The wild, deep blue-black blueberries called myrtille, that grow in the cooler rocky areas of Southern Europe and Asia are small, moist and intensely flavoured and most often used dried to flavour many gâteaux of this area, though I liked them best in a simple, unsalted butter-rich, crisp shortbread in which, if it is allowed to be stored for a few days in an airtight container, their sweet flavour becomes more pronounced.

Ingredients

• 200 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup caster sugar
• Grated rind one small orange
• 2 cups flour
• ½ cup well-packed dried blueberries, finely chopped (use currants if no blueberries available)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC and grease 2 or more baking trays.
2. Beat the butter, sugar and orange rind together until the mixture is pale in colour and well whipped. This can be done by hand with a bit of elbow grease.
3. Stir in the flour and dried blueberries and use your hands to bring the dough together. Turn out, wrap in plastic wrap or baking paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. On a very lightly floured board, roll out the dough to 0.5cm thickness, too much flour will make the biscuits tough, so be on the mean side when scattering flour on the bench. Cut into shapes and place on the prepared trays.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until the biscuits are beginning to turn a light shade of toast-brown around the edges. The biscuits need to be transferred to a cake rack to cool, as they are likely to stick to the tray otherwise. Once cold, keep in an airtight container.