Beautifully buttery and crisp shortbread biscuits filled and sandwiched together with softly whipped cream and sliced strawberries.
I’ve taken my favourite Scottish-style Shortbread Biscuits and turned these scrummy biscuits into a dessert which could be served part of an afternoon tea spread or even on a restaurant menu.
Strawberries and Cream Shortbread Sandwiches showcase my favourite summer fruit, strawberries in an elegant dessert no one could resist trying. Each year, I long for the start of the strawberry season.
Come rain or shine, strawberry picking is something we all enjoy doing every year!
Ever since we were little, my parents would take my sister and I fruit picking during the summer holidays when we had a long 6 week break from school. In recent years, I’ve made sure to put aside some time during my leave from work to go strawberry picking, in fact very recently I headed out on a socially distanced strawberry picking trip to my local PYO McLauchlans of Boxted in the beautiful Essex countryside.
For me it’s important to support local businesses and also eat locally sourced food – even more so at the moment we should be eating locally sourced food and supporting our small businesses too. These Essex strawberries taste divine and for me there’s nothing quite comparable to locally grown fruit. I’ve been excited all summer long for strawberries and soon I’ll be out and about picking blackberries to use in more recipes.
Above is a photo of the strawberries I picked last summer from McLauchlans. They taste divine and are super juicy – a true taste of summer for me!
This recipe I’m sharing today is actually one I made for my blog in 2013 at the very start of my blogging journey, thankfully since then my food photography skills have come on leaps and bounds! I’m not perfect, even as a professionally trained chef I haven’t mastered every skill in the kitchen and I’m constantly learning throughout my career – this is why I love going back and improving my recipes for you to have the best experience making them!
The shortbread is pretty straight forward to make: cream the softened butter and sugar until creamy and fluffy. Then fold through the flour and vanilla extract until a crumbly dough forms. The shortbread bakes up well every time I make it and makes a sophisticated dessert paired with whipped cream and sliced strawberries.
These shortbread sandwiches take no time at all to quickly rustle up and taste fantastic for a bake that’s so incredibly simple to prepare. The shortbread dough is very forgiving, the shortbread biscuits still remain crisp even after being rerolled.
Buttery and crisp shortbread biscuits, filled with softly whipped double cream and sliced strawberries. You can play around and fill your shortbread sandwiches with different fresh berries or even a spoonful of curd or jam too!
This recipe makes roughly 10-15 shortbread sandwiches, but the total number you make will all depend on how big or small your biscuit/cookie cutter is.
Devouring one or two of these shortbread sandwiches while sitting in the garden in the sun with a glass of lemonade – that’s summer bliss right there!
This recipe recently proudly featured on McLauchlans of Boxted website, you can also check it out here.
(Makes 10-15)
Ingredients:
200g butter (salted or unsalted), softened
75g caster or granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
150g plain flour
150g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
300ml double cream, chilled
Strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced (you’ll need roughly just under 400g)
Method:
- Line two large baking trays with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside. Preheat the oven to 160°C / 140°C Fan / Gas Mark 3. Cream the softened butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat together until light and pale in colour (about 1-2 minutes).
- Now sift the flours and add to the creamed butter and sugar mixture along with the vanilla extract. Continue to mix until a crumbly and soft ball of dough comes together. Don’t overwork the dough, try to touch it as little as possible. At this point you can wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill it for 15 minutes, however this is an optional step.
- On a lightly floured surface roll the dough out to about 5mm / 1/4 inch thickness. Using your favourite biscuit/cookie cutters (mine was about 6cm), cut out shapes from the dough and transfer to the lined baking trays. Sprinkle the top of each biscuit with a little extra sugar or you can dust each baked biscuit with icing sugar after baking if you prefer.
- Bake the biscuits for 20-25 minutes until they’re crisp and slightly golden around the edges.
- Once baked, leave to cool on the baking trays for 5-10 minutes, then carefully transport to a wire rack and allow the biscuits to cool completely to room temperature.
- Now whisk the chilled cream until soft peaks form – you don’t want the cream over-whipped, just lightly whipped so it has an airy texture. Take approx. a teaspoonful of the whipped cream and place on the base of one of the shortbread biscuits, then layer the sliced strawberries on top of the cream, finish by placing another shortbread biscuit on top and sandwich together gently – don’t press too hard otherwise the cream will spill out from the sides. Repeat with the remaining shortbread until they’re all filled.
- Eat the shortbread straight away or keep these in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also fill the shortbread as and when you want to serve them.
Recipe Notes:
- For my shortbread, I like to use salted butter as I love the flavour it adds contrasting with the sweet sugary topping.
- If you don’t have caster sugar, granulated sugar can be substituted.
- The recipe uses a mix of plain and self-raising flour, however you can use just plain flour if preferred.
Keep up to date with me on:
Like my Facebook page here
Instagram: @whatjessicabakednext
Twitter: @jessbakednext
Pinterest: @jessbakednext