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If it has passionfruit in it, my husband LOVES it. In Hawaii, we tried every lilikoi (passionfruit) flavored item there was. He is obsessed! Sadly passionfruit in San Francisco is $2.50 per passionfruit, which is way too expensive in my opinion. A few weeks ago I found a bag of frozen passionfruit pulp in the freezer section at a fraction of the cost! I’ve been holding on to it to make passionfruit curd!
I ended up making a large batch and used some to make mini tropical pavlovas for a dinner party last week. (Which by the way turned out AH-Mazing!) I still had an ungodly amount left over so I did a play on lemon bars! But for some reason my deranged mind (I blame the baby) decided to color the filling to make it Easter-y. I’m kinda wishing I didn’t and just left them alone. Do as I say, not as I do folks!
On the other hand, the shortbread crust on these babies are to die for! The addition of rice flour gives them this crumbly melt in your mouth texture that is just perfect!
Now that spring is here, skip the lemon bars and try some a little fancier! Give it a try!
Passionfruit Bars
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: one 8x8 pan 1x
Ingredients
Shortbread Base
- 1/3 cup rice flour
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour, divided
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter, softened and cubed
Passionfruit Curd*
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup passionfruit juice
- zest of one lemon
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
- food coloring (optional)
- powdered sugar
Instructions
Shortbread Base
- Pre-heat oven to 350 F
- Sift rice flour, 3/4 cup of all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and whisk together. Add cubed butter and use your fingers to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until you have a sand-like texture. It will be really crumbly, but hold it’s shape if you squeeze it together.
- Pour the dough into a 8×8 pan. Press the dough evenly into the base of the pan. Bake for 20 minutes.
Passionfruit Curd Filling
- Add 1 inch of water to a pot and bring to a boil.
- Add egg yolks and sugar to a large bowl and whisk together until light pale and fluffy (~5 minutes). Add passionfruit juice and lemon zest and whisk in.
- Place bowl on top of the pot (create a double boiler) making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Turn heat down to low. Whisk the curd for 8-10 minutes or until thick.
- Remove curd from heat and whisk in 1 cube of butter at a time.
- Add 2 cups of the passionfruit curd into a bowl. Add 1/2 cup of flour and whisk. Store the rest of the passionfruit curd in a mason jar as use as a topping on pancakes, cookies, pavlovas, etc. It will stay good for up to 2 weeks.
- Pour the filling over the shortbread crust and spread into an even layer.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the middle has set. Completely cool and then refrigerate for one hour. Top with powdered sugar and enjoy!
Notes
* Pasionfruit curd recipe is adapted from Alton Brown’s Lemon Curd Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
