These biscuits have been waiting to be baked in my kitchen for a couple of months. First, ilingc posted a slightly different recipe for yo-yos, and I was reminded of the fruit-free and tooth-achingly sweet ones that my Mum baked when I was a kid. (I think Mum's recipe came from the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union Cookery Book, and I'm pretty sure that she still makes the occasional batch for my brother.) Then the March edition of Australian Gourmet Traveller got a few more bloggers enthusiastically baking passionfruit yo-yos with white chocolate and passionfruit ganache. This was even more appealing to me, maintaining the buttery shortbread I love while replacing the too-sugary icing with one of my most favourite foods (and words) in the world: ganache. The inclusion of some sour passionfruit juice would surely be the icing on the... erm... biscuit, no?The best excuse for baking came in the form of an invitation to dinner from my colleague and just-down-the-street neighbour, Mich. Mich isn't a big fan of cocoa so I plotted a batch of these buttery beauties to take over for dessert. They didn't receive a huge reception on the night: Mich had already prepared a tasty and comforting baked vege casserole with dumplings and most of her housemates were too full or too busy to stick around for dessert. Of the box of 10 biscuits, three were eaten and politely enjoyed (and one of those by me!). But the next day, when Mich returned the lunchbox to me, she told me that only one biscuit had remained in the box by breakfast time! I guess her housemates regained their appetites overnight.
My first attempt at yo-yos wasn't perfect, and there are a few things I'll have to work on next time:
- I like really crumbly, buttery shortbread and these turned out a teensy bit chalky. Michael actually loved the leftover ones he sampled, but I don't think my search for the ultimate shortbread stops here. It's possible that I overworked the dough of an excellent recipe, too.
- I overcooked the biscuits just a tad, for fear of not cooking them through. They still taste awesome when they start going golden, but this might be affecting the texture and it certainly doesn't look as genteel.
- I resorted to canned passionfruit pulp over fresh fruit, due to time and shopping constraints. Turns out that canned passionfruit is suspended in sugar syrup, and at best contains 55% fruit. Lame, huh? Consquently there was little to no tang in these biscuits. That's a short-cutting lesson learned for me.
For the recipe, just go and visit Kitchen Wench. Hers is the post I relied upon.
These look absolutely gorgeous. I would have sworn they were store bought!
ReplyDeleteCindy, I made the ones that Ilingc had on her post. They are so so rich. I overcooked the biscuits a little so they had a slightly burnt flavour but otherwise it was still nice.
ReplyDeleteI think Ilingc's version is a bit too rich for my liking. I need to find a slightly lighter version.
Do you recommend one particular recipe?
Oh thank you, Truffle. :-) Of course these are the prettiest two of the batch - there are a few browned ones and different sizes but they all taste pretty good.
ReplyDeleteThanh7580, the ganache filling in these is super-rich so I wouldn't recommend it above ilingc's recipe. It might be worth trying this biscuit recipe on its own or with a different icing recipe. Perhaps I'll send a request for my mum's recipe and we can try those next!
Cindy, the biscuit was nice, but I did find the filling way too rich. If you know of a better filling, let me know and I will try it out.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe they resisted the yo-yo temptations! I would've downed at least 2 no matter how full I was!
ReplyDeleteI love your photo of the yoyos. Reminds me that it's about time I made another batch.
Thanh7580, I'm not sure what filling would be better. I reckon a fruit jam would taste great, but might leave the biscuits a bit soggy. I hope someone else might have a better idea for you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, ilingc. Enjoy your next batch of yo-yos, I hope you can ration them out over a few days despite the temptation. :-)
I attempted my own batch, and failed for several reasons, all my own fault. I agree with you on the passionfruit pulp thing, and hadn't realised why there was no tang until I read your post. Your yoyo's do look beautiful though!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mel! I just tried another recipe with passionfruit and went with the real thing - SO worth it. Post of it coming soon, of course. :-)
ReplyDeleteCindy, you weren't mistaken in thinking you were buying passionfruit pulp. For generations what was in the little can was passionfruit pulp, nothing more. I don't know when they changed it to pulp and syrup because I hadn't used it for a long time before I found out the hard way.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Helen! Thanks for that note. I guess I'm better off waiting until fresh passionfruit season.
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