Coming into autumn, it’s incredibly useful to have a repertoire of shareable food — dishes you can make ahead of time to take to gatherings or even just to have on hand when guests stop by. Cooling temperatures have me reaching for spice mixes, but using one spice for singular emphasis can have just as much impact.
In my native New Zealand, “slices” (both a noun and a verb) are often seen as the preserve of tea and coffee shops. But these iced or glazed sweets are moreish and often simpler to construct than you might assume.
The miso in this slice recipe is, of course, nontraditional. Taking a leaf out of Christina Tosi’s “Momofuku Milk Bar” cookbook, we add it for addictive umami to supercharge this classic Kiwi sweet. Miso and ginger are a tried-and-true combination, but have you tried them together in a dessert? Usually, in adapted recipes, I add miso in place of an existing ingredient, but in this case it is a straight addition — perhaps even a multiplication with the nuance it adds, flavor-wise.