Bars and Slices

Passionfruit + Almond Shortcake


 Prep Time : 20 Minutes | Cook Time : 40 Minutes | Total Time : 1 hour | Difficulty : Moderate

Passionfruit Shortcake

So this wasn’t what I originally intended to make for you this week. I came home from the fruit market on Sunday filled with dreams of feijoa and lime friands (the spell check doesn’t know what a feijoa is – outrageous!) but it was not meant to be. Nothing went right. They didn’t brown nicely. They didn’t hold together coming out of the pans. I couldn’t take a flattering photo. And I knew I couldn’t post a recipe that wasn’t right.

I’ll admit I was frustrated and it wasn’t pretty. My Head of Tasting made me step out of the kitchen and take a break and it was just what I needed. Refreshed, I scanned my books and came upon this slice that I had been meaning to try. I think you should try it too.

This slice has three simple components – a shortcake base, a layer of passionfruit curd and a crunchy almond topping. Just start from the bottom and work your way up. Preheat the oven to 160C (320F). Line a roughly 8 inch square tin with baking paper, making sure there is an overhang to lift the slice out with. I used my 9 x 7 inch pan and anything around that will be fine.

To make the base, cream the butter and sugar until well mixed. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour and baking powder. The mixture will be quite soft – when it’s baked it will be more cake-y than biscuit-y. Spread the base into the prepared pan. This can be a little tricky so flour your hands and gently press it around until it’s even.

base

Spread a layer of passionfruit curd onto the base. Be generous!

passionfruit

Mix the topping ingredients together. It will look sticky and unappealing – just run with it. Dot little nubbins of the topping all over the slice so that its pretty much covered.

topping

Bake the slice for 35-40 minutes. The topping will be well browned and the base will have risen slightly. Leave it to cool completely in the tin so it can firm up. When it’s cold, remove the shortcake from the pan, dust heavily with icing sugar and cut into squares.

cut up

This is an excellent standby for any kind of preserve you might have – raspberry jam, marmalade or lemon curd would work just as well.

Sometimes you don’t end up with what you intended, but there is always something delicious out there waiting to be made!

Passionfruit Shortcake


Prep Time : 20 mins | Cook Time : 40 mins | Total Time : 1 hour | Difficulty : Moderate | Makes : 12 squares

Buttery shortcake topped with delicious passionfruit and cruncy almonds.

Ingredients:

  • 90 gm | 3.1 oz |  6 tablespoons butter
  • 110 gm | 3.9 oz | 1/2 cup caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 160 gms | 5.7 oz | 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • Approximately 1 cup passionfruit curd (or other preserve)
  • 70 gm | 2.5 oz | 3/4 cup flaked almonds
  • 55 gm | 2 oz | 1/2 cup ground almonds
  • 1 egg
  • Icing sugar to dust

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 160C (320F). Line a roughly 8 inch square tin with baking paper, making sure there is an overhang to lift the slice out with. I used my 9 x 7 inch pan and anything around that will be fine.

To make the base, cream the butter and sugar until well mixed. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour and baking powder. The mixture will be quite soft – when it’s baked it will be more cake-y than biscuit-y. Spread the base into the prepared pan. This can be a little tricky so flour your hands and gently press it around until it’s even.

Spread a layer of passionfruit curd onto the base. Be generous!

Mix the topping ingredients together. It will look sticky and unappealing – just run with it. Dot little nubbins of the topping all over the slice so that it’s pretty much covered.

Bake the slice for 35-40 minutes. The topping will be well browned and the base will have risen slightly. Leave it to cool completely in the tin so it can firm up.

When it’s cold, remove the shortcake from the pan, dust heavily with icing sugar and cut into squares.

Adapted from The Australian Women’s Weekly – Little Squares and Slices.

© 2014 The Winsome Baker. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.

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4 thoughts on “Passionfruit + Almond Shortcake

  1. Oh my word, this looks awesome. It’s like you’ve one upped a millionaire’s shortbread. I love the almond topping: the combination of textures must be crazy good.

  2. I’m a huge fan of passionfruit and know that these will be an absolute favorite!!

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