Passion Fruit – Bead Yarn & Spatula

Passion Fruit Panna Cotta

Panna Cotta is one of those desserts that looks like it’s difficult to make, but in fact is quite easy. It doesn’t require many ingredients and you can customize the flavor easily. While I used passion fruit for this recipe you could easily swap it out for a different fruit.

To start, I added a 1/2 cup of passion fruit juice to a measuring cup and sprinkled unflavored gelatin on top. I let it sit for 15 minutes and then whisked it together.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat I whisked milk, heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract and sugar together until the sugar dissolved and the mixture began to simmer. I them removed it from the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes. Letting the mixture cool is key. If it’s too hot when you add the passion fruit/gelatin mixture in the next step the gelatin will lose its ability to thicken and your panna cotta will not firm up.

Next, I whisked the passion fruit mixture into the milk mixture until it dissolved.

Once the panna cotta mixture was ready it was time to divide it among four ramekins. To make it easy to divide the mixture among the ramekins I transferred it to a measuring cup…

And then poured 1/2 cup of the mixture into each of the ramekins.

After letting it cool to room temperature, I covered the ramekins and refrigerated the panna cotta for at least three hours so it could firm up.

Now, this is the nerve wrecking part… Will it firm up? I ended up checking it after an hour and was happy to see that it was already firming up. And after letting it sit in the refrigerator a bit longer it was the perfect consistency. You could top the panna cotta with a raspberry sauce or some whipped cream, but I was fine eating it as is.

Looking for some more passion fruit recipes, try making a passion fruit pie, ice cream or a curd that could be used as a filling for cookies.

Passion Fruit Panna Cotta

Servings: 4
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Ingredients:

1/2 cup passion fruit juice*

1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin

3/4 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar

*I used frozen passion fruit pulp that I defrosted in the refrigerator overnight.

Directions:

Add passion fruit juice to a small bowl and sprinkle the unflavored gelatin on top. Let sit for 15 minutes.

In a medium saucepan combine the milk, heavy cream, vanilla extract and sugar. Whisk the mixture over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a bare simmer. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Whisk together the passion fruit juice and the gelatin and then whisk into the milk mixture to dissolve.

Divide the mixture among 4 ramekins and let cool to room temperature. Cover each and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours until the panna cotta has set.

Passion Fruit & Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Can you believe that Easter is just a little over a week away? Where is the time going? Today’s cake would be perfect for your Easter dessert. Coconut is a great Spring flavor and passion fruit is a flavor that’s not too common but pairs well with coconut. If passion fruit isn’t your thing you could try a key lime curd instead. Coconut and lime pairs together deliciously.

To begin, I made the passion fruit curd. I wanted to make sure that it would thicken enough so I made it two days before assembling the cake. I have never seen passion fruit at any of the supermarkets I go to, so I opted to buy frozen passion fruit pulp and let it defrost in the refrigerator overnight. If you are thinking of using passion fruit juice, I would just advise on using one that is 100% passion fruit juice, not a blend of other fruits. I began by combining egg yolks, passion fruit juice, and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat and stirred it until the sugar dissolved and the mixture was thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Since it can sometimes be a little difficult to determine this with the spoon I am stirring with I normally take a small spoon and run the back of it in the mixture to make sure it is thick enough. Once it was, I removed the saucepan from the heat and added in unsalted butter that I cut into chunks, stirring between each addition to make sure the butter was completely melted. I then strained the curd through a fine mesh sieve two times before placing a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of it and refrigerating it until I was ready to use. A quick tip, the second time I strained the curd I did so into the container I was planning on refrigerating the curd in.

Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take pictures while making the cake layers. I intended to take pictures of them once they were cooled and I was ready to use them, but I was running short on time. The weekend I made this week I decided was also a good weekend to finally paint my hallway. I had been intending to do it ever since I finished my living room remodel, but the paint cans just sat on the floor with me walking by them everyday and the task on my to-do list every week. Well, the paint cans just started to annoy me, and I didn’t have anything to do so I went ahead and started to paint. Initially I was going to prime beforehand, but I had a lot less primer than I thought and since the paint I was using was paint and primer combined I decided to just use that. Well, I ended up needing a another can of paint. And painting the second coat took a lot longer than I was anticipating so my cake suffered. I shouldn’t say suffered, but it didn’t get the full attention that I was planning on giving it! But back to the cake… I used a recipe that I have used in the past for coconut cupcakes and just baked the batter in two 8-inch cake rounds.

After making a batch of cream cheese frosting it was time to assemble the cake. I sliced the small dome that each of the cakes had to flatten them and then piped a cream cheese border around one of the cakes to create a dam for the curd. I then filled the cake with the curd and placed the other round on top. I crumb coated the cake and after refrigerating for about 20 minutes I finished frosting the cake. I love cream cheese frosting, but I always find that it’s not the easiest to work with when it comes to piping. The cream cheese really makes the frosting soft, so I popped it in the refrigerator for a few minutes before filling a piping bag fitted with a large tip to pipe the rope border around the cake. It didn’t come out as neat as I liked but it was all good. I then sprinkled the top and sides of the cake with coconut and it was good to go. Note to self, don’t ever plan on painting and making a cake on the same day!

So, the flavors of the cake – passion fruit, coconut, and cream cheese frosting – worked well together. If you want to up the coconut flavor in the cake, you can substitute coconut milk for the buttermilk. For this recipe you could use a cup of coconut milk with a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to get the same consistency as the buttermilk. And you could swap out the almond extract and use coconut extract instead. One more suggestion, I would slice this cake while it’s on the colder side. Once it gets too warm the passion fruit curd makes it difficult to get clean slices of the cake. You could always slice while the cake it’s cold and then let the slices come to room temperature before enjoying.

Passion Fruit & Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Servings: 12
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Ingredients:

For the Passion Fruit Curd:

1/2 cup passion fruit juice*

7 large egg yolks

1 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks

For the Coconut Cake:

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

6 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract**

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk***

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, plus more for decorating cake

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 8oz. blocks cream cheese, at room temperature

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

*I used frozen passion fruit pulp that I refrigerated overnight to defrost

**If you are not a fan of almond flavor you can reduce the amount or substitute with coconut extract

***To make my own buttermilk I combine 1 cup whole milk with 5 teaspoons of vinegar in a measuring cup and let it sit for 15 minutes until it thickens. You could also use a cup of unsweetened coconut milk with a tablespoon of vinegar.

Directions:

For the curd (make a day or two in advance to assembling the cake): In a medium saucepan combine the passion fruit juice, egg yolks and sugar. Over medium heat stir until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove the pan from the heat and add it the pinch of salt and the chunks of butter, one at a time. Stirring between addition to ensure the butter has melted before adding an addition piece. Strain through a fine mesh sieve 2 times. Place in a bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the curd and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 325 F. Spray two 8-inch round cake pans with baking spray, or grease and lightly dust with flour. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (you could also use a hand mixer) using the paddle attachment cream together the sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and add in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl as necessary. Add in the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

In three parts, add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk, alternating between each. Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Fold in the shredded coconut and divide the batter between the two prepared pans.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Let the cakes cool in the pan for 15 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

For the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer (you could use a hand mixer) using the paddle attachment cream together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract on medium speed. With the mixer on low, gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth.

To assemble the cake: If necessary, torte the cakes. Transfer some of the frosting to a piping bag with the end snipped off and pipe around the perimeter of the cake to create a dam. Fill the cake with the passion fruit curd and top with the other cake. Frost the cake with a crumb coat and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Use remaining frosting to finish frosting the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Passion Fruit Curd Recipe from Garlic and Zest

Coconut Cake Recipe from Food Network

Passion Fruit Pie

Happy Pi Day! That wonderful day on the calendar, 3/14, were we celebrate the irrational number Pi. Irrational because it cannot be expressed exactly as a simple fraction and therefore is an infinite decimal. What it is exactly though is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, and regardless of the size of the circle, it will always be the same number. So, due to this fun math themed day I bring you a new recipe for pie. I am always stumped to come up with a new pie recipe for today. When I start searching for a recipe most of the ones I come across are some sort of variation of an apple or pumpkin pie. Both of which I prefer baking during the Fall months. And of course there are the berry pies, but, I think those are better in the summer months when berries are in season. So I run out of options quickly. This year I started to think about pies I’ve made and flavors that I haven’t come across and I thought to myself what about a Passion Fruit Pie.

I decided to follow the recipe for my go-to Key Lime Pie but switch out the key lime juice for passion fruit pulp. I purchased frozen passion fruit pulp and let it defrost in my refrigerator overnight. I also switched up the crust I use. Normally I make Key Lime Pie with a store bought graham cracker crust, but for this pie I decided to make a shortbread cookie crust. And that was my first step in making this pie.

Using my food processor I pulsed shortbread cookies, I used Keebler Sandies Classic Shortbread Cookies, into fine crumbs and then combined the crumbs with melted unsalted butter. Next, I pressed the crumbs into the bottom and along the sides of a 9-inch pie plate. After baking it in a preheated 350 F oven for 10 minutes I let it cool while I made the filling. While baking the crust beforehand isn’t completely necessary I decided to do so so that the crust would be firmer once the pie was done. This would minimize the chances of it crumbling when cutting a piece of the pie.

In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, I beat egg yolks until they were light and fluffy. I continued beating the eggs while gradually adding in sweetened condensed milk. And finally, I added in the defrosted passion fruit pulp. Once the mixture was combined I poured it into the shortbread cookie crust and returned the dish to the oven for an additional 20 minutes. When done, the pie filling will be set.

I let the pie cool completely on a wire rack before transferring it to the refrigerator to chill before serving.

Before serving I whipped up a small batch of homemade whipped cream and decorated the top of the pie. To create the swirls I used a Wilton 6B piping tip.

This pie was delicious… It was the perfect texture and a wonderful combination of sweet and tart! And yes, pre-baking the crust did help in preventing it from falling apart when slicing into the pie.

Passion Fruit Pie

Servings: 8
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Ingredients:

For the crust:

1 3/4 cups shortbread cookie crumbs*

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

4 egg yolks

14oz. can condensed milk

1/2 cup passion fruit pulp**

Whipped cream for decorating and/or serving

* I used about 15 Keebler Sandies Classic Shortbread Cookies. You could also purchase a 9-inch shortbread pie crust. If using a store bought pie crust there is no need to pre-bake it. Just fill it with the pie filling and bake as directed below.

** I purchased a frozen 14oz. package from Goya and left it in the refrigerator overnight to defrost.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Combine the shortbread cookie crumbs and the butter in a medium bowl and mix them together. Once mixed, transfer to a 9-inch pie plate and press the crumbs in an even layer along the bottom and sides of the dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

While the crust is cooling make the filling. In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer on medium, beat the egg yolks until they are light and fluffy. Gradually add in the condensed milk and continue beating until combined. Finally, add in the passion fruit pulp and continue beating until combined.

Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake for 20 minutes. The filling will be set.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and then refrigerate for a few hours before serving and/or decorating with whipped cream.

Whipped Cream

Servings: About 2 cups
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Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

In a medium bowl combine the heavy cream and confectioners’ sugar and beat with a handheld mixer until soft peaks form. Add in the vanilla extract and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

No Churn Passion Fruit Ice Cream

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM! Happy 1^st (official) day of summer. I say official, because I am sure there are plenty of people who feel that Memorial Day is the kick-off to summer. Which, I don’t completely disagree with, but, the weather in my neck of the woods has been saying otherwise. There have been some warm days, but, quite a few days have felt like we are back in April with the rain, wind and chill in the air. As you know, April showers bring May flowers, well, we are well into June now Mother Nature so we don’t need so much of the rain. Hopefully she’ll listen. So, what better way to kick off summer than with some homemade ice cream. Last year I shared with you a No Churn Coffee-Caramel Ice Cream to kick off the summer and this year I am sharing with you a No Churn Passion Fruit Ice Cream. YUM! Passion Fruit happens to be my favorite Chobani Yogurt flavor. That’s where the idea for this ice cream flavor came about. I figured if it tasted good as a yogurt it ought to taste just as good as ice cream (and I was right.)

While I came across quite a few different recipes for this ice cream, I opted to go with one that required only 3 ingredients and less than 15 minutes of prep time. I purchased frozen passion fruit pulp from my local supermarket. To defrost it, I placed it in my refrigerator for about a day. Once it was defrosted I combined it with a can of sweetened condensed milk, whisking the two together until they were well combined. In another bowl, using my hand mixer, I whipped extra cold (I placed it in the freezer for 10 minutes) heavy cream until stiff peaks formed. I then added in the passion fruit mixture and beat everything together until just combined. I transferred the mixture to a loaf pan and placed a piece of wax paper directly on the surface before covering the pan with aluminum foil and then placing it in the freezer. And of course, I snuck a taste of it beforehand and it tasted just like my favorite Chobani yogurt, without the pesky little black seeds

After letting the ice cream set in the freezer for a few days (I am sure it was ready after a few hours, but, I happen to make this in the middle of week and was busy some doing baking and other things and totally forgot it was in freezer) I scooped myself a scoop or two and enjoyed it.

Passion Fruit Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 14 oz. package of Passion Fruit Pulp, defrosted

1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup of cold heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Place the heavy cream in the freezer for 10 -15 minutes.

In a medium bowl whisk together the defrosted passion fruit pulp and sweetened condensed milk.

In another medium bowl beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Add the passion fruit mixture and continue beating until the two mixtures are combined.

Transfer the mixture to a loaf pan and place a piece of wax paper directly on the surface and the cover with a piece of aluminum foil before placing in the freezer. Free for at least 2 hours and up to two weeks.

Recipe from Olivia’s Cuisine