Dairy-free // egg-free // vegan biscuits

These old-fashioned Australian biscuits are the stuff of happy childhood.

Melt-in-the-mouth shortbread sandwiched with a tangy passionfruit icing. 

They are a rich treat - not for everyday,

but wonderful for special occasions,

like afternoon tea.
 

But we wanted to veganise the traditional recipe, 

and have been experimenting to create a biscuit which 

avoids the use of dairy butter and eggs,

but still creates an incredibly short texture. 

So we were pretty stoked when we found this combination 

works a treat.
 

These biscuits are very fragile - so move them carefully as they will crumble easily. 

But the flip side of that is that they taste deliciously short,

which is exactly how a good Melting Moment should be:

a moment of meltingness! 

Vegan Melting Moments with Passionfruit Icing

SHORTBREAD INGREDIENTS

1 cup self raising flour (we used stoneground wholemeal)

1 cup cornflour (we used wholegrain)

1/2 cup (125 gms) vegan butter (we used Butter Me Up)

1/2 cup (125 gms) coconut oil at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla bean

3 tablespoons icing sugar

PASSIONFRUIT ICING INGREDIENTS

1 cup raw icing sugar

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1 fresh passionfruit

METHOD 

Pre-heat oven to 160 C degrees.

Cream vegan butter and coconut oil with sugar in a stand mixer until pale and fluffy.

Add flour & vanilla and mix thoroughly.

The mixture will be quite soft - so use a couple of teaspoons to place blobs on a paper-lined baking tray. 

Bake in oven for approx 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown.

Cool on a wire cooling tray.

To make icing, combine coconut oil and raw icing sugar together. Add enough pulp & juice from a passionfruit to create a soft mixture. 

Sandwich together with Passionfruit Butter Icing. Will keep for several days in an airtight tin - if no small children are about....

In this recipe, the flavour of the ingredients really shines through, 
so it's much better to use a really good quality vegan butter. 

We use a locally produced version, Butter Me Up, which is made without hydrogenated
vegetable oils & without palm oil (so its not like margarine) and is brilliant for baking. It's available from our beloved Apples & Sage organic grocery, and also Leo's Supermarkets across Melbourne.

Otherwise, use the very best cold-blend vegan butter you can find,
or a good vegan margarine like Nuttelex or Earth Balance.