Sweet Recipes

Strawberry & Rhubarb Crumble Shortbread with Strawberry & Mint Vinegar

by Peter Sidwell of Simply Good Food TV

Rhubarb and custard for me is a wonderful combination of flavours, it reminds me of my childhood. This recipe is a great opportunity to celebrate a great British ingredient and let those memories flood back.

Ingredients

250g butter (softened)
125g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
325g of plain flour
50g of custard powder
150g of strawberry jam
200g of rhubarb
2 tbsp of Womersley Strawberry & Mint Vinegar
75g granulated sugar  
50g of oats
1 orange  

Method

Place the softened butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat together until soft, light and fluffy. It's really important to make sure your butter is room temperature so it will cream together with the sugar.
Add in the egg yolks and continue to mix while you measure out the remaining ingredients.
Mix the custard powder and flour together and add slowly into the bowl until it just starts to come together.
Scoop out ¾ of the mix onto a clean work surface and knead together to make a soft dough.
Press the mixture into a baking tray (20cms x 10cm approx.) lined with parchment paper.
Using your fingers, press the dough down firmly to make a traditional shortbread base; it should be about 1cm deep.
With the remaining dough, add in the oats and orange zest then crumble it up in your hands to make a crumble.
Pour the crumble out onto another baking tray.
Bake both trays in the oven for 20 minutes at 160°C until golden.

While the shortbread is cooking it’s time to make the jam for the filling.
Dice the rhubarb into 1cm chunks and place in a saucepan.
Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes until soft, then pour off the excess liquid.
Add the strawberry jam and simmer for 2 minutes.
Using a spoon, mix the jam together, then pour over the shortbread; as it is warm it will spread easily.
Break the crumble up and scatter the topping evenly over the jam, leave to set and cut into portions.