passionfruit cream biscuits

I was in two minds as to whether to start on these or not.  I don’t know where Saturday morning had gone but it was now afternoon and it felt like baking time was over.  I still had dinner to decide on, I wanted to read a book and I was thinking that they’d take more time than stated.  But I’m glad I did.  Perfect little biscuits and so easy to make. 

I don’t think I have ever made biscuits with a buttercream filling before – if I have, it was certainly a long time ago.  But I felt like something different and these looked so dainty.  The biscuits are sweet but not sickly sweet like packet varieties.  And I loved the passionfruit flavour and the crunch of the passionfruit seeds in the biscuit.

I used a slightly larger cookie cutter than specified and that made 18 biscuits and you know the size was fine – in fact it was hard to stop at eating just one!  

If you’re not going to eat all the biscuits straight away, fill the ones you need and put the buttercream in the fridge.  That will keep the biscuits from softening with the filling.  You will need to bring the filling to room temperature before you can pipe the rest.  The biscuits tasted good without the filling too.

I put one tray of biscuits in to bake while I cut the second lot of dough. That meant I didn’t have to worry about uneven baking or moving trays around. 

I impressed myself by piping the filling onto the biscuit base, none too professionally mind (just look at the photo if you don’t believe me!) – I definitely have a lot to learn as far as piping and icing skills are concerned but at least I gave it a go.

I’ll be making these again.  Now I can go sit by the fire with my book and indulge in a cookie or two with a cup of tea – and to hell with dinner!

passionfruit cream biscuits

125g (4oz) butter, softened

2 tsp finely grated lemon rind (peel)

1/3 cup (75g) caster (superfine) sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup or treacle

1 cup (150g) self-raising flour

2/3 cup (100g) plain (all-purpose) flour

¼ cup (60ml) passionfruit pulp

passionfruit cream

2 tbsp passionfruit pulp*

90g (3 ounces) butter, softened

1 cup (160g) icing (confectioners’) sugar

*I used store-bought passionfruit pulp.  If you use fresh passionfruit, you will need about six.

Beat butter, rind and sugar in an electric mixer bowl until light and fluffy.  Add golden syrup, beat until combined.  Stir in sifted dry ingredients and passionfruit pulp.

Turn dough onto floured surface, knead gently until smooth.  Cut dough in half; roll each portion between baking paper or plastic wrap to a thickness of 5mm (¼ inch).  Refrigerate 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.  Grease oven trays, line with baking paper.

Cut 25 x 4 cm (1½ inch) fluted rounds from each portion of dough; place about 2.5cm (1 inch) apart on trays.

Bake biscuits about 10 minutes.  Cool on trays.

While biscuits are cooling, make passionfruit cream.  Spoon passionfruit cream into a piping bag fitted with 5mm (¼ inch) fluted tube.  Pipe cream onto half the biscuits.  Serve dusted with a little extra sifted icing sugar.

passionfruit cream  Strain passionfruit pulp through a fine sieve into a small jug, discard seeds.  Beat butter and sugar in a small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Beat in passionfruit juice.

Recipe from The Australian Women’s Weekly – afternoon tea