Aloha! I am back from Maui and life has been absolutely nuts since coming back to reality. Sick kids, putting in a 600 square foot garden, planting my spring crops, getting my new website and branding done, and so much more. I have had to put new recipes on the back burner in order to get everything behind the scenes done. But I am back now and I am so excited about this new recipe!
Maui was incredible, it is tied with New Zealand for the most beautiful place on earth (that I have been to). We spent 8 days playing hard, sun up until sun down. We literally were only in our hotel room to sleep at night and that was it. We were able to make our way around the entire island and saw and did so much! We swam with turtles, hiked waterfalls, drove the Road to Hana, went to a luau, hiked through tropical rain forests, went on a helicopter tour of Molokai and so much more. It was truly incredible. I am already planning my next trip back. One of the very best parts of our trip was the food.
The food was absolutely AMAZING. We ate so much food its not even funny! Fresh seafood, coconut macadamia nut pancakes and all things guava and lilikoi. Lilikoi and guava are my two favorite fruits on the planet and they are nearly impossible to find in my home state of Utah. Lilikoi is Hawaiian for passion fruit and both passion fruit and guava are tropical fruits and therefore not grown anywhere near me. Lilikoi has a super tart almost citrus taste but it doesn’t really compare to anything else. Once you try it, you will fall in love with it. I ate lilikoi everything while I was in Maui and one of the treats I ate was a Lilikoi Bar, just like a Lemon Bar but made with lilikoi juice rather than lemon juice. I knew I wanted to try and recreate this dessert at home but the challenge was finding lilikoi juice to be able to make it. Luckily I found a company that ships Hawaiian made food products all over the United States. Tastes of Aloha carries a few different brands of lilikoi juice and lilikoi puree so I ordered way more bottles than I’d like to admit and after 3 tries, I nailed these Lilikoi Bars. Think Lemon Bar but WAY better. Tastes of Aloha has graciously offered you guys free shipping to be able make them as well, which is huge because shipping is normally $15-$20. You can find the puree/juice needed for this recipe by clicking here, use code shaemakes for free shipping!
Tips & Tricks:
- If you want a GREAT Lemon Bar recipe, use this recipe but substitute the passion fruit juice for lemon juice and keep everything else the same.
- Make sure and line your pan with tinfoil or else the bars will be really hard to get out of the pan.
- I chill my bars for a couple of hours in the fridge before cutting them, I find this makes it WAY easier to cut them. I also prefer to eat the bars cold too so make sure and store leftovers in the fridge.
- The cream topping on top is really what sets these bars apart but if you are in a hurry you can just dust the tops of the bars with powdered sugar instead.
Lilikoi Bars
Description
Hawaiian passion fruit juice aka lilikoi juice replaces traditional lemon juice in these tart but delicious bars. They start with a chewy shortbread crust with a combination of lilikoi juice, sugar, flour and eggs over top of the crust and then they are finished off with a perfectly creamy stabilized whipped cream topping.
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 3/4 tsp salt
For the filling:
- 6 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 2/3 cup white sugar
- 1 cup passion fruit juice
- 1 cup all purpose flour
For the topping:
- 4 oz softened cream cheese
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
Optional: Drizzle the top with Lilikoi Syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- For the crust: In a medium sized bowl mix together the butter, flour, brown sugar and salt. Mix until fully combined.
- Line a 9×13 pan with tinfoil so that the tinfoil goes all the way up all four sides. Spray the tinfoil with cooking spray.
- Press the dough into the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the crust edges are just slightly starting to brown.
- While the crust is baking, make the filling. For the filling, combine all the filling ingredients in a medium sized bowl and whisk them together until everything is completely homogeneous.
- Once the crust is done, remove it from the oven and immediately pour the filling over the top.
- Return to the oven and bake for an additional 35-40 minutes or until it is set. The center should not jiggle at all.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool completely. Once it is cool enough to handle, cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge while you make the whipped topping.
- For the whipped topping, cream together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until completely smooth.
- Slowly drizzle the 2 cups of cream into the cream cheese mixture while using a stand mixer or a hand mixer with the whisk attachment on. Mix for 3-4 minutes until the mixture has formed stiff peaks and resembles whipped cream.
- Once the bars are completely cool, use a 1M pastry tip and pastry bag to frost the bars in a squiggly line pattern. If you don’t have access to a piping bag and piping tip, spread the whipped topping evenly over the top of the bars.
- Cut into squares and serve cold. Store leftovers in the fridge.
- Optional: Drizzle the top with lilikoi syrup (like pictured).
Notes
Don’t forget to use code shaemakes to order your lilikoi juice and lilikoi syrup with free shipping!
Leave a Reply