Friday, February 22, 2013

Passionfruit Cookies


Beautifully crunchy on the outside with sweet and tart chewy insides, these passionfruit cookies taste of Brazilian sunshine and samba.

Since I started this blogging thing, I have met some wonderful bloggers online and have learned a lot from those who have been at this a much longer time.  I would read about ingredients they had been offered by companies who wanted them to create a recipe and get-togethers with other bloggers at foodie events.  And, while I was happy for them, I was a little sad for me.  I didn’t know any other bloggers personally and no one had ever offered me free stuff.  Well, in Dubai, all that has changed!  I now belong to a great group of UAE bloggers and have even had the privilege of meeting a few of them face-to-face.  And then, some weeks ago, I received an email from a public relations person who wanted to send me some sugar.  Not some strange ingredient that I would have to work around, but sugar!  Of course, I said yes!  Hey, why not?  The company is called Aveem and they very kindly sent me not only white sugar, but some light brown sugar as well.  (And a few other goodies.  As I said, nice people!)


According to the initial email, the sugar is from Brazil so I decided that a recipe with one of our favorite flavors from Brazil, passionfruit or maracujá, would be most appropriate.  And delicious.

Ingredients
1/4 cup or 60ml fresh passionfruit pulp, as measured without seeds (Don’t panic!  I’ll show you how to do this.  Also, don’t discard the seeds.  We are going to put some back in for color.)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup or 130g sugar
1/2 cup or 110g butter
2 eggs
1/2 - 1 cup light brown sugar for rolling dough in before baking

Method
Cut open your passionfruit and, using a spoon, scoop the pulp and seeds into a bowl.  Whisk vigorously to loosen the seeds from the pulp and juice.



Pour the whole bowl into a strainer over another clean bowl, and whisk again until all you are left with in the strainer is the seeds.  Measure out your juice and set aside 1/4 cup or 60ml for your cookies.  If you have any extra, you can sweeten it with a little sugar and serve it over ice and topped up with soda water for a very fresh and refreshing drink.




Add 2-3 teaspoons of the seeds back into the juice for color.  They are perfectly edible but too many will distract from the soft chewy cookie.


Preheat the oven to 375°F or 190°C and grease or spray your cookie sheet with non-stick spray.

Mix together your flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.


Put your light brown sugar into another small bowl and set aside.

With electric beaters or in your stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar.  Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one.




Add in your passionfruit juice and beat again.  At this point your mixture might look like it’s curdling on you but do not despair.



Add a few tablespoons of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and beat again.


Still mixing, continue adding in your flour mixture a couple of tablespoons at a time, until it is all incorporated.



You now have a soft dough and can proceed to the next step or, it might be easier to chill the dough for half an hour or so in the refrigerator before proceeding.  I plowed right ahead but next time, I will definitely chill the dough.

Using a small scoop or tablespoon, drop small amounts of your soft dough into the light brown sugar.


Swirl the bowl around until the ball of dough is covered in brown sugar.


Gently lift the little ball out and place it on the greased cookie sheet.  Leave room between the balls for the cookies to spread while baking.


Continue until your cookie sheet is full.  Bake in the preheated over for about 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown.  Chill the dough in the refrigerator while the first batch bakes and continue the process until all the cookies are baked.


Remove the cookies with a metal spatula and cool on a wire rack.  Sometimes one slips into your mouth.  It's a risk all bakers take.


This recipe will yield almost four dozen beautifully crunchy outside, chewy inside passionfruit cookies.   Serve them in your blue and white Brazilian pottery and savor the sweet taste of sunshine and samba.


Enjoy!



14 comments :

  1. These are so cool! I've never had anything like them.

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  2. Katherine is right: these cookies are WAY cool!

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  3. Thank you! They were pretty durn tasty too.

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  4. Thank you, Rachael! You and Katherine are very kind. They aren't the prettiest of cookies but the flavor is great.

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  5. They look fantastic! Now, I have never seen (until today) or eaten any passionfruit. I don't believe I've ever seen anything like that around here - I will need to look for it. It was so nice that you got some product to try! I always wonder how that happens...........Those cookies look so good, I believe I must make some cookies tonight, but they will be more the chocolate chip variety! :)

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  6. My Kroger in Houston had them sometimes and also the fancy supermarkets like Central Market (upscale but owned by HEB) and Whole Foods so you might find them where you are. They are ripe when they look a little old and wizen so don't let that put you off, Kelli. Passionfruit are quite tart usually so some sugar or sweetener is a must to eat them straight out of the peel. Which I have been known to do. Chocolate chip cookies are a favorite at our house too!

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  7. I will look for them! You are funny - this is Oklahoma, the state that is at least 2 years behind the rest of the world - We have 2 Whole Foods in the entire state and the closest one is 60 RT miles! :) No Kroger - No National food chains unless you count Wal-Mart or Target. Luckily for me, I live in a college town so I called one of our 6 organic grocers who told me they would call me next time they got some in so I could try it - there IS a good thing about living in a state like this - some guy will call me and let me know when something comes in that I want! :)

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  8. College towns are the best of both worlds, I think. Small enough to feel like a town with resources that seem like a city. I hope they find you some to try but don't pay an arm and a leg! In the States and South America, they are more of a summertime fruit.

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  9. I guess it is nice that you now get some freebies. But, you know what, I really like to read blogs that aren't busy touting a product that the writer may or may not like, but was paid (in one form or another) to tell me how wonderful it is. I can go to the web sites for the producers if that is what I want. Ah, well. I know, you just want something for nothing. Nothing new about that, we all want it. I want easy, free access to recipes.

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  10. I could not agree more, Joan! When nearly every post is touting a product, it puts me off reading that blog. Or when it's constantly for items that I figure most people in the world (read: me, in Dubai or wherever) will find it difficult to source, even if they did want to try it. But sugar! I use it everyday, if only in my coffee. I bake at least twice a week, sometimes more, so if someone wants to gift me with free sugar or butter or flour, I'm in.

    Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts! And should the freebie offers suddenly come piling in (yeah, right), I will try to show some restraint. :)

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  11. I always love meeting other bloggers, so I'm glad you've had the opportunity to meet some as well! Isn't it fun? I love the blogging community. And hooray for getting sent some sugar! Perfect for yummy cookies. :-)

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  12. It's been the best part of blogging, Stephie: Getting to know all the readers, bloggers and otherwise! And I've discovered that there are no friendlier folks than the blogging community. We span the globe and have way more in common than our nationalities, cultures and even languages would make a person believe!

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  13. Katherine is right: these cookies are WAY cool!

    Public Relations

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