P
assion fruit – a fragrant, bright yellow and tangy pulp that reminds me of summer! The sun, the sea, romance and wild passion, like a cheap postcard, or a plot of a cheesy romantic novel, right? Well – maybe I’m a hopeless romantic, but, that is the meaning of the word ‘passion’ for me. However, when it comes to this fruit, it seems that it was named by the 16th century Spanish Catholic Missionaries in the Amazon region of Brazil, no less! They called it “flor passionis” (passion flower) or “flor de las cinco llagas” (flower of the five wounds) after its purple flower which they believed resembled the five wounds of Christ.
Passion fruit is an egg-shaped tropical fruit native to Brasil, Paraguay, and Argentina. The passion fruit has a brittle, wrinkled purple-brown rind enclosing flesh-covered seeds, something like a pomegranate or purple grenadilla (granadilla means “little pomegranate” in Spanish), which is another name for this fruit. Golden or yellow passion fruit has more light and acidic flavor whereas the purple one is highly aromatic and has a strong flavor. Fresh Passion Fruit is also very rich in nutrients; it contains antioxidants, flavonoids, vitamin A, vitamin C, riboflavin, niacin, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, fiber, and protein! Wow, that is one exceptional fruit, right?
Now, let’s make semifreddo! Let me remind you, semifreddo is made of a flavoring, Italian meringue and whipped cream. In today’s recipe I am using passion fruit curd as my flavoring. Since I decided to fill my half sphere molds, I had to add some gelatin to my semifreddo so it would be easier to remove it from the mold. Gelatin is not a common ingredient in semifreddo, but I sometimes like to add it to my recipes, like I did in greek yogurt and raspberry semifreddo, too. I am also using a round cookie cutter 10 cm (4″) in diameter for the sablé base of my semifreddo. If you don’t have half sphere molds, feel free to pour your semifreddo into a loaf pan lined with plastic foil, and you can crumble your sables on the top. They won’t look as fancy as my half spheres, but the taste will be beautiful nevertheless!
Passion Fruit Semifreddo Recipe
by:Tereza Alabanda,The Pastry Maestra
PRINT PDF (EN) ISPIŠI PDF (HR)Prep. time : 60 minutes
Cook time : 20 minutes
Ready in 80 minutes
Level : Advanced
Chocolate Sablé Base:- All purpose flour 130g (4.6oz)
- Cocoa powder 15g (2Tbsp)
- Butter 125g (4.4oz)
- Powdered sugar 50g (1.8oz)
- Passion fruit purée 100g (3.5oz)
- Eggs 100g (3.5oz or 2 medium eggs)
- Sugar 100g (3.5oz)
- Gelatin 6g (3 sheets)
- Egg whites 100g (3.5oz)
- Sugar 150g (5.3oz)
- Whipping cream 250g (8.8oz)
- Passion fruit purée 100g (3.5oz)
- Sugar 50g (1.8oz)
- Corn starch 10g (1Tbsp)
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Sift flour, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. Stir well.
- Dice well-chilled butter into the same bowl and rub it in with the dry ingredients using your fingertips.
- Wrap the dough in a plastic foil and chill it for at least an hour. You can make sablé dough the night before.
- Roll out your chilled sablé dough on a floured surface and cut out circles 10 cm (4″) in diameter for the base of your semifreddo. Place them on a paper lined baking tray and put in the fridge for 10 minutes to chill.
- Bake cookies at 180°C (350°F) for 10 minutes, and take them out to cool down.
- Soak gelatin in cold water. As soon as it softens, take it out and squeeze the excess water.
- Make passion fruit curd: put passion fruit purée, eggs and 100g (5.3oz) of sugar into a bowl, and whisk to combine. Place the bowl on bain-marie and stir until the mixture thickens. If you have a thermometer, you can cook the cream to 80°C (176°F). Run the curd through a strain, and add soaked and drained gelatin. Stir until the gelatin dissolves in hot curd.
- Make Italian meringue out of egg whites and sugar: cook sugar with some water, and put the egg whites into a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. When the syrup reaches 110°C (230°F), start mixing the egg whites. Continue cooking the syrup, and when it reaches soft ball stage (118°C / 245°F), pour the syrup over whipped egg whites. Continue whisking until meringue cools down a bit.
- Whip the cream to soft peaks.
- Fold Italian meringue into cooled passion fruit curd using a rubber spatula. In the end, fold in whipped cream.
- Put semifreddo mixture into a piping bag (no tip needed), and fill the molds.
- Freeze everything for a couple of hours.
- For the sauce dissolve corn starch with two tablespoons of cold passion fruit pure. Put the rest of the passion fruit purée and sugar into a saucepan and bring to a boil. When it starts boiling, add dissolved corn starch and continue cooking stirring constantly for about two minutes. Set aside and leave it to cool.
- Remove semifreddos from the mold, put them on the sablé discs and serve with passion fruit sauce.
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