Strawberry shortcake ice cream bars

Chop fresh strawberries small for maximum surface area, toss with about two tablespoons of sugar, spread on a silicone baking mat.

Roast at a low temperature to dehydrate and soften them, stirring periodically so the edges do not dry out, until the juices thicken and look almost candied. Description: "roasted at 275 for 1 hour".

In a saucepan combine three cups whole milk, one cup cream, three quarters of a cup of sugar, a pinch of salt and the seeds and pod of half a split, scraped vanilla bean; bring to a gentle simmer to infuse.

Whisk eight yolks with sugar until pale.

When the dairy steams, whisk about half into the yolks constantly, then pour the yolks back into the saucepan and kill the heat.

Switch to a spatula and cook the creme anglaise on medium to about 180F, checking with a thermometer, until thickened.

Chill the base in an ice bath, ice water level with the custard, keeping water out; refrigerate about half as the vanilla base.

Scrape all the roasted strawberries and their dried residue into a blender with the other half of the base; add to taste with a teaspoon of hibiscus powder, then the rest of the strawberries and another teaspoon of hibiscus, then 10 g freeze-dried strawberries.

Strain through a large fine strainer to catch the seeds, scraping the bottom.

Spin in the ice cream maker until it holds its shape.

Spread a 1 cm thick slab of strawberry ice cream in a plastic-wrap-lined frame (cores 4 cm by 8.5 cm by 1 cm) and freeze.

Spin the cold vanilla base. Meanwhile unmold the strawberry slab half at a time, cut the cores, round off sharp edges, and return to the freezer on a sheet tray.

Squeeze vanilla ice cream from a cut bag into each mold about halfway, press in a strawberry core, top up, and freeze.

Sugar cookie crumbs, two batches, one plain and one strawberry: oven at 325. Whisk the dry ingredients, adding strawberry powder to the strawberry batch.

Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, softening the butter 5 seconds in the microwave if needed; add the egg mixture, heavy cream and vanilla, then the dry ingredients.

Pat each dough out with a floured hand, roll into a smooth even layer, slide onto a half sheet tray and bake; checked after about 7 minutes in, then a 10 minute timer set.

Unmold the frozen bars, using a little hot water; smooth away the mold ridges and return to the freezer individually.

Pull the browned edges off the cookies and crumble the pink and pale centres.

Moisten the crumbs with a little milk, more butter and sprays of water so the fine bits clump into pebbles.

Dry the crumbs in a 200F oven, stirring after five minutes and watching for browning, about 20 minutes.

Mix the strawberry crumbs into the vanilla ones, breaking up large pieces, and freeze so they absorb less ice cream.

Pack a single layer of frozen crumbs onto each bar and freeze again.