Strawberry & balsamic sorbet with dark treacly ginger biscuits

When it’s hot outside and you have had plenty to eat, sometimes you need an injection of refreshing, sharp fruit flavours. This is the time for sorbets and granitas to shine. This sweet, acid lemon-and-berryrich sorbet conjures up Mediterranean summers like nothing else, with its lick of balsamic. Make it ahead of time so that you can reveal it after a fat lunch or dinner and look like a magician. It goes beautifully with the dark, sticky ginger biscuits. MAKES 1.4 LITRES FOR THE SORBET 3 lemons (1 whole, 2 juiced) 400g caster sugar 900g ripe strawberries, hulled 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar FOR THE BISCUITS 170g unsalted butter 175g soft light brown sugar 2 tbsp black treacle 2 tbsp golden syrup 1 medium egg, lightly beaten 220g white spelt flour ¼ tsp ground cloves ½ tsp ground ginger ½ tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda ♥ Remove the pips from the whole lemon and blitz in a food processor with the sugar until reduced to a paste. Scrape the contents into a bowl, removing any pips that have snuck in. ♥ Purée the strawberries, then mix into the lemon and sugar paste with the lemon juice. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and pour the mix (strained if you prefer to remove the seeds) into an ice cream machine. Churn for about 1 hour, then transfer to a freezer-proof container and freeze for a further 4 hours. If you don’t have an ice cream machine, pour the mixture into a lidded freezer-proof container and freeze for 8 hours, stirring it briefly with a fork every 2 hours to break up any ice crystals. ♥ Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4 and line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. ♥ Melt the butter in a pan with the sugar, treacle, syrup and a few pinches of salt, stirring well. Add the egg and stir it in. Sift the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda into the butter mixture and stir to combine (it will be a wet and sticky dough). ♥ Drop tablespoons of the mixture on to the baking sheets, leaving a tangerine’s width between each spoonful to stop them spreading into each other. Bake for about 15 minutes until the biscuits have completely spread out and darkened. They should still be very slightly soft. Let them cool for just a few minutes before prising off the baking parchment and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve with scoops of the sorbet.