CAKE IN THE HOUSE

Flecked with petals and dusted with marigold sugar, this is a floral twist on shortbread to fall in love with

MARIGOLD SHORTBREADS

Makes 16

175g plain or spelt flour 40g caster sugar 6 tbsp (14g) marigold (calendula) petals* 110g cold butter

for the marigold sugar

Marigold petals 50g caster sugar

1 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4. 2 Put the flour, sugar and marigold petals into a bowl, then rub in the butter as for shortcrust pastry. Gather the mixture together and knead gently on a lightly floured surface.

3 Roll out the pastry to 7mm thick, then cut into rounds with a 6cm cutter or into heart shapes. Bake for 15–18 mins until pale brown, depending on the thickness of the biscuits. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

4 While they cool, make the marigold sugar. Blitz the marigold petals in a blender with the sugar for a minute or two until just broken up.

5 Serve the biscuits with fruit fools, or compote and ice-cream, and sprinkle marigold sugar over the top.

Cook’s note Watch these biscuits really carefully while they are baking, they burn easily. They should be a pale golden – any darker and they will be bitter.

Taken from Grow, Cook, Nourish by Darina Allen (Kyle Books). Photography: Clare Winfield.

* The petals of the pot marigold (calendula) are edible. Be sure to use this variety in your cooking as many varieties of the French or African marigold plants ( from the tagetes family) aren’t.