Strawberry and Lavender Shortcakes - a Tasty Dessert

Ingredients

150 grams plain flour
25 grams of ground rice
125 grams of diced butter
50 grams of caster sugar
One tablespoon of lavender petals

To decorate:
250 grams of strawberries
150 millilitres of double cream
16 small lavender flowers
Sifted icing sugar

Place the ground rice and the flour into a mixing bowl or alternatively, use a food processor. Next, add the butter and rub it in using your fingertips until the mixture starts to resemble fine breadcrumbs.

Next, stir in the lavender petals and sugar and squeeze the crumbs together to form a smooth ball. Knead the mixture lightly and then roll out onto a lightly floured surface until it is 5mm thick. Stamp out 7.5cm circles using a round biscuit cutter. Move the mixture to an ungreased baking sheet and reknead the trimmings, continuing to roll and stamp out until you have created 16 biscuits.

Prick with a fork and bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees fahrenheit for around twelve minutes until it is a golden colour. Then, leave it to cool on the baking tray.

For serving, halve four of the strawberries, and slice the rest of them. Whip up the cream and spoon it over eight of the biscuits. Next, top with the sliced strawberries and then onto the remaining biscuits. Spoon the rest of the cream on top and decorate with the reserved halved strawberries and sprigs of lavender. Dust lightly with the icing sugar. They are best eaten on the same day that they are filled, but the plain biscuits can be stored for up to three days in an airtight tin.

This dessert should feed up to eight people, the preparation time is around half an hour and the cooking time is up to twelve minutes.