Strawberry & Vanilla Biscuits

A fruity twist on our family favourite shortbread recipe. Perfect for picnics.

The beetroot powder in the strawberry dough is simply for a pretty pink colour (I do like the additional nutrients though), but feel free to leave it out or use a drop of pink or red food colouring instead.

Makes about 20 - 30 biscuits (depending on their thickness and size)

VANILLA DOUGH

unsalted butter, 125g

plain/cake/all-purpose flour, 150g (250ml or 1 cup)

cornflour, 75g (125ml or 1/2 cup)

caster sugar, 70g (about 80ml or 1/3 cup)

fine salt, 1.25ml (1/4 teaspoon)

vanilla bean paste, 15ml (1 tablespoon)

egg, 1

STRAWBERRY DOUGH

freeze-dried strawberry powder, 30ml (2 tablespoons)

beetroot powder, 2.5ml (1/2 teaspoon)

To start, roughly chop the butter then place all the ingredients for the vanilla dough in a large bowl or a food processor bowl fitted with a blade attachment.

Mix the ingredients together or blitz in a food processor for a minute or two until it comes together in a soft, sticky dough.

Divide the dough in half.

Add the strawberry powder and beetroot powder (if using) to one half of the dough before mixing well until uniform.

Wrap each dough and refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes).

Roll each dough out to similar size rectangles and a thickness of about 5mm (use a little extra flour for dusting the top and bottom of the dough and the rolling pin if you need to).

Dust the excess flour off both dough rectangles before placing the strawberry dough on top of the vanilla dough (you can brush the vanilla dough with a little water if the two doughs do not want to stick together).

Starting from one of the long sides, tightly roll the two doughs together to form a log.

Wrap the log and refrigerate again for about 30 minutes (or freeze for about 10 minutes).

Once firm, cut into rounds of about 5mm to reveal the swirl and place them on a large baking paper lined tray (or two medium size trays).

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).

Bake for approximately 10 minutes until the biscuits are a light golden colour and have a matt appearance (they will be soft when they come out of the oven).

Leave the biscuits on the tray/s to cool and firm up (you can transfer them to a cooling rack if you wish, but be mindful that they will be fragile when fresh out of the oven).

Store in an airtight container.