- 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
- 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.