I'm trying to put as much of this year's apple and feijoa harvest to good use here at Struan Farm. While John and I aren't eating many desserts these days, every so often we do. So i've made a few apple and feijoa shortcakes for the freezer. It's also a reasonable treat to whip out if someone arrives unannounced for afternoon tea.
The recipe is really simple. 250 grams of softened butter is combined with 3/4 cup caster sugar, zest of one lemon, one tsp. of vanilla and one egg, and creamed until light and fluffy. To this is added 2 1/2 cups flour sifted with 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder. Mix to make a soft dough, 2/3 of which is then put into the bottom of a lined 20 cm pan. On top of the dough lay 1/2 cup sliced apple and 1/2 cup lightly mashed feijoa. Sprinkle with 1 tsp. each of cinnamon and nutmeg, then crumble the remaining dough on top. The original recipes I've improvised from both said to bake the cake for 25-30 minutes at 180C, but I find it takes longer in my oven for the top to be a light golden brown.
The fantastic thing about this recipe is that you can use just about any fruit or jam as a filling. Slightly cooked rhubarb is good, with or without apples, figs too. Blackcurrant jam yummy.
As you might suspect, the cream was for John.
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