Ingredients

• 420g/15oz butter
• softened
• 160g/5¾oz caster sugar
• plus extra for sprinkling
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 420g/15oz plain flour
• plus extra for dusting
• 210g/7½oz cornflour or rice flour
• 230g/8¼oz unsalted butter
• softened
• 4 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 450g/1lb icing sugar
• 1kg/2lb 4oz small strawberries
• hulled
• 850g/1lb 14oz jam or preserving sugar
• 1 lemon
• juice only
• 30 strawberries
• hulled
• thinly sliced

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 170C/160C Fan/Gas 3. Grease two baking trays and line with parchment.
• Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Stir in the vanilla extract.
• Sift and fold the flour and cornflour gradually until it binds together. Gently knead until just smooth (be careful not to over-work it). Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Flour a work surface and roll out the dough to 5mm/¼in thick. Use a large cookie cutter to cut into 48 circles. Transfer to the prepared baking trays and bake for 15–20 minutes
• or until pale golden-brown.
• Sprinkle with the remaining caster sugar and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Carefully transfer to a wire rack.
• For the buttercream
• put the butter
• half the milk and all the vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl. Beat until smooth using an electric mixer. Sift over the icing sugar and
• with the mixer on a low speed
• continue mixing until smooth. Add a little more milk if required.
• For the jam
• set aside a small handful of strawberries and mash the rest to a rough pulp. Pour the pulp into a wide
• heavy-bottomed pan. Add the jam sugar and lemon juice and bring to the boil. Add the remaining strawberries and boil for about 5 minutes
• see the tip section for how to check if the jam has set. Remove from the heat and skim off the pink scum. Leave to cool.
• Put a layer of cream
• then a layer of jam onto a shortbread and use another round to make a ‘sandwich’. Fan the sliced strawberries on top. Repeat the process with the remaining shortbread
• buttercream
• jam and strawberries to make 24 sandwiches.