These Passionfruit Cookies are my new go-to for celebrating this fruity flavor! Buttery, shortbread-style cookies are sandwiched together with fluffy passion fruit buttercream around a hidden center of tangy, reduced passion fruit puree, so you get a double hit of tropical flavor in every bite.
If you love passion fruit desserts, try this Passionfruit Layer Cake, these Passionfruit Cupcakes, or this delicious Passionfruit Cheesecake.
Why This Passionfruit Cookies Recipe Works
- Recipe name: Passionfruit Cookies
- Ready in: 1hr 45 minutes (including chilling time)
- Serves: 25 sandwich cookies
- Main ingredients: Butter, sugar, eggs, cake flour, powdered sugar, milk, and passion fruit puree.
- Perfect for: Afternoon tea, baby and bridal showers, cookie boxes, or any time you want a bright, tangy treat.
- Why I love it: These cookies have two layers of passion fruit flavor: a creamy passion fruit buttercream and a hidden center of reduced passion fruit puree. There's no curd to make, and the dough comes together in a food processor in minutes.
- Calories: 195kcal
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If you love baking recipes that celebrate fruity flavors, you also need to try this Guava Cheesecake or this Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Filling.
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Key Ingredients
- Unsalted butter - Take the butter out of the fridge about an hour before making this recipe. It shouldn't be rock hard or too soft.
- Superfine (caster) sugar - Superfine sugar dissolves easily into the butter for a smooth, tender cookie dough.
- Cake flour - Use cake flour or all-purpose flour.
- Extra-large eggs - Out of the shell, my eggs weigh 56 grams. If you're not sure your eggs are the same, weigh yours and adjust accordingly.
- Passion fruit puree - For this recipe, I used store-bought passion fruit puree (passion fruit is called granadilla in South Africa). You can do the same or use fresh passion fruit. See the Variations section below to learn how to make the passion fruit center with fresh passion fruit.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
This is a great shortbread-style cookie recipe to get creative with! If you can't find passion fruit puree, you can add another type of fruit puree to the buttercream, and jam will also work well in the center. These Jam Sandwich Cookies show just how well a buttery cookie pairs with a fruity jam filling.
For a classic vanilla cookie, try this Classic Vanilla Bean Buttercream in the center, or browse my collection of Simple Buttercream Frostings for Homemade Cakes and Cookies for more ideas. For another cut-out cookie that's lovely sandwiched with buttercream, try these Heart Shaped Sugar Biscuits.
How to Make Passionfruit Cookies
Instructions for Shortbread-Style Cookies
- Step 1: 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 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: Sift together the flour and salt and add the flour mixture to the egg and butter mixture all at once. Pulse until a dough forms; do not overmix.
- Step 4: Remove the dough from the food processor, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 40 minutes to an hour.
- Step 5: Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) and line two large baking trays with parchment paper. 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 6: Cut about 50 circles from the dough using a round 7cm (3-inch) cookie cutter and place them onto the prepared baking trays. Bake in a preheated oven for 12 minutes, or until the cookies are light golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack.
Instructions for Passion Fruit Buttercream and Center
- Step 1: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the butter and powdered sugar. Beat at medium speed until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
- Step 2: In a jug, combine the milk and vanilla. With the mixer running at low speed, slowly add the milk mixture, continuing until it has all been added. Increase the speed of the mixer to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl often.
- Step 3: Add 2 tablespoons of the passion fruit puree to the buttercream and beat again until combined.
- Step 4: Add 50ml of passion fruit puree to a small saucepan set over medium heat and allow it to thicken as the liquid evaporates. Once thickened, allow the puree to cool completely.
- Step 5: Add the buttercream to a disposable piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Add the cooled passion fruit puree to a second piping bag; no nozzle is necessary for this one.
- Step 6: Pipe a swirl of buttercream around the edge of half of the cookies, leaving the center unfilled. Fill the center with the cooled passion fruit puree and top with a plain cookie. Dust with powdered sugar, serve, and enjoy!
How to Make Homemade Passionfruit Purée
If you are using fresh passion fruit instead of store-bought purée, you will need to make your own purée for the center of the cookies. Add 20g superfine (caster) sugar and 50ml fresh passion fruit pulp to a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Once cooled, continue with the recipe as outlined.
Storage
After baking and filling these passionfruit shortbread cookies, store them 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. If they have softened, you can crisp them up in the oven before filling them.
Expert Tips
- Cookies burn very easily, so test the true temperature of your oven with an oven thermometer. If you don't trust your oven, bake a few cookies first to see whether they burn, then adjust the temperature as needed.
- Use room-temperature butter for this recipe, and make sure the butter and sugar are well creamed before adding the eggs.
- If you're struggling to roll out the dough, cover it and place it back in the fridge to firm up. Chilled dough is much easier to roll!
- Roll the dough evenly before cutting out the cookies, since cookies of different thicknesses will bake differently.
- Only fill the cookies once they are completely cool.
- For more cookie ideas, browse my collection of Easy Cookie and Biscuit Recipes.
Passionfruit Cookies FAQs
Yes. For the hidden center, add 20 grams of superfine (caster) sugar and 50ml of fresh passion fruit pulp to a small saucepan set over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved, then allow it to cool completely before using. You can stir 2 tablespoons of fresh pulp into the buttercream in place of the puree.
Look for frozen or bottled passion fruit puree or pulp in the freezer section of well-stocked supermarkets and Latin grocery stores, or order it online. If you can't find it, use fresh passion fruit pulp, or substitute another fruit puree or jam as described above.
They're similar in spirit but not the same. Melting Moments are Australian and New Zealand butter cookies that are sandwiched with buttercream and often include cornstarch for an extra-delicate texture. These passionfruit cookies are rolled and cut shortbread-style cookies, filled with passion fruit buttercream and a hidden passion fruit center.
Yes. Unfilled cookies keep in an airtight container for up to one week, so you can bake them ahead and fill them when you're ready to serve. You can also freeze the wrapped cookie dough for up to 3 months and thaw it in the fridge overnight before rolling and baking. I do not recommend freezing cookies that have already been filled with buttercream.
This usually happens if the oven is too hot. Test the true temperature of your oven with an oven thermometer, and bake the trays of cookies one at a time.
Buttercream hardens as it sits, so only make it once you are ready to fill the cooled cookies. If it has hardened, just whip it again until it is fluffy and ready for piping.
More Easy Baking Recipes with Passion Fruit
I absolutely love making sandwich cookies, and this passion fruit variation is one of my favorites! If sandwich cookies are your go-to, try these Dulce de Leche Cookies or these Coffee Cookies. If rolling and filling cookies is too much effort, try these super easy Milk Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
If you love tropical and fruity desserts, you'll also enjoy these Easy Mini Mango Pavlovas or this Strawberry Custard Tart.
Happy Baking, With Love, Kitty
Please leave a star rating and comment below if you tried this recipe! And if you're wondering what to try next, have a look at this Biscuit Base Lemon Meringue Pie!
📖 Recipe
Passionfruit Cookies
Equipment
- 2x large cookie sheets
- 7cm round cookie cutter 2.7-inches
Ingredients
Cookies
- 200 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 100 g castor sugar
- 1 egg extra-large
- 1 egg yolk extra-large
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 350 g cake flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
Passionfruit Buttercream
- 250 g powdered sugar
- 80 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 tablespoon milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon passionfruit purée
Passionfruit Center
- 50 ml passionfruit purée
Instructions
Shortbread Style Cookies
- Add the softened butter and sugar to a food processor. Pulse until well combined and there are no lumps of butter
- 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.
- 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.
- Remove the dough from the bowl, cover it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 40 minutes to an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) and line two large baking trays with parchment paper.
- 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.
- 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.
Passionfruit Buttercream
- 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.
- 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.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the passion fruit puree to the buttercream and beat again until combined.
Passionfruit Center
- Add 50ml of passionfruit purée to a small saucepan set over medium heat, and allow the purée to thicken as some of the liquid evaporates.
- Once thick, transfer the purée to a glass jar to cool completely.
Assembly
- 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.
- 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!
Notes
- You can make your own passionfruit purée if you can't find ready-made, store-bought purée.
- If you are struggling to roll the dough, place it back in the fridge to firm up.
Mel says
I love passionfruit and these were delicious!