Passionfruit Meringues

A couple of weeks back I caught an episode of ‘Cooks to Market’ on Food TV, only to see one of my little sister’s school friends – Stacey – competing as one half of the team ‘The Meringue Girls’. They did very well on the show and it seems the momentum has continued since as they have a book on the way! Watching them make beautiful meringues of all colours and flavours inspired me to give it a go.

Ingredients:
3 egg whites
¾ cup of caster sugar (I used half regular and half Billington’s Golden Caster Sugar)
1 tablespoon Nutrafresh sparkling passionfruit powder
a few drops of yellow food colouring
*whipped cream or ice cream to serve

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180˚C.
Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry, add half the sugar and beat well, add remaining sugar a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, add passionfruit powder with your last tablespoon of sugar.
Drop oven temp to 120˚C and pipe or spoon small amounts (slightly smaller than bite size as mixture will expand) of the mixture onto an oven tray lined with baking paper.
If you wish to colour them just place a small drop of yellow food colouring to the top of each meringue and swirl with a skewer or toothpick.
Bake for 35 minutes or until meringues are dry but not brown.
*Tip – do not open oven door while cooking!

I think these are divine and so, so easy. Ice cream or cream takes the tang off the passionfruit perfectly, I also served mine with a small drizzle of Prenzel Passionfruit Tipsy Topping! If you want to know more about the Meringue Girls you can check out Stacey’s Interrview with Food TV here.

Passionfruit and Lemon Tarts with White Chocolate Ganache

I almost didn’t post this recipe today but these are so yummy I just had to share! You see I’ve made these twice over the last month or so but because they were for Christmas and a bridal shower I catered I didn’t get a chance to ‘shoot’ them the way I normally would… These are summery and a lot easier to make than I thought they might be, however, if the idea of making your own pasty cases is just too difficult or you are short on time you can use store bought cases.

Ingredients:
Pastry Cases
1 cup flour
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
4 tablespoons caster sugar
125 grams cold butter, cubed
3-5 tablespoons iced water

Filling
Barkers Passionfruit and Lemon Filling

White Chocolate Ganache Topping
100 grams white chocolate melts
100 mls cream

Method:
To make the pastry place listed ingredients (bar the iced water) into the bowl of your food processor. Whizz for about 30 seconds or until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
Using the pulse mode begin to add the iced water until your mixture forms a dough.
Remove the dough and wrap it in cling film. For ease later in the process flatten it and work it into a disk shape before refrigerating for at least an hour.
Spray x2 12 hole mini muffin pans with oil. Ensuring that the pans are well coated.
Flour your bench or work space lightly and roll out the pastry to about 3mm in thickness.
Use a round cutter (5-7cm works best for mini muffin pans) to cut out 24 disks.
Press the disks into the base and sides of the muffin pans. Use a fork to prick the base of each of your tarts (pricking prevents the pastry from shrinking).
Place the tarts into the freezer for at least an hour before baking.
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C. Bake tart cases for 12-15 minutes until the pastry is golden and firm. Remove from the oven and cool in tins for 5 minutes before placing on cooling racks to cool completely.
Once the cases have cooled fill with Barkers Passionfruit and Lemon filling. If you are short on time you could serve as is, maybe placing a mint leaf on top as a garnish, but if you truly want to impress top with white chocolate ganache.
To make the ganache place the white chocolate and cream in a glass bowl and microwave for about 45 seconds until the cream is hot (but not boiling), stir to combine into a smooth consistency. Refrigerate to cool and thicken, this will take at least an hour or two so is best done ahead of time.
Beat the ganache with an electric mixer until it becomes pale and fluffy so that you can pipe it.

Custard Slice

Custard Slice is my Mum’s favourite thing to buy at the bakery. So, I popped around to her place after work and snuck some of this into her fridge for her (and Dad, and my ‘should really be moving out of home soon’ brother) to find once she got home. I found it surprisingly easy to make at home, it looks fiddly and complicated, but trust me, it’s not. The custard slice is delicious and is just as good as a store bought one (if not better because it was made at home with love – cheesy much?!)

Ingredients:
2 sheets frozen butter puff pastry, partially thawed
1 ⅓ cup caster sugar
1 cup cornflour
¾ cup vanilla custard powder
4 ½ cups milk
75g butter, chopped
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Passionfruit Icing:
2 ½ cup icing sugar
10g butter
½ cup passionfruit pulp or sauce

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Grease and line a 6 cm deep, 20 cm cake tin, extending the paper 3cm above the edges of the pan.

Line two baking trays with baking paper. Place 1 sheet of pastry on each tray. Bake one tray at a time for 8 – 10 minutes or until golden and puffed. Carefully flatten the pastry (using an oven mitt is a good idea – it’s hot!). Set aside to cool.

Place the sugar, cornflour, custard powder and 1 cup of milk, in a heavy-based sauce pan over a medium heat. Gradually stir in the rest of the milk until smooth and combined. Add the butter. Cook, stirring constantly for 8 to 10 minutes or until the mixture simmers and thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the egg yolks and vanilla.

Trim the pastry sheets to fit the baking tin. Place one pastry sheet in the bottom of the tin. Pour the hot custard over the pastry. Top with the remaining pastry sheet. Set aside for 30 minutes top cool.

To make the passionfruit icing, place the sugar, butter and passionfruit in a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir over the heat until smooth and combined. Refrigerate for four hours or until cold. Cut into squares before serving.

China used in photographs c/o The Vintage Table.

Passionfruit Custard Pots

As I mentioned in the Fran’s Fantastic Fudge post, a couple of weekends ago Simon and I went down to Taranaki for a visit and ended up leaving with a whole lot of food.  We were given heaps of passionfruit.  Simon made passionfruit curd but we still had some leftover, so we made these delicious passionfruit custards to use up the rest.

Serves 4.

1 cup milk
1 cup cream
3 eggs
1 egg yolk, extra
⅓ cup caster sugar
½ cup passionfruit pulp (approximately 4 passionfruit)

Preheat the oven to 160°C.  Place the milk and cream in a saucepan over a low heat and heat until hot, but not boiling.  Place the eggs, yolk and sugar in a bowl and whisk until pale (however, we had been given fresh eggs and they had super yellow yolks – they seemed to become more florescent in colour the more I whisked!).  Slowly whisk the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture.  Strain the mixture back into the saucepan then add the passionfruit pulp.  Return to the heat and stir over a low heat for approximately three minutes or until the mixture has thickened slightly.
Pour the mixture into 4 x ¾ cup capacity ramekins or heatproof dishes and place in a baking dish.  Fill the baking dish with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the custards are just set.  Remove from the baking dish and refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until cold before serving.

Vanilla Passionfruit Cupcakes

Thinking – “Ooooh that cupcake looks pretty… but a little bit familiar”?  That’s because it is.  I have been wanting to experiment with this flavour for a little while now and used the idea of my Lemon Meringue Cupcakes to give it a go.  If you want to do the same all you need to do is use your favourite vanilla cupcake recipe, like this one (halved) or you could use a packet mix if cupcakes aren’t your strong suit (I recommend Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake Mix if you want to go down this track).

The first step is as simple as adding a quarter cup of passionfruit curd to your mix and bake for the specified time, or until you can either touch the middle of the cupcake and it bounces back, or insert a skewer and have it come out clean.

The second step is once your cupcakes have cooled you need to scoop out the centre of your cupcake – I used my half teaspoon measure (but could have scooped a little deeper this time around) and fill the hole with passionfruit curd.

I chose to top my cupcakes with a cooked glossy meringue which is easier to do than it might look:
Meringue Topping
2 egg whites
150g caster sugar

Whisk egg whites and caster sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water for approximately 5 minutes (until sugar has dissolved - when you rub some of the mixture between your fingertips it won't feel grainy). Move bowl to mixer, using whisk attachment mix until stiff peaks form and the mixture thick and glossy.