Passionfruit Cookies 

This delicious cookie recipe is for shortbread-style cookies sandwiched together with a passionfruit buttercream and a hidden passionfruit center. You have to try these Passionfruit Cookies!

If you love baking recipes that celebrate fruity flavors, then you need to try these Passionfruit Cupcakes, this Guava Cheesecake, or this Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Filling.

Ingredients

To make this cookie recipe you will need the simple ingredients listed below. Remember to always use fresh room temperature ingredients when baking. 

Unsalted butter – choose unsalted butter rather than salted butter when baking, so that you can adjust the saltiness on your own. Take the butter out of the fridge about an hour before making this recipe. It shouldn’t be rock hard or too soft.

Castor sugar – use castor sugar or superfine sugar for this recipe.

Cake flour – use cake flour or all-purpose flour to make these cookies.

Extra-large eggs – out of their shell, the eggs I use weigh 56 grams, if you aren’t sure if you have the same eggs, weigh the eggs you have and adjust accordingly.

Passionfruit puree – for this recipe, I used store-bought passionfruit puree, you can do the same or use fresh passionfruit. See the variations section below to see how to make the passionfruit center with fresh passionfruit. 

See the recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

To make these cookies, follow the simple steps below. First, make the vanilla cookie dough, then the passionfruit buttercream, and then assemble the cookies. 

Instructions for cookies 

STEP 1: Cream butter and sugar. Add the softened butter and sugar to a food processor. Pulse until well combined and there are no lumps of butter.

STEP 2: Add the eggs and vanilla. First, add the whole egg to the creamed mixture with the food processor running, and pulse until combined. Then add the egg yolk and vanilla and pulse until well combined.

STEP 3: Add the dry ingredients. Sift together the flour and salt and add this flour mixture to the egg and butter mixture all at once. Pulse until a dough forms, do not overmix.

STEP 4: Chill dough. Remove the dough from the bowl, cover it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 40 minutes to an hour.

STEP 5: Preheat the oven. Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) and line two large baking trays with parchment paper.

STEP 6: Roll dough. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll it out on a floured work surface to a thickness of ½ cm ( ¼ inch) using a rolling pin.

STEP 7: Bake cookies. Cut 50 circles out from the dough using a round 7cm (3inch) diameter cookie cutter and place the cookies onto an oven tray lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven for 12 minutes or until the cookies are a light golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on a cooling rack.

Instructions for buttercream 

STEP 1: Beat butter and icing sugar.  To a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment add the butter and icing sugar. Beat at medium speed until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.

STEP 2: Add milk and vanilla. In a jug combine the milk and vanilla, with the mixer's motor running at low speed slowly add the milk mixture. Continue until it has all been added. Then increase the speed of the mixer to medium-high. Beat until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl often.

STEP 3: Add the passion fruit pulp. Add 2 tablespoons of the passion fruit puree to the buttercream and beat again until combined. 

STEP 4: Reduce the remaining purée. Add 50ml of passionfruit puree to a small saucepan set over medium heat, and allow the puree to thicken as the liquid evaporates. Once thickened, allow the puree to cool completely.

STEP 5: Fill the piping bags. Add the frosting to a disposable piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. And then add the cooled passionfruit puree to a second piping bag, no nozzle is necessary for this piping bag. 

STEP 6: Decorate. Pipe a swirl of buttercream around the circumference of half of the cookies, and leave the center of the cookies unfilled. Fill the center with the passionfruit puree and place a plain cookie on top of this. Dust with icing sugar, serve, and enjoy!

Hint: If you are struggling to roll out the cookie dough, it may be because it’s too warm and sticky. Place it back into the fridge to firm up for a little longer, soft dough is hard to handle!

Variations

This is a great sugar cookie recipe to get creative with! If you can’t find passionfruit puree you can always add other types of fruit puree to the buttercream, jam will also work well. 

If you are using fresh passion fruit instead of store-bought puree, you will need to make your own puree for the center of the cookies. Do this by adding 20g of caster sugar and 50 ml of fresh passionfruit pulp to a small saucepan set over medium heat, allowing the sugar to dissolve while stirring occasionally. Once cooled, continue with the recipe as outlined. 

Equipment

To make the cookie dough you will need a food processor or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. This recipe can also be made using an electric hand mixer.

To make the buttercream frosting, you will need a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a handheld mixer. You will also need a round cookie cutter about 7cm in diameter, a wire rack, disposable piping bags, and a star-tipped piping nozzle.

You will also need a large baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

Storage

After baking and decorating these passionfruit shortbread cookies, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days.

Unfilled cookies can be kept in an airtight container for up to one week, choose to crisp them up in the oven before decorating them.

The cookie dough can be frozen before baking. Cover the dough in plastic wrap store it in the freezer for up to 3 months and bake them at a later date. Thaw the dough in the fridge overnight before using.

I do not recommend freezing cookies that have already been filled with buttercream.

I absolutely love making sandwich cookies and this passionfruit variation has to be one of my favorites! If you make and love this recipe too please leave a comment and star review below, I love hearing from all of you!

Don’t forget to follow along @with_love_kitty to make sure you never miss a recipe!

Happy Baking

With Love,

Kitty