Lilikoi – Opie in the Kitchen

So with the whole stay at home situation, I’ve been slowly going through stuff in my freezer. I came across some frozen lilikoi juice that I had left over from making a couple of recipes last summer. I also had a carton of heavy cream that I needed to use, so I decided to make ice cream. Now lilikoi, for those who don’t know, is the Hawaiian name for passion fruit. It’s slightly tart and very refreshing. I think it turned out pretty well. Enjoy!

Lilikoi Ice Cream

2 cups Lilikoi juice
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 cups heavy cream
1 1/8 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

In a medium sauce pan, combine the Lilikoi juice and 3/4 cup of sugar. Bring to a simmer and allow it to reduce until you have about 1/2 cup. Allow to completely cool.

In a medium bowl combine the Lilikoi simple syrup with the rest of the ingredients. Whisk until well combined and the powdered sugar has completely dissolved. Put it in the freezer for at least one hour. Transfer to your ice cream machine and mix until it’s solid. Put in containers, freeze, or just eat it.

A friend of mine recently had a birthday. She’s the tasting room manager for Rotie Cellars, one of the best wineries in Washington if I may say so. I stopped by the weekend of her birthday and brought key lime pound cake (a recipe I previously posted). Unfortunately she was off enjoying herself. So I decided to make her something special for when she returned. Being Hawaiian, I figured a Hawaiian dessert was in order. My friend Google suggested several things but I liked this dessert. It’s similar to a lemon bar but is made with lilikoi, which is passion fruit. I had no idea what a challenge it would be! I had to go to at 7 different stores in Seattle that where known for Hawaiian foods. The first 5 had nothing, the 6th had passion fruit from concentrate in a can and finally the 7th had frozen passion fruit juice with seeds. It turned out really well and needless to say my friend was really touched. Enjoy!

Lilikoi Bars

Crust

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Tsp kosher salt

Filling

6 large eggs at room temp
2 cups sugar
1 cup lilikoi (passion fruit) juice, fresh would be best but good luck finding it.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1/4 Tsp cream of tartar

Glaze

1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lilikoi juice
1/2 lemon, juiced

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Combine the flour and salt and add to the butter mixture with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Dump the dough into a 9″ x 13″ baking pan and press it along the bottom and about 1/2″ up the sides. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Bake the crust for 15 minutes, remove to cool slightly (leave the oven on). While it’s cooling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lilikoi juice, lemon zest & juice, cream of tartar, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 minutes or until the filling is set. A knife inserted in the middle should come out fairly clean. Allow to cool.

To make the glaze, bring the 1/4 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar to a boil stirring to dissolve the sugar. Turn down to medium heat and cook for 5 minutes. Add the lilikoi and lemon juice, boil for another 3 minutes. Allow to cool and drizzle over the lilikoi bars.