Strawberry &mascarpone biscuits with white chocolate button topping

English strawberries have been very good this year with an intense characteristic sweetness and a medley of subtle flavour changes in the eating, from first bite through mastication, so I thought I’d try a strawberry biscuit. Now, I’ve never quite understood the notion of strawberry shortcake as both biscuit and fruit seem a bit too unyielding towards each other – and you really have to use cream to effect a marriage. This would never work for a church biscuit as it would need much too much in the way of hand-eye coordination, concentration and concern for clothing to ever let us get on with chatting and its accompanying gesticulations (today of arms flung out in amazement, accompanied by hugging as yet more and more grandchildren in utero are announced  – 2  this week and one last!).

So, in search of a much softer textured biscuit, I turned to the recipe for strawberry  ricotta biscuits in Miranda Gore Browne‘s book Biscuit.  Necessity caused ricotta to be exchanged for mascarpone as this was all I could find 8.30 pm last night in S.Oxfordshire. I also grabbed a packed of white chocolate buttons to put on top as I don’t care for an a iced topping , albeit one laced with a couple of puréed strawberries. Biscuit production was ably assisted by daughter No 3 who was in consequence  forgiven for not having planted out my delphiniums while I was in London. These biscuits are soft and cake like.

110 g unsalted butter cubed and softened

200 g golden caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

seeds from 1 vanilla pod (optional)

1 egg

225 g ricotta/mascapone cheese

250 g SR flour

1/4 tsp salt

125 g strawberries (wiped clean, not washed) and chopped

more  strawberries cut in half to decorate or  a packet of white chocolate buttons

Strawberry &mascarpone biscuits with white chocolate button topping

This recipe made over 30 largish biscuits. I lined 2 trays with non-stick baking paper and cooked them in 2 batches.

 Preheat oven to 180°/160° fan oven/Gas Mark 4 and line  baking trays.

Cream the butter and sugar with the vanilla extract and seeds until light and fluffy – about 2 minutes in a mixer. Beat in the egg and fold in the cream cheese. Mix to combine. Sift the dry ingredients and fold into the mixture. Finally, fold in the chopped strawberries.

Place dollops of the mixture on the prepared trays, spacing them 3-4 cm apart. If you are adding strawberry halves/slices add them now and bake for 10-15 minutes. If you are adding white chocolate drops, bake for c.8 minutes, then add the chocolate drops and bake for up 2-7 minutes more. (I put my chocolate drops on too soon and they went a bit brown.)

Let biscuits cool on the baking tray for 10 mins and then lift off with a palette knife and cool further on a wire rack.

Strawberry &mascarpone biscuits with white chocolate button topping

For fresh strawberry and almond blondies to see you though Wimbledon fortnight, see end of the post for cherry and almond blondies.

I must share with you a small note of triumph as at last, with daughter No 3 in residence, I have found out how to do a ° instead of spelling it out every time. Yipee. Such little advances, yet so much pleasure.