Ingredients

170g

plain flour

150g

Parmesan cheese, grated

150g

butter, chilled & cubed

1 tsp

freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp

flaky sea salt

1/4 tsp

cayenne pepper

2 tbsp

sesame seeds

2 tbsp

nigella seeds

2 tbsp

poppy seeds

"This is the first recipe in Knife Skills For Beginners and my all-time most popular savoury snack/canapé. I’ve been making them for so long that other versions have started to circulate, including on the internet. If you like caraway seeds, you can add a few of those to the sprinkling mix."

Many thanks to Orlando Murrin for this delicious recipe which features in his new crime novel Knife Skills for Beginners published by Bantam Books 1st February £14.99

Method

Process into a dough 170g plain flour, 150g each of grated Parmigiano Reggiano and chilled, cubed butter, 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, ½ teaspoon flaky salt and ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper.
Roll into two neat cylinders about an inch in diameter and chill until firm. Brush with beaten egg and roll in a mixture of sesame, nigella and poppyseeds (2 tablespoons of each) and chill again.
Slice into thick coins and bake at 180C/160C fan/350F for about 18 minutes until darkly golden.
Makes 50-60. These keep well in a tin and are excellent with sherry. The key is not to add water to the dough. I discovered by accident that they taste better if you slightly overbake them.