I’ve been sitting on this recipe for a while now. Lilikoi is pretty darn hard to come by, even in the mecca of produce that is Southern California, so I’ve been scouring Los Angeles for a source for a few months now. I started working on this dish back in January when I spent time in Honolulu. I had a chance to visit a crazy lady with an organic farm that just spilled lilikoi off the vines that covered all the trees on her 3 acres in Waimanalo. We had a fascinating conversation about her PhD in agricultural economics and the farm school project she was pioneering in a poor area of country Oahu. And she also told me about how the land speaks to her, saying for instance, ‘the universe wants papaya trees,’ or ‘the ipu gourd shall be your guardian.’
The upside of this, um, communing with her garden is that she doesn’t feel the need to use any pesticides, or fertilizer, or grafts, or seeds, or rows, or much of anything. She has volunteers who clear dead brush, but otherwise relies on the wild neighborhood chickens to scatter her seeds for her. It was an enlightening afternoon. I took home 3 dozen fresh, beautiful lilikoi to experiment with: seared ahi with a lilikoi herb marinade, lilikoi sorbet, lilikoi cocktails, and of course, lilikoi lemon bars. But, when I ran out of testing time in Honolulu and came back to LA to perfect the recipes, I encountered a problem. No lilikoi.
I finally found a source, imported from France of all places, for a frozen yellow passion fruit (aka lilikoi) puree, available at my favorite restaurant supply and specialty store, Surfas. It’s a kilo of really high quality stuff, so supplied with the tub in my freezer, the recipe testing has begun once again. First up had to be this island classic, a tangy and fragrant take on the classic lemon bar. It’s mostly lilikoi juice, with a splash of lemon juice and zest to accent it’s tart, bright flavor. Served chilled, lilikoi bars are a perfect summer picnic dessert. The shorbread layer is rich and supple with plenty of butter, and not overly sweet. It’s an awesome way to introduce the uninitiated to the wonders of the lilikoi–they’re always gone in an instant.
Shortbread crust:
- 1 1/4 cups butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Lilikoi Lemon layer:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup lilikoi juice
- 3 eggs plus 2 yolks
- 3 tablespoons flour
- Pinch of salt
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Buttered 9×13 baking pan
Cream the butter with the sugar and a pinch of salt with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add about half of the flour to the bowl, and work it in with a wooden spoon. Add the remaining flour, mixing it into the dough so that it becomes crumbly and pliable, while still soft and light. Heat the oven to 350F. Dump the dough into the buttered pan, and use the back of your knuckles to press it into an even layer and chill 20 minutes. Bake until just barely colored, with golden brown around the edges, 20-25 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the filling. Whisk the sugar, zest and juices together with the eggs. Sift in the flour and salt and whisk until smooth. Pour into the pan over the hot baked shortbread and return it to the oven to bake until the filling is just, about 15 minutes. Set on a rack to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until cold. Just before serving, dust generously with confectioners sugar and cut into bars.
7.4.2010
I’ve been going out of my mind trying to find passion fruit here in So Cal too. Thanks for the Surfas tip! I got hooked in Hawaii several years ago then on a recent trip to Australia I ate fresh passion fruit everyday. The fruits were 5 or 6 for $1 at the local market. I was in heaven.
7.6.2010
I ate that exact batch in the picture and I will attest to their greatness. They are AMAZING!!! The mixture of textures is wonderful and the light tartness of the lemon and lilikoi is refreshing. I could have eaten the whole thing.
7.7.2010
Why not get some seeds from the crazy organic farm lady? Surely yellow passion fruit can grow in SoCal?
7.8.2010
Hello Christine,
Thanks for sharing your delicious lilikoi bars with us – they were wonderful!
Linda
7.9.2010
I was delighted to! I can’t wait to come down with Katy and see you!
7.9.2010
Alas, I live in a Downtown LA loft with about 1 hour of natural light in the courtyard and no moist tropical conditions to speak of. But you can bet that as soon as I live somewhere with a garden (or even dirt) I’m trying it out!
7.13.2010
FYI. I happen to have 3 lilikoi vines that are now dropping their fruit. I get a bucket of fruits every 2 days and was delighted to find your Lilikoi Lemon Bar recipe. Note: I give bags of fruits away to friends and one request was for this recipe. After rendering the juice from the pulp, I bury the seeds along the perimeter of my yard and voila … lilikoi vines.
Note: Lilikoi vines are very aggressive and needs lots of climbing space … either a long chain link fence or in my case, I’ve surrendered a largish jabon tree and a long panex hedge to them.
7.13.2010
Wow, that’s so great! I hope you enjoy the bars, and all the amazing lilikoi this season! Poor Jabon tree, but in my opinion, a worthy sacrifice.
7.18.2010
Is there cream in the filling? In the directions, it says to whisk sugar, cream, zest and juices together w/the eggs.
I finished my shortbread crust and was just going to start the filling until I read this part.
If so, how much cream?
Thanks.
7.18.2010
Sorry, that’s my mistake. The cream was edited out in the final recipe test, and it should have been removed completely from the recipe. Thank you for pointing that out!