Passionfruit melting moments

Ahh, biscuits. One of many reasons I get anxious if there's no butter in the fridge (a rare occasion, believe me). Simple, quick and gratifying - what's not to love?

Although not usually my first choice to bake, I absolutely love a good, buttery biscuit - but generally I dry them out. While this is a great excuse to slather them with even more icing/buttercream/deliciousness, I have been practising my biscuit baking quite regularly over the last six months so I can stop hiding behind the yummy extras.

After failing miserably at shortbread over Christmas, I was hesitant to try the latest revision of my melting moments recipe. To my absolute delight - they turned out perfect! Crumbly, rich and delicious. Unfortunately in my haste, I pulled them off the baking paper a little early so there were a few casualties, but overall these are fabulous - and by far this is the best recipe I've tried.

As for the passionfruit buttercream? If the biscuits hadn't worked out, big spoonfuls of buttercream would have made an equally delicious afternoon coffee treat!

Passionfruit melting moments

Makes 15 sandwiched biscuits.

Ingredients:

Biscuits:

• 250g butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup pure icing sugar, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups plain flour
• 1/3 cup custard powder (substitute cornflour if you don't have any on hand)

Passionfruit buttercream:

• 250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups pure icing sugar, sifted
• 5-6 tablespoons passionfruit pulp (I used 3 medium passionfruit)
• Rind of one small lemon, finely grated

Method:

• Preheat your oven to 160 degrees C, and line two large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
• In a stand mixer, cream the butter until softened. Add the sifted icing sugar and vanilla, and cream all together, mixing on medium high for 2-3 minutes until very pale.
• Sift in the plain flour and custard powder, and gently fold together until a buttery dough is formed.
• Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of your dough into balls and place on your prepared baking trays, about 5cm apart. You should get about 30 from the mix.
• Dip a fork into plain flour, and flatten each ball to approximately 1cm thick.
• Bake for 15 minutes, or until just set. Impatient bakers beware - these biscuits will crumble if you try to pick them up while they are too hot! So wait a few minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely.

While the biscuits are baking, crack on with the buttercream:

• In a stand mixer, whip unsalted butter until softened and turning pale. Add sifted icing sugar and whip on medium high speed, or until the mixture is light and fluffy.
• Add in tablespoonfuls of passionfruit pulp and all the finely grated lemon rind, beating well after each spoonful to check the consistency. Add as much or little of the passionfruit as you like!
• Refrigerate approximately 20-30 minutes, while biscuits are cooling, to firm up.

To assemble your melting moments:

• Help your biscuits make friends! Pair them up into similar sizes.
• Once your buttercream has firmed up, place it into an icing pipe with whichever tip you like. Pipe generous half-teaspoons of the mixture onto one biscuit and sandwich together.
• You can also spread one biscuit with the mixture - piping optional!

These are gorgeous biscuits - enjoy :)