Shortcake and Compote

My craft room de-cluttering is coming on well, I got rid of more old, useless stuff yesterday but my room is still totally disorganised and no crafting has been done. So to satisfy my need to blog I'm showing the shortcake and greengage compote with cream that we've been enjoying this last couple of days. I got the idea for the shortcake from Melissa but altered the recipe slightly as it made too much for my needs. Here it is

1 cup of plain flour

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 tablespoon of baking powder

good pinch of salt

2 oz of butter, cubed

1 egg, beaten

3 tablespoons of single cream

2 tablespoons of milk

Preheat oven to 200 C or gas 6. Put all the dry ingredients and the butter into a bowl or food processor and rub in or process until it resembles bread crumbs. I then tip this into a mixing bowl (because I use the processor) and add the egg, milk and cream. I pull it all together using a normal table knife because I hate using my hands for this bit. The mixture should be quite firm but not dry and not too sloppy. Then I put spoonfuls into muffin cases in a muffin tin, I find it makes six. Bake for 18 minutes. Cool slightly and serve but they are still nice cold.

For the compote I use a punnet of fruit, this time I used greengages but any fruit will do and six plums is what I use for the plum one, I just make it up as I go along but here's a general guide.

punnet of fruit

tablespoon of water or lemon juice

4 tablespoons of sugar

If using fruit with stones, remove the stones and cut the fruit into chunks. Place in a pan with the water or lemon juice and bring to the boil then simmer for about 10 minutes or until soft. Then add the sugar, stir it well until sugar is dissolved. Simmer for about 20 minutes until it thickens slightly.

Really, the shortcake is a scone mix but I don't like scones and because there is no kneading or rolling out of this mixture the cakes are lighter but not too sweet. I probably use too much baking powder so it's up to you if you want to use less. You can butter them if you want to and serve like you would scones with jam and cream but I cut them, put them in a dish with a dollop of compote and pour on some of the single cream that is left over. I love the compote, it is not as sweet as jam and I just make as much as I need at the time. I have used frozen fruit and that works ok too. You might have noticed that I tend not to follow recipes too closely, this annoys Graham! He loves cooking and baking too and makes gorgeous fruit cakes. I also make a terrible mess in the kitchen when I'm cooking, every surface gets cluttered and spattered with ingredients but I enjoy it.