Fennel Welsh cakes with a blueberry coulis

My version of Welsh cakes is spiced with fennel seeds, has tart dried blueberries, and is served with a fresh blueberry coulis.

Ingredients

For the Welsh cakes

• 225g/8oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 285g/10oz golden caster sugar
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
• 100g/3½oz unsalted butter, cubed, plus extra for greasing
• 50g/1¾oz dried blueberries, roughly chopped
• 1 medium free-range egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp whole milk

For the coulis

• 250g/9oz fresh blueberries
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
• squeeze lemon juice

Method

1. To make the Welsh cakes, mix the flour, 85g/3oz of the caster sugar, the baking powder and crushed fennel seeds together in a bowl. Add the cubed butter and use your fingertips to rub it in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the blueberries and mix to combine.

2. Make a well in the centre and add the egg. Use a table knife to mix the egg in, then add the milk and bring the dough together with your hands.

3. Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the dough to 1cm/½in thickness. Cut out rounds using a 4cm/1½in round cutter, then take all the scraps, bring them together and re-roll. Cut out more rounds, and keep doing this until you have used up all the dough. Put the remaining 200g of caster sugar into a bowl.

4. Lightly brush a medium non-stick pan with a little melted butter or spray with oil. Place a batch of Welsh cakes in the pan well spaced out, and cook over a low heat for 3 minutes. Turn them over and cook for another 3 minutes, then take off the heat and immediately dip each Welsh cake into the bowl of sugar. Set aside. Do the same for the remaining Welsh cakes: cook, coat in sugar and set aside.

5. To make the coulis, purée the blueberries in a food processor with the icing sugar and lemon juice until broken down. Then push through a sieve to remove the seeds. Serve the coulis in a small bowl alongside the Welsh cakes.

Fennel Welsh cakes with a blueberry coulis