An easy peasy pastry that lifts any dish. You dont even need a rolling pin
This pastry is ridiculously easy to make. You do not need any special equipment at all yet it is sophisticated all the same. All you need is a bowl, a regular kitchen knife and some scales to weigh the ingredients.
now this is summer
Credit for this genius recipe goes to the king of ices David Lebovitz one of my all time favourite dessert cooks and this recipe features in his ice cream bible “The Perfect Scoop”. Here I have used a gorgeous local off dry rosé and a little fructose to keep things very tart. Refreshing doesn’t really do the word justice. Somehow the wine lifts the raspberry flavour, the alcohol makes the mixture a little more scoopable and well its just magic. Three ingredients only, proving that some of the best things in life are indeed very very simple.
Now if ever there was a biscuit for the “Boudoir” (Larousse: “a woman’s private sitting room” and derived from the French verb “bouder” to sulk…go figure) this is it. This is what you want at hand to energise and inspire you as you leaf through something Cartlandesque or maybe even Marquis de Sadesque. Handily bite size as who wants crumbs in her boudoir?
These delicately flavoured nibbles are perfect served with black tea ( in porcelain cups and saucers p-lease) and also add a satisfying crunch and hint of perfume served with to ice creams and sorbets. I luckily have some cochineal essence which I purchased in Paris some years ago. Cochineal is made from ground up beetles from Mexico & South America and was invented by the Aztecs and used in their food and dying industries. It has been used since the 17th century in those other famous pink biscuits “Biscuits rose de Reims”. Luckily because it is all natural and nobody is yet concerned with beetle rights, cochineal is becoming fashionable again. Find in specialist patisserie and baking supply shops.
