Passion Fruit Melting Moments - Biscuit recipe

I'm still in love with my new 50mm lens!  The final result pictures of the biscuits are so much nicer using this lens.  I have still used my G11 for the other photos due to the 50mm being too narrow to see into the Kitchenaid without standing on a ladder!  I'm not willing to go that far in my baking as the G11 does give good results too ;)  I find the combination of both cameras works for me, I can get all arty with the final result but take my quick snaps throughout cooking.



This recipe is from a new book, cookies, muffins + cakes from The Book People at work for just £5 (I can't find it on their website though), it's full of large, good pictures of each recipe (just how I like my recipe books).  This this the first recipe I've made from the book but I already have a huge list, including everyone from work's choices!

Ingredients:

Biscuit:
250g unsalted butter
40g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
185g self-raising flour
60g custard powder

Passion fruit filling:
60g unsalted butter
60g icing sugar
1 1/2 tbsps passionfruit pulp

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C.  Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.  Place the butter and icing sugar into a large bowl and beat until light and creamy.  Add the vanilla and beat until combined.

Sift in the flour and custard powder and mix into a soft dough.

Roll level tablespoons of mixture into 28 balls and place on the baking trays.  Flatten slightly with a fork.

Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden.

Cool on a wire rack.

To make the filling, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy.  Fold in the passion fruit pulp until well combined.

I had a bit of trouble with the filling - it kept curdling, despite me using multiple passion fruits so I could just use the pulp and not too much juice.  I tried adding a little flour and a bit more icing sugar to try to combat this but it didn't work.  It still tasted great though so never mind.  (Edit: the next day it had solidified slightly in the biscuits and looked much better.)

Use the filling to sandwich the biscuits together and leave to firm before serving.

As you can see in the above pictures, I thought it was a complete disaster at first as the biscuits spread during baking (I think perhaps the oven wasn't hot enough, allowing them to melt before actually cooking?) then they were so melty/crumbly they were impossible to transfer to the wire rack without damaging.  I tried moving them when they had cooled slightly on the baking tray but they were still breaking up in my hands or during transfer.  I had more luck when they had cooled completely - patience is a virtue and all that - but they were still very fragile and my first attempt at putting the filling in didn't quite work.  It does however mean they literally melt in the mouth.  Looooovely!

They were supposed to look like this...

However, with a gentle touch and after leaving them until they were completely cold, I had more luck and a few turned out well (although you can still see a couple of cracks with the fabulous detail of the new lens, ha!)...

I just found out about Mrs M's recipe link-up via Glasgow Mummy and have just added this one - off to check out the other links now!