bake for another 20-25 minutes, keeping an eye on it for the last 10 minutes to ensure it doesn’t begin to burn. Remove from oven and let cool completely on the pan. Store in an airtight container.

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MORE SNACKS!? The answer is always yes. I’m the person who will buy any limited edition item I come across on the shelves of Target, and won’t hesitate to try anything once. Plus, I’m always looking for fun additions to our snack drawer, so this column felt like it had to exist.

These Muddy Bites come from Costco, and are pitched as a snack that replicates the very bottom of an ice cream cone - the last (and best) bite of the cone, typically filled with chocolate. This variety is a take on that, but with a chocolate waffle cone and peanut butter.

My extremely sweets-motivated children for some reason refused to try these (!?!?!), but I thought they were delicious. They reminded me a little of muddy buddies (maybe the name was intended as so?); they’re pretty rich so I wouldn’t eat more than a few at a time. I think they’d be really good lightly broken up and used as a topping for vanilla ice cream. They also come in milk/dark/white chocolate, cookies n’ cream, and Girl Scouts thin mint variety (yes, please).

Overall rating 7/10: would buy again but won’t become a snack drawer staple.

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A book for you, a book for them. (Uninterrupted reading time unfortunately not guaranteed.)

For them: All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon

I saw this one mentioned by

Haley Nahman

and immediately picked it up from the library (love a backlist children’s book! This one was published in 2009). The story is simple and poignant: that our days are filled with seemingly ordinary happenings, but that they are what connect us to the world we live in. Marla Frazee’s illustrations feel retro and cozy—I’ve added her book In Every Life to my library list, which won a Caldecott award last year.

For you: The Motherload by Sarah Hoover

The Motherload: Episodes from the Brink of Motherhood is memoir about Hoover’s reckoning with motherhood, and the identity shift that comes with it. Per the book’s pitch: [The Motherload is] about the uniquely female experience of constantly grappling with expectation versus reality, no matter your circumstance, and a rejection of the cultural idea of the mother as a perfect being. I think it’s so important to talk about the difficult side of motherhood as well as the wonderful parts in equal measure; it’s both/and. Can’t wait to read this one.

1. If you don’t want to spend a lot on the pre-toasted seeds, you can buy untoasted sesame seeds at Target for $2 a jar (you’ll need two jars), then toast them in the oven at 375 for 8-10 minutes, tossing halfway and watching very closely as they will burn quickly!

2. Sesame Rice Krispie Treats image above is by James Ransom for the New York Times.