The church biscuit: 24. Mary Berry’s ‘very best shortbread’. (From ‘Mary Berry’s Ultimate Cake Book’: BBC Books, 1994)

When you’re running short of time and need a reliable recipe that will work perfectly, Mary Berry is a good bet and if she calls something ‘The Very Best” then she’s fully engaged my attention. This was quick to make and was much appreciated by both our congregations. I doubled the ingredients but think I might quadruple them next time in order to make the biscuits thicker and then I can cut them thinner. See the recipe here. I used ground rice this time but will try semolina next time. Mine are a little overdone as I set my fan oven on the temperature for a non fan oven and had a mad dash to reduce the thermostat half way through – after which the shortbread  finished cooking covered over with foil. Although I marked out the slices before cooking these  lines had disappeared when the baking tray came out of the oven. It was, however, easy to impress firm lines on the shortcake after it had cooled for a couple of minutes  and then when fully cooled, it broke beautifully. Thank you Mary for trouble free baking.