Strawberry and elderflower fool with lemon biscuits
- Published: 14 Jul 17
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
You’d be a fool not to try these light, summery strawberry and elderflower desserts topped with moreish lemon biscuits.
Or, these strawberry and elderflower jellies with prosecco cream might hit the spot – they’re both dinky AND decadent.
- Serves 6
- Hands-on time 45 min, oven time 15-18 min, plus chilling
Ingredients
- 280ml whole milk
- 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways, and seeds
- 2 medium free-range egg yolks
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 50g caster sugar
- 4 tbsp elderflower cordial
- 400g strawberries, chopped, plus extra
- 300ml double cream
- Small bunch fresh mint, leaves picked
For the lemon biscuits
- 100g unsalted butter, softened
- 50g icing sugar, sifted
- 100g plain flour
- 20g cornflour
- Zest 1 lemon
- 3 tbsp whole milk
You’ll also need…
- Piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle or a food bag with the corner snipped off
Method
- Pour the 280ml milk into a saucepan and add the vanilla pod and seeds. Warm over a low heat until gently steaming, then set aside. Beat the yolks and cornflour together in a heatproof bowl.
- Pour the warm milk over the yolks and whisk until smooth. Return to the pan and heat gently, stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens and starts to boil (about 15 minutes). Stir in the caster sugar until dissolved, then pour into a heatproof bowl. Remove the vanilla pod, cover the surface with cling film and leave to cool, then chill.
- For the biscuits, beat the butter, icing sugar, plain flour, cornflour, lemon zest and milk with an electric mixer to a soft, pipeable consistency. Spoon the mixture into the piping bag or a food bag with the corner snipped off. Pipe 12 x 5cm circles on 2 baking sheets lined with non-stick baking paper. Leave space between the circles to let the biscuits spread. Chill for 2 hours.
- Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5. Put the elderflower cordial and strawberries in a pan and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the fruit breaks down but still has visible pieces of berry (squash any large pieces with a fork). Leave to cool.
- When the biscuits have chilled, bake for 15-18 minutes until turning golden at the edges. Cool on a wire rack.
- Assemble the fool. In a large bowl whip the cream to soft peaks with an electric mixer. Remove the custard from the fridge, whisk briefly, then fold in the whipped cream using a large metal spoon. Swirl in most of the strawberry purée. Divide among small glasses or cups and crumble over half the biscuits. Serve or chill until needed. Top with a little chopped mint, extra strawberries, and a final drizzle of purée. Serve with the remaining biscuits.
- Recipe from June 2017 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 625kcals
- Fat
- 45g (27.3g saturated)
- Protein
- 5.8g
- Carbohydrates
- 47.6g (29.5g sugars)
- Fibre
- 3.2g
- Salt
- 0.1g
delicious. tips
Make the fool up to 24 hours ahead and chill, but don’t top with biscuits and berries until ready to serve.
The biscuits will keep in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Buy ingredients online
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