I’ve been home for a grand total of three days and have already baked up a storm, yes I have hijacked the kitchen! I love it! And since it is the holiday season what do you expect I have been baking? COOKIES!!! Christmas needs an un-healthy amount of cookies, hundreds upon hundreds of cookies! And so my baking binge begins. First on the menu: Mango Passion Fruit Cremes.
I have to admit that I am exceedingly baking ADHD, a few weeks ago I posted an abridged version of my “Must Bake” list, and ever since moving into rez I have collected and added an enormous amount of recipes to it - NONE of which I have baked yet. In fact the first recipe I needed to try out once I got home I found, accidentally, 2 minutes before I made it! I should keep on schedule - however these cookies seemed too perfect and delicious to pass up, and needed my immediate attention! This recipe is courtesy of a local bakery, The High Tea Bakery, and is a little taste of the owner’s Australian background. I figured this was especially appropriate as my brother is moving to Australia in just shy of a month! (lucky bum), so I thought I’d give him a taste of OZ in cookie form!
These cookies are fantastik! I know, I say that about every post - but this is especially true for these sandwich cookies! The cookie, the creme and the icing all have mango-passion fruit juice and they smell delicious (not to mention taste too!). They are a nice tropical wake-up during this current glaciation (-42℃...it’s a little chilly here!). Close your eyes, take a bite and imagine lying on a beach on the Gold Coast!
These remind me of one of my favourite cookies - imperial cookies, but with a creamy buttery sweet filling with a pleasant tropical zing! These make perfect, beautiful gifts - wrapped in cello with a gorgeous red ribbon or packed in a lovely letterpress cookie box! Have you seen these? or these? They are to die for!!
Mango Passion Fruit Cremes
adapted from High Tea Bakery
cookie
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp corn flour
2 Tbsp custard powder
3/4 cup icing sugar
6 Tbsp butter
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup mongo passion fruit juice (or 1/8 cup each or 1/4 of the one you prefer)
creme centre
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 2/3 cups icing sugar
2 Tbsp mango passion fruit juice
icing
1 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp mango passion fruit juice (or enough to make a smooth spreadable icing)
cookie
Pre-heat the oven to 350℉. If you don’t have a non-stick cookie sheet, line one with parchment paper (don’t spray it with oil, or grease it with butter - these cookie are far to delicate for that. You want to bake them, not fry them!)
Sift and mix all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Mix in butter until incorporated. Add egg yolk and mango passion fruit juice, and mix to form a firm dough. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth - but don’t over work it, you don’t want to end up with tough cookies! Wrap dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes.
Once dough has chilled, re-flour your rolling surface and roll out the dough to a 1/8” thick. I made mine a little too thick - thinking 1/8” was enough, but they puffed quite a bit, so don’t be afraid to roll them QUITE thin! Cut out 1 1/4” circles, or whatever shape you like, I found a cute little flour-leaf clover type cookie cutter - adorable! Place the cookies 1” apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Let them cool completely on a cooling rack.
creme centre
Cream the butter and icing sugar together. Add juice and mix until smooth and spreadable.
Place 1 tsp or so of filling on one cookie, and top with a second to spread the filling.
I wound up with a lot of filling left over! Of course I also had fewer cookies than expected, as I rolled them a little too thick! So make as much filling as you like, no doubt you could use this as a butter cream frosting if you have cupcakes or a cake to ice, or you could be really decadent and use it as a mango passion fruit sweet butter for scones! Mmm...
icing
Slowly add mango passion fruit juice to the icing sugar, start with one Tbsp and add more as required. Mix until smooth and spreadable - not too runny. Spread one side of the sandwiched cookies with icing and let set.
N.B. Now, the original recipe says this makes 3 dozen cookies, however with my thick cookies I wound up with just shy of 3 dozen individual cookies and about 16 sandwiched cookies. I assuming the recipe didn’t mean 3 dozen sandwich cookies - no way that is possible!
Keep refrigerated, though bring them to room temp before eating - the will be nice and creamy! Mmmm... Now if only I could eat solid food! I’d be eating one of these as we speak! (wisdom teeth JUST came out... ouch!!)
