INGREDIENTS
2 cups pastry flour
3 cups cream
1 kg strawberries
1 scant tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons sugar
METHOD
1 Begin with 2 cups of pastry flour, mix in 1 scant tablespoon of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt and then gently stir in 1¼ cups of cream. (If you use plain flour, you’ll need an extra 1½ tablespoons of cream.)
2 Knead it all together, pat it out, and cut it into 8 little rounds. Brush them with cream, put them on a baking tray (leaving some space between them) and bake at 220°C for about 15 minutes.
3 With a 5.5 cm round cutter, this makes a dozen biscuits. If you don’t have a biscuit cutter, don’t worry; you can use the rim of a glass, or even a sharp knife if you want to cut them into triangles or squares.
4 While the biscuits are baking, put a bowl and the beaters of an electric mixer into the refrigerator to chill.
5 Allow the biscuits to cool on a rack. Meanwhile, whip 1½ cups of cream with the cold beaters in the cold bowl just until it holds soft peaks. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of sugar — the sweetness is up to you – and whip a bit more. Do not overbeat the cream.
6 Slice the strawberries and sprinkle them with a bit of sugar; taste until you’ve got the balance right. (If the weather’s been fine, the strawberries will need no help, but if it’s been
a rainy season, the berries will be less flavourful and you’ll probably want more sugar.)
7 Slice the biscuits in half, cover the bottom of each with berries. Spread on some whipped cream. Put the top on, slather with more whipped cream and decorate with the remaining berries.
Recipes and Image from My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl, published by Murdoch Books
