Strawberry & elderflower cobbler

• strawberries↗1 kg kg

  large ones halved

• vanilla pod↗1

  split open

• lemon↗1

  zested and juiced

• light brown soft sugar↗40g g
• elderflower cordial↗80ml ml
• cornflour↗1½ tbsp tbsp
• clotted cream↗

  or vanilla ice cream, to serve

• self-raising flour↗150g g
• golden caster sugar↗50g g
• unsalted cold butter↗100g g

  cut into cubes

• buttermilk↗80-100ml ml
• demerara sugar↗30g g

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Toss the strawberries in an oval, roughly 25cm, ovenproof dish with the vanilla, lemon, sugar and cordial. Roast in the oven for 10 mins, or until the strawberries are jammy but holding their shape. Remove the vanilla pod and discard. Mix a little of the strawberry juices into the cornflour, then add the cornflour mixture to strawberries, combining well.

2. 2

   For the cobbler topping, toss the flour with the sugar and a pinch of salt. Rub the butter into the flour mixture using your fingertips, then swiftly stir in 80ml buttermilk. If it looks dry, stir in the remaining 20ml. Spoon the cobbler mix over the strawberry base (about eight large spoonfuls), sprinkle over the demerara sugar and bake for 25-30 mins, or until the topping is lightly golden brown. Leave to rest for 10 mins, then serve with clotted cream or ice cream.Twist itSummer berries: Use a mixture of summer berries and up the sugar to 60g. Frozen summer berries work well – just leave out the cooking time for the fruit in step 1, toss the berries with the vanilla, lemon, sugar and cordial, then follow the method from step 2.Peach melba: Slice 3 ripe peaches and toss them with 400g raspberries in step 1 for a peach melba twist. Remove the elderflower cordial if doing this twist, and top the cobbler with flaked almonds before baking.Gooseberries: Simply use the same quantity of gooseberries and cordial, but increase the amount of sugar to 80g.