Summer has arrived & although the sunshine has been a bit shy just lately, there are some fabulous fruits in the shops right now, ripe for the picking. Summer for me has always meant strawberries & as a child, I would love to both pick & eat them. We grew them in pots in the garden & sometimes would go strawberry picking at a local farm, but they were always lusciously lovely & the mere scent of strawberries brings back those memories instantly! Sunny Summer afternoons spent sitting on the grass, sipping a glass of my Mum’s homemade elderflower fizz (now there’s a recipe!) & pretending it was the finest Champagne, the hum of bumble bees buzzing around & warm sunshine on my face, whilst indulging in a beautiful blanket banquet. This would obviously include a bowl of freshly picked strawberries, washed & dunked in a little sugar before being devoured. This is why I always smell strawberries before buying them (& probably why I get such funny looks from other shoppers!). The sweeter the scent, the sweeter the berry! Sometimes the simplest of treats is the most delicious & satisfying to all the senses – we don’t just eat food with our mouths, all the other senses chip in too!
One of my all time favourite treats is a petite pretty pastry, filled to the brim & adorned with ripe, ruby red strawberries. To call it a jam tart would not do justice to them, as the jam is simply the sweet glue that bonds these beautiful berries together within the pastry cup. These delicate delicacies are another of my childhood favourites & tremendously easy to make, all it takes is a little preparation & of course a little patience too. They also work well with a variety of berries or fruit – try cherries, raspberries, blackberries or blueberries, or why not pineapple, apricots or apples! Ready to bake it happen? Hands washed, aprons on & here we go!
What you need:
For the pastry:
6oz Plain Flour
2oz Salted Butter, room temperature (slightly softened)
2oz Sugar (I use my homemade vanilla sugar – pop a vanilla pod in a jar of sugar overnight & that’s it!)
1 large Egg
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
Zest of half a Lemon & half an Orange, mixed
A little extra Butter & Flour for preparing your baking tin
A little Milk (approx. 2 tablespoons will do)
For the filling:
Half a jar of good quality Strawberry Conserve or Jam
1 punnet fresh ripe Strawberries
300ml fresh Double Cream
1 teaspoon Icing Sugar
1 plastic or metal Drinking Straw (this is an important piece of kitchen equipment!)
What to do:
Firstly, pre-heat the oven to 200*C. While that’s warming up, prepare your baking tin. You’ll need a 12 cup patty tin for this recipe. Simply wipe a little butter around the inside of each cup & sprinkle in some flour on top. Shake out the excess onto a clean worktop (where you’ll be preparing your pastry later). This makes your patty tin non-stick & the pastries will be easier to remove after baking.
Now to prepare your strawberries – give them a wash in cold water & drain well (I usually tip them onto a clean tea towel). This is where your drinking straw comes in! Push the straw up from the bottom to the top of the berry, all the way through & then pull the tiny strawberry tree from the straw. Pop those tiny trees in the composter, ready to turn into lovely rich soil for the next plants! The riper the strawberries are, the easier it is & this will take moments, leaving you with a bowlful of beautiful hulled berries & not a squishy one in sight!
Stand the strawberries on their plumper end & slice the edges off, then set aside for later (pop them in the fridge on a plate covered up, especially if it’s a warm day). Keep the ends to make dinky decorations for your baked tarts. Slice up the rest of the strawberries into thin slices. Again, set aside in a dish for later, but separately from your strawberry hearts (in case they give out any juice).
There are a couple of ways to make the pretty heart-shaped strawberry slices like I have. Either use a small heart-shaped cutter or plunger if you have one or, as the strawberry is naturally shaped that way, simply cut a little V out of the top of the slice & trim the edges to a point at the bottom of the berry. Make sure you wash your hands after this stage & dry well.
Time to make the pastry cups. Tip all the pastry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Using a knife, mix everything together loosely & break up the eggs, then get your hands in & squish the ingredients together to form a firm ball of dough.
Lightly dust your work surface with a little flour & place your ball of pastry on top. Roll it out until about 3-4mm thick. If it sticks to your worktop, slide a pallet knife underneath it & add a little more flour to your worktop. It is a sticky pastry, so don’t worry if it does this (the taste is worth the effort).
Once rolled, take a circle cookie cutter slightly larger than your patty tin & cut out twelve circles. Place each circle in the prepared tin & using the end of your rolling pin, gently dab each one into place.
Pop half a teaspoon of jam into the centre of each pastry cup & top with some strawberry slices. As jam grows, please do not be tempted to fill up the pastry cup with huge dollops of it – it will expand & spread all over like molten lava & it will burn. Leave the spoon in the jam for later, we’re going to use it again after baking.
Place the tarts in the centre of the oven & bake for 8-10 minutes, until the jam is bubbling around the berries & the pastry has turned a golden hue.
Once baked, remove the tin & place on a cooling rack. Gently slide your pallet knife under each tart & carefully lift out onto your cooling rack.
While your tarts are still warm, scoop another half teaspoon of jam onto the filling of each. Don’t worry about spreading it over the fruit, it will be fine. Allow them to cool completely before the next stage.
To get the strawberry pastry decorations I made, you’re going to need a small calyx cutter (or small star) & a small heart cutter. You can buy these online or at any good baking retailer.
Roll out your pastry as before & cut out a dozen of each shapes, along with a few spares too (just in case!).
Place the hearts on a sheet of greaseproof baking paper on a flat baking tray. Using your little finger or a small brush, dab a drip of milk on the top centre of the strawberry shape, then pop your star on top & leave a couple of the points hanging over the top. Press lightly to attach & there you go – one strawberry pastry shape! Repeat with the rest & brush them all with a little milk (or use your finger to wipe the milk on), then bake for 8-10 minutes in the centre of the oven.
When cooked, use a pallet knife to carefully lift the pastry strawberries onto a cooling rack. They should lift easily off the greaseproof paper, plus you have a clean baking tray – no washing up! Leave to rest until completely cooled. You can make these the day before & pop them in an airtight container until you’re ready to use them.
Once your tarts are cooled, whip your double cream with the icing sugar until thickened & you can make firm swirls with your beaters (the icing sugar helps the cream hold it’s shape when piped). Scoop into a piping bag with your preferred nozzle (or just a bag with the tip cut off if you like).
Pipe swirls of cream, starting at the outer edge & working your way towards the centre, getting the cream taller as you pipe.
Place the pastry strawberry on top, tilting it at a slight angle & a strawberry heart on either side of the cream. Repeat until you have decorated them all & set them onto a pretty plate. If you’re serving them later, cover them & keep in the fridge until then. They will keep overnight (as long as nobody eats them!).
That’s it! Perfect served as part of an elegant afternoon tea, a special soiree, or simply as a sumptuous strawberry treat with a chilled glass of fizz, these plump little pastries will certainly bring some sunshine to your day! Stay hungry! A 😉 x
The sun is shining, the bees are buzzing & Summer is definitely making her presence felt, especially in the garden! We might have had a few soggy moments (although the grass is still a bit straw-like), but that hasn’t stopped the bees from busily working their magic & the plants from producing a beautiful bounty of fruits & berries. 
blackcurrants, are all gracing shop shelves in their punnetfuls! When I was a little girl, gooseberries (or “goosegogs” as they were known) were more readily available too, but seem to have become a bit rare these days. These crunchy pale, zesty-green oval berries would turn your mouth inside out & make your ears flap with their tart tang if you ate them raw, but they also made lovely preserves & pies. Recently, a lovely friend gave me a huge bowlful of these gorgeous green berries after she had been fruit picking with family. We shared them with my Mum & simply ate them by the handful the next day! Whatever your berry preference, the temptation to just eat them as they are is rather difficult to ignore, but they will give any dessert a deliciously luscious lift!
ripened strawberries & it takes me right back to garden picnics, with a bowlful of berries & dipping them in sugar (it was the same with rhubarb & blackberries too). We didn’t need fancy desserts as kids & would just pop down to the garden & pick whatever your Mum asked you to get in for dinner. Obviously, a few things kind of evaporated on the way back from garden to kitchen (especially peas & their pods, which would be munched by the handful, fresh from the vine). My freshly washed strawberry swag would be daintily dipped in a little bowl of sugar (I’m talking a couple of teaspoons here, not a kilo!). It was bliss! Now when I’m buying strawberries, I always smell them before putting them in my basket for an instant trip back in time.
at the time), the simple yet spectacular Strawberry Sponge Square Cake was created! Family, friends & neighbours have all indulged in a slice of this sweet strawberry delight & it has become a firm favourite! Another lovely friend gave me a bowl of beautiful ripe strawberries the other day & obviously, I thought of making this cake. This lighter than air sponge cake is one of the swiftest I’ve made, plus the sponge itself can be made the day before & kept in an airtight container with greaseproof paper between the slices, then all you need to do is assemble it! Aprons on, hands washed & here we go!
you’ve just put in. Sift the flour into the bowl, then using a large metal spoon, make a figure of eight & tip the flour over into the liquid. Repeat until all the flour has been incorporated into a lovely, thick foamy mixture.
Bake in the centre of the oven for about 6 – 8 minutes, until it is lightly golden & slightly risen. Give it a gentle pat with a finger & it should spring back – that’s when it’s ready.
Now you’re ready to assemble your sponge cake! Take your first layer of sponge & lay it on a serving plate.
Repeat with the next layer in exactly the same way, leaving a layer of sponge cake on the top.
Use any remaining strawberries & cream to decorate each person’s plate, maybe dusting with a bit more icing sugar if you like. Or you could just hide the rest in the fridge for nibbling on later (I think you’ve earned it!). If you don’t like strawberries, maybe use raspberries, blackberries, cherries, blueberries or even your favourite jam! I’ve used all kinds of different 
fruits for this & it always turns out beautifully!
Beautiful blue skies & big blossom trees in full bloom must mean Summer is finally making her grand entrance & I for one am rather pleased! The last couple of months have been a rollercoaster of rain, sunshine & hailstorms, giving us all wardrobe issues (you go out in the morning dressed for freezing rain & by lunchtime it’s sweltering sunshine!). It’s May Bank Holiday weekend & although it’s probably not shorts & scanty vest weather just yet, hopefully it will be soon (fingers crossed though, this is the UK remember).
around the lawn barefoot in the warm sunshine, the scent of tiny pink Dianthus filling the air & lovely long Lupins, standing tall in the flowerbeds with their umbrella-like leaves. The anticipation of indulging in various delectable delicacies was always exciting, as I could hear the faint clinking of china cups & saucers, as plates were piled high with treats & loaded onto the table, one after another. My Mum would spend all morning baking up a storm in the kitchen & filling the house with the heady perfume of pastries & cakes! It was bliss!
All my friends know that I absolutely love making afternoon tea & on one occasion, I made cupcake shoes for my guests to take home. Afternoon tea should be a lavish affair – all those miniature, elegantly decorated cakes, plump sumptuous sultanas embedded in fluffy scones, fragrant ripe fruit & berries perched on pastry cups & delicious dainty sandwiches, crustless with cream cheese & cucumber. Of course, there’s the endless cups of Earl Grey tea, with wafer thin lemon slices floating like lilypads on the surface, sometimes accompanied by a flute of fizz (or two, because there’s no such thing as leftover fizz – it’s a myth, like leftover chocolate).
plump them up – nobody likes shrivelled sultanas in their scone, they’re just chewy & not very squishy! Put a large handful of dried fruit in a large mug or a bowl with a tea bag (try Chai tea) & cover in warm, boiled water (let the kettle cool for a couple of minutes first). Give it a stir, put a plate on top & leave it for an hour or two (overnight if you can) & then drain to reveal sumptuous, squishy sultanas! Aprons on, hands washed & here we go!
Lightly dust your worktop with some flour & tip the dough out. I like to knead mine gently for a moment, just to make sure everything is mixed in.
Using a pastry brush, lightly dip in the egg & milk you saved from earlier, then brush each scone on the top to glaze. Don’t brush the sides, because it will stop them from rising properly.
Once cooled, simply stack them on a huge plate, ready to be smothered with strawberry slices, juicy fruit-filled jam & splodges of cream (whipped or clotted cream is fine, whatever you like!). They also taste fabulous eaten slightly warm, sliced in two & spread with a bit of softened butter, which melts into the scone beautifully. Any spares can be stored in an airtight container (they will keep for a couple of days, but freshly baked on the day is always best).
If you’re doing them without fruit, why not add a few chopped nuts instead? Of course, everyone likes scones their own way – my Son prefers plain or walnut scones (actually, he makes the best walnut scones!).
Bananas – love them or loathe them, they are one of the most versatile foods & make some of the best tasting treats. Now I don’t usually get all fired up about fruit, but they’re getting a bit of press recently & it’s not good – apparently, people are throwing away millions of pounds worth of bananas a year because they’re a bit blemished, bruised & generally not very beautiful! So don’t throw them away – show the banana some love!
And then came the delightful discovery of the chocolate banana loaf & it’s one my family’s favourite treats. Use really over-ripened bananas here – as bruised & blotchy as you can get – check out the reduced section of your local shop & if you have a few leftover, just freeze them. My tip is to double the mixture & make two – they tend to evaporate rapidly! Ready to bake it happen? Hands washed, aprons on & here we go!
minutes. Use a skewer to test if it’s cooked – poke it in the middle (the thickest part) of the loaf & if it comes out clean, then it’s ready. If not, give it another five minutes & check again. Once cooked, leave it in the tin on a cooling rack for five minutes, before gently easing the loaf out onto the rack. Carefully remove the greaseproof paper from the edges & leave to cool completely (about half an hour or so).
All that’s left to do is indulge in a thick slice with a cuppa – it’s moist, chocolatey & comforting, plus it makes a great addition for afternoon tea. Store the rest in an airtight container or freeze a few slices for when you fancy a treat. I really want to say this keeps well, but it never lasts very long in our house!
There is something heavenly about the heady fragrance of fresh, ripe juicy strawberries that always makes me think of Summer. When my son was young, we would spend many a sunny afternoon in a strawberry field, gently plucking plump berries from their leafy beds & enjoying their tantalising fragrance on the way home, eagerly looking forward to devouring them!
Now we all know they go very well sandwiched in a scone with jam & cream (if you don’t, you’re missing out), so I like to include these beautiful berries in other delights too.
For a quick impromptu dessert (unexpected guests will love this), whip up a fluffy, fat-free sponge & layer between thinly sliced strawberries & piped cream. It looks like you’ve spent all afternoon baking, but actually takes about 20 minutes from start to finish & most of that time is spent on the assembly! Dust it with icing sugar & if you really want to make it look extra fancy, make a pattern in the sugar with a hot metal skewer across the top (wear an oven glove though – the scent of burning fingers is never attractive).
family call it this because the Italian name is crostata di mandorle e fragoline (please note, no fraggles were harmed in the making of this treat). Of course, the pastry has to be homemade with soft butter, eggs, sugar & flour – if you’re going to do these beauties justice, have a go at making your own. I’ve used various types of flour, 
Another favourite of mine are strawberry jam tarts – I have my own take on these jammy little pastry cups & this is for those over-ripened fruits, the slightly squishy, sad looking ones that have been living in your fridge for a few days & need eating. Put a spoonful of the squished berries in the bottom of pastry cases, 
spoon a little warm, seedless jam over them (only half fill, as jam tends to grow), then bake. Once cooled, just add a swirl of soft cream & a sprig of mint! I try to keep a few in an airtight container for the next day, but they somehow evaporate …. !