A friend of mine asked me to come up with a simple, light dessert for a dinner party she was hosting. Straight away, strawberries came to mind for both of us. I suggested an Eton mess, but also knew I wanted to take some time to think about something a bit more original.

I wanted to come up with something lactose-free and I knew mozzarella was at least low in lactose so I originally tried this recipe with mozzarella instead. It was still really good but I felt like the mascarpone just had a lighter, creamier flavor which rounded it out so much better. I think mascarpone is actually also fairly low in lactose.

I was lazy (still on this limited diet and very uninspired by food) so I bought the ginger cookies and the chocolate sauce. If you want something quick to prepare that’s definitely the way to go, but if you want to step it up a level you could make your own instead. I did buy an artisan brand of chocolate sauce (Frans) and it was so good I’m not sure I’ll ever bother to make my own in future!

Ingredients (per person):

• 2-4 ginger biscuits (cookies)
• 1 tbsp mascarpone
• 1-2 strawberries
• 1 tsp chocolate sauce

This is basically cheese on crackers for your sweet-toothed guest. Just spread the mascarpone on the biscuits. Finely slice the strawberry and lay it on top of the cheese and then drizzle with chocolate sauce. You can play around with the proportions to suit your personal tastes. These will go soggy over time so they’re best served fresh. Depending on the thickness and crunchiness of your ginger cookies you may be able to keep them in the fridge for a few hours.