Wimbledon smashes onto the south-west London tennis courts from this Monday. Ace your own game, set and match at home with these classic Strawberry Shortcakes, best served in the garden accompanied by a jug of Pimm’s.
Ingredients (makes 8)
For the Shortcakes
350g self-raising flour
100g cold butter, cubed
100g caster sugar
100ml whole milk
1 egg (plus extra beaten egg for glazing)
A squeeze of lemon juice
For the filling
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 x 227g tub of clotted cream
200g fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
Strawberry jam
Method
Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 7 and lightly flour a baking sheet. Put the flour, butter, sugar and a sprinkling of salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until you’ve achieved a fine breadcrumb texture (or, rub together with clean fingertips to achieve the same result).
Tip the mixture into a large bowl. Beat the milk, egg and lemon juice together then add to the bowl and bring together with a knife until you achieve a clumpy dough.
Lightly pat the mixture together with your hands then tip the dough out onto a lightly-floured surface and roll out to approx. 2cm thick. Use a cutter or a saucer as a template to stamp out 8 rounds approx. 7cm in diameter, pinching the trimmings together and rerolling to use up all the dough. Transfer the Shortcakes to the floured baking tray, glaze the tops with beaten egg and bake for 10-12 minutes until risen and golden, or until the bases sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool while you beat the icing sugar and clotted cream together (it will get runnier at first, but will thicken up again as you keep beating).
To assemble your Strawberry Shortcakes, slice each one in half and spread the bases with strawberry jam. Top each base with a dollop of clotted cream and plenty of sliced strawberries, pop the ‘lid’ back on… and prepare to Serve.