Friday Recipe - Strawberry Shortbread

Summer is well and truly here and the paddocks through the valley are filled with luscious strawberries, raspberries and blueberries and countless other scrumptious fruits. This is my variation on the classic strawberry shortbread. Dead easy but I will permit you to cheat (if you must - rolls eyes) and buy a packet of shortbread - but don't buy the fingers - you need a crisp buttery biscuit for this to work well. Choose something thin!

Strawberries are my favourites and bring back vivid memories of childhood - mum used to have a large strawberry patch near the kitchen which would be netted as the fruits started to ripen to protect them from the blackbirds but not us kids!!! You can of course use any of you favourite soft fruits.

What you need

For the shortbread 500g Self Raising Flour
250g Butter
200g Sugar (can't be fructose)
1 Egg (beaten)
1 Heaped Teaspoon Ginger (optional)
Pinch Salt

For the fruity bit 1kg Strawberries (or other soft fruit)
1 Large pot of whipping cream
Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence

How to put it all together
1. In a large mixing bowl crumb together the flour and butter (like making pastry)
2. Add the sugar, salt, egg and ginger: combine well.
3. Kneed until it forms a soft ball.
4. Roll out to about half a centimeter deep and cut into decent sized rounds (or what ever shape you like). Some people make large circles and put it all together like a cake but this is a bit messy to cut.
5. Bake in a warm oven about 150 - 160 Degrees C for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown
6. While the biscuits are baking - prepare the fruit - wash and hull strawberries and place in a bowl and add sugar to taste. Don't leave this until the last minute as they need time for the juices to start running.
7. Prepare the cream in another bowl - add the vanilla essence and a tablespoon of powdered sugar and whisk well.
8. Place a good dollop of cream in an individual serving dish and a good helping of fruit and another dollop of cream - top with one or two shortbreads - ideally while still slightly warm.

Enjoy!!!