RASPBERRY AND COCONUT MARSHMALLOW BISCUITS

180g butter at room temperature 150g unrefined golden caster sugar 55g unrefined light muscovado sugar Two free-range eggs Two tsp vanilla extract 350g plain flour One tsp baking powder A pinch Maldon salt Lightly crush the fruit with a wooden spoon, and tip into a non-reactive pan with the sugar.

Gently heat to dissolve the sugar, then bring up to a rolling boil, and allow it to bubble away, stirring, for five to six minutes.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Pour into a suitable container and keep refrigerated. Using a mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars until pale and fluffy.

Whisk each egg in one at a time, and then add the vanilla and a pinch of salt.

Sift together the flour and baking powder, and add slowly to the mixture, until the whole lot comes together to form a soft dough.

Roll the dough in clingfilm and chill for at least an hour.

When your dough is sufficiently chilled, roll it out on a well-floured surface, and cut out rectangles about 9x4cm.

Lay these on a non-stick baking tray or on lightly-buttered greaseproof paper on a tray. Prick all over with a fork. Chill the biscuits in the freezer for half an hour before baking.

Bake the biscuits for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they turn a nice deep golden colour.

When slightly cooled, place on a cooling rack until completely cold.

If you wish, you can trim the edges to geometric perfection at this stage.

Stir a little pink colouring into the desiccated coconut and stir about so you get a nice mix of shades. Set aside until you’re ready to decorate the biscuits. Soak the gelatine in 50ml cold water, turning occasionally to make sure it gets completely soaked through and jellified.

Put the sugar, glucose and water into a heavy-based saucepan.

Bring the liquid to the boil and bubble until the mixture reaches 127ºC or the hard-ball stage on a sugar thermometer.

Remove from the heat, carefully slide in the gelatine and its water and stir to mix. In a mixer, or using an electric hand-whisk, gently set the egg white whisking, and when they reach a firm peak, slowly pour in the hot syrup.

The egg will start to become thick and glossy.

Add the vanilla extract and enough of the colouring to make a pretty pink colour, and whisk until amalgamated.

Keep whisking until the mixture is almost fully cooled, then decant into a piping bag.

Pipe onto the biscuits in two lines of neat blobs.

Spoon some cold jam into a smaller piping bag and cut the end to about 5mm diameter.

Pipe the jam down the middle of each biscuit, and quickly sprinkle each one with the coconut, so it sticks to the jam and marshmallow. Allow to cool before serving.