Good shortbread is crunchy and very short, so don’t overwork or overcook the dough in this strawberry shortcake recipe.
Ingredients
- 450g small fresh strawberries
- Finely grated zest of 1 small orange, plus extra to decorate
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 tsp orange-flavoured liqueur, such as Cointreau
- 150ml double cream
- 200ml fresh custard
For the orange shortbread
- 175g chilled semi-salted butter,
- cut into small pieces, plus extra
- for greasing
- 175g plain flour, plus extra to dust
- 50g semolina or ground rice
- Finely grated zest of 2 small oranges
- 50g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
Method
- 1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan140°C/gas 3. Grease a 23cm loose-bottomed fluted flan tin with butter and set aside.
- 2. Put the flour, semolina/ground rice and orange zest in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and whizz briefly until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and whizz again until the mixture starts to stick together in small lumps. Tip into a bowl and bring together into a ball. Knead briefly on a lightly floured surface until smooth.
- 3. Roll out into a 23cm disc, place in the flan tin and press the mixture out into the fluted edges of the tin. Flute the edges with the nail of your index finger. Score 8 wedges with a sharp knife, then prick with a fork.
- 4. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the tin from the oven. Push out the base, cut the shortbread into eight pieces, then remove from the base and onto a new baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes more until crisp.
- 5. Remove from the oven, sprinkle immediately with a little caster sugar and leave to cool on the sheet.
- 6. Hull the strawberries and slice them in half into a bowl. Stir in the orange zest, icing sugar and liqueur.
- 7. Slide the shortbread onto a flat serving plate. In a bowl, whip the cream until stiff, then gradually whisk in the custard until the mixture holds its shape. (You must whip the cream sufficiently before you start adding the custard.) Spoon the mixture into the centre of the shortbread and spread out to within 2.5cm of the outer edge. Spoon over the strawberries and grate over a little extra orange zest to decorate.
Nutritional info
Per serving: 440kcals, 29.2g fat (17.7g saturated), 4.3g protein, 42.4g carbs, 19g sugar, 0.4g salt
Chef's tip
It should be tinged with gold around the edges and will finish cooking on the rack.
If you buy a punnet of berries that are devoid
of flavour, don’t cast them aside. It’s simple
to give them a bit of life – just re-adjust the sweetness and acidity by adding a little caster sugar and a few drops of lemon juice to suit your taste. It works wonders.