Feijoa & almond shortcake

Ingredients

• 24 feijoas, halved, flesh scooped out with a teaspoon
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 125 gm. butter
• 125 gm. caster sugar
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 egg
• 1 Tsp. baking powder
• 250 gm. flour
• 140 gm. ground almonds
• icing sugar and whipped cream to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Put the feijoas in an ovenproof tray just big enough to hold them in a single layer and sprinkle evenly with the brown sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until bubbling and browned. Leave to cool
2. Put the butter, caster sugar and lemon zest in a food processor then process until creamy and pale. Add the egg and process well to combine
3. Add the baking powder, flour and almonds and process until well mixed. Knead the dough very briefly on a floured surface then wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Remove the dough from the fridge and stand for 5 minutes or until it is soft enough to roll out. Divide in half then roll one half out on a floured surface to line a 35cm x 10cm rectangular tin (pastry will be quite crumbly so just patch it together, plugging any gaps).
5. Drain the feijoas well, reserving the syrup. Spread the feijoas evenly over the dough in the tart tin. Roll out the remaining dough to make a rectangle to cover the feijoas then crimp the edges together to seal
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until well cooked. Serve warm with whipped cream, drizzled with the reserved syrup and dusted with icing sugar