# Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for guava jam sandwich biscuits

## Overview

At the start of the year, I spent a month eating my way around Mexico City, and one thing I ate in abundance (besides tacos) were guavas. I had them in every way possible: blitzed into a juice; sitting on a cheesecake at the iconic ; or as a sticky, jam-filled pastry found at nearly every bakery I visited. My favourite version also came with a layer of cream cheese, and I’ve taken those flavours and put them in biscuit form. Shop-bought guava jam is as close as I’ll get here in the UK, but these remind me of a delicious trip every time I make them.

## Preparation

- **Biscuits**: 175g plain flour, 50g ground almonds, 80g caster sugar, ¼ tsp salt, 100g unsalted butter, diced, 1 medium egg, beaten
- **Filling**: 100g cream cheese, ½ tsp vanilla bean paste or extract, 15g icing sugar, plus extra to dust, a pinch of salt, 3 tbsp guava jam

## Instructions

### Preparing the Biscuits
Prep **5 min**  
Chill **1 hr 15 min**  
Cook **1 hr, plus cooling**  
Makes **9**

**For the biscuits**  
175g plain flour  
50g ground almonds  
80g caster sugar  
¼ tsp salt  
100g unsalted butter, diced  
1 medium egg, beaten

**For the filling**  
100g cream cheese  
½ tsp vanilla bean paste or extract  
15g icing sugar, plus extra to dust  
A pinch of salt  
3 tbsp guava jam

### Making the Biscuits
Prep the biscuits:  
Mix the flour, almonds, sugar, and salt in a bowl until combined. Rub in the butter using your fingertips, until you have a fine breadcrumb consistency.

Make a well in the middle, add the egg, then use a table knife to mix until it comes together into a dough. Turn it out on to a clean surface and use your hands to pat the dough into a disc. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for an hour.

Heat the oven to 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5 and line two baking trays with baking paper. Roll out the chilled dough between two sheets of greaseproof paper to about 2-3mm thick, then return to the fridge for 15 minutes.

### Filling the Biscuits
Use a round or square cookie cutter to stamp out 18 biscuits (if you like, re-roll the dough offcuts to make more biscuits). Use another smaller cutter to stamp out holes in the middle of half of the biscuits (these will be the tops). Put all the biscuits on the lined trays and bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges are very lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

### Final Filling
For the filling:  
Mix the cream cheese, vanilla, sugar, and a pinch of salt together until smooth. Spread a little guava jam and a small dollop of cream cheese on the biscuit bases (ie, those without holes), then sandwich with the remaining holey biscuit tops. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

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