Bonus Recipe: Frozen Passion Fruit Pie

Fireworks in your mouth, that's what this is.

Hi! Happy 3d of July! Here’s a little bonus Independence Day recipe I cooked up for you. You have my friend Melanie to thank for the inspiration.

Melanie always brings me some of her frozen key lime pie when she makes it, because she knows how much I love it. She usually brings it over when she knows no one is home, so I can stash it in the freezer and have it all to myself, because I am a greedy horrible person when it comes to this pie, and she gets me.

The recipe is Ina Garten’s and you can find it all over the web. As much as I love the pie, it uses raw, uncooked egg yolks, which I know is a no-go for a lot of people, so I set out to create a similar recipe similar that was egg-free. I also had a gigantic container of near-pure passion fruit juice in my house (see note below) and thought the only way to possibly improve upon frozen key lime pie was to make a frozen passion fruit pie.

I like to think I was right. I hope you do, too.

Enjoy! And I hope your 4th is relaxing and enjoyable.

About Passion Fruit Pulp

Although I wish, wish, wish I had my own passion fruit orchard, I live in New Jersey, and that ain’t ever going to happen. Even fresh passion fruits are hard to find. So, if you’re sad like me, you’ll have to use frozen pure passion fruit pulp, which can often be found in the freezer section of most Latin grocery stores. I also find fresh passion fruit pulp with very few additives at H-mart, the Korean grocery chain. To be clear you don’t want to buy a juice product, as they’ll contain too much sugar.

If the seeds aren’t already removed, that’ll be your job. Place a fine mesh sieve over a bowl, pour in the pulp and lightly press on it to push the juice through. Like this:

I fantasized that I could throw the hundreds of seeds that remained into my backyard and a magical passion fruit forest would grow. So far, no luck. Watch this space.

Cool.

Frozen Passion Fruit Pie

makes 1 9-inch pie

What You’ll Need

For the crust

1 1/2 cups (180 grams) finely crushed graham crackers (about 6 full graham sheets)

6 tablespoons (84 grams) butter, melted

1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoons salt

For the filling

2 cups (16 fluid ounces) heavy cream

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup (8 fluid ounces) passion fruit puree, melted if frozen, or “pure” juice (see notes above on what to look for)

Zest of 2 limes (about 2 teaspoons)

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

What You’ll Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Lightly butter a 9-inch pie pan.

2. Stir together the graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugar and salt. Pour the mixture into the pie plate and using the flat bottom of a glass or measuring cup, firmly press the crumbs to the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes until just light golden in color. Let cool completely before proceeding with the next step.

3. Whisk the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. With a spatula, gently fold in the sweetened condensed milk, passion fruit puree, lime zest and lime juice. Spoon this lush, cloud-like mixture into the pie shell and smooth into place. Freeze for 2 hours, or until firm. If you plan to keep the pie in the freezer for a few days, cover the pie with plastic wrap to prevent icky freezer odors seeping in. Mrs Paul’s fish stick and passion fruit pie is what we’re trying to avoid. (Also, when was the last time you had a fish stick?)

4. Remove the pie from the fridge 15 minutes before you intend to serve it. I drizzled more puree over the pie to 1. Give eaters a clue what the pie was about; 2. Ensure some puckery passion fruitiness. Cut the pie with a knife dipped in hot water and dried. Problem getting the crust out? Put a warm towel underneath the pie plate. Store any leftovers in the freezer (but you probably know that).

For those that celebrate, do you have any Fourth of July must-haves? A family potato salad? A red, white and blue bomb pop from an ice cream truck? If you ain’t from around here, what is important at your bbqs? Let us know in the comments.

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