Crunchy chocolate and cardamom shortbread biscuits are delicious in their own right. But pile them high with clotted cream and strawberries and you have the perfect dessert for any garden party or summer gathering. The cardamom gives an intriguing, but not overpowering twist to the flavour and melds perfectly with the chocolate.
Cream the butter with the sugar until it's light in colour and fluffy in texture.
175 g unsalted butter, 75 g golden caster sugar
Split the cardamom pods and remove the seeds. Grind the seeds with a pestle and mortar and discard the pod husks. Add to the butter mix and cream some more.
6 cardamom pods
Sift in the dry ingredients.
20 g cocoa powder, 60 g polenta, 170 g plain flour, 1 pinch fine sea salt
Stir everything until it starts to come together.
Set the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
Form the mix into a ball of dough with your hands, then roll it out to about ½ cm (0.2 inch) thick. Stamp into rounds with a 6cm (2 ½") cutter.
Place well apart on a lined baking sheet or two, then chill in the fridge for fifteen minutes. The biscuits will spread if you don't chill them.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until the biscuits are just starting to brown.
Leave to cool slightly then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Dust lightly with caster sugar whilst they're still hot.
Notes
Top with clotted cream and strawberries for a delicious summer dessert.Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on serving size and exact ingredients used. Please refer to my nutrition disclaimer for further information.