These do more than fill the biscuit tin. Almond meal and tahini together make this a genuinely mineral-dense snack rather than an empty one. Tahini is one of the richest food sources of calcium, magnesium and zinc, and it carries sesame lignans, compounds with mild phyto-oestrogenic activity that partly explain why sesame features so heavily in traditional postpartum and women's diets. Almond meal adds vitamin E, more magnesium again, and enough fibre that the natural sugars in the maple syrup land gently rather than spiking and dropping you.

There is no refined sugar and no seed oil here, and the fat and fibre slow the release, which is the whole point when you are reaching for something at 3pm and your blood sugar (and your patience) is dipping. Magnesium is the thread running through the recipe, and it is one of the first minerals to run low in the stretched, nervous-system-taxed years of mothering and perimenopause. A cookie like this is a quiet, everyday way to keep topping it up.

BUCKWHEAT & BANANA LOAF // this is one of the most popular recipes on my website and absolutely perfect for ‘back to school’ prep. It’s lovely and moist; and can be eaten for breakfast OR put into lunchboxes.

enjoy xx #sageandfolk #lunchboxideas #breakfastideas #backtoschool