Ingredients
350g hulled ripe strawberries, washed, dried and cut in half (or quarters if large)
160g double cream
Vanilla shortbread
250g butter, chopped
seeds of 1 vanilla bean
⅓ cup caster sugar
2¼ cups plain flour, sifted
¼ cup rice flour, sifted
Method
Preheat the oven to 150°C.
To make the shortbread, beat the butter, vanilla seeds and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Stir in the sifted flours and press mixture together to form a firm dough.
Knead dough gently on a floured surface until smooth. (Don't over-knead it.) Divide the dough in half.
Roll out both halves of dough to approximately 23cm rounds. Press an upturned 22cm flan-tin ring into the dough to cut out a round. Cut each round into 12 wedges.
Place the wedges on lightly greased oven trays, about 3cm apart. Bake for about 25 minutes or until they become a light sandy colour. Leave on the trays for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
To serve, divide strawberries among 4 dishes. Top with a generous dollop of double cream and serve with shortbread wedges.
HOT TIP
For something different, replace half of the double cream with mascarpone and combine gently.
