Hello friends! I know, I know… I have not been posting much during the last month. My brother and his family came to visit  for a month , I was pretty busy and tired at the same so there was no baking time for me.

I have been trying to catch up with my regular baking so here is a new recipe which is my last Summer recipe for this year. And because today, I’m hosting a collab on my Instagram and it is all about Summer pies and tarts, I decided to use a fruit that I ate all the time during Summertime while growing up in Peru. This tropical fruit is called Passion Fruit or Maracuya or Parchita. It has different names in Latin America but it is the same fruit.

This pie has an Oreo crust which is the perfect combination for the tangy/sweet flavor of the filling. The filling is very easy to make, just 3 ingredients: passion fruit puree, sweetened condensed milk and egg yolks. I topped it with a Meringue frosting which I  decided not to torch (like my Key Lime Pie) but I use some poppy seeds to decorate. If you find fresh Passion fruit, you could use the seeds to decorate.

I was not able to find fresh passion fruit. I went to my local Hispanic store and I found frozen passion fruit puree (without seeds) and that is what I used and worked really good. The brand is Goya and I like it because it does not have any sugar added. If you buy it frozen like me, grab some and place it in a measurement cup

If you want to watch how I made this recipe, visit me on Instagram @Pastry_Tales

Let’s start baking!

Yield one 9 inch pie dish

Ingredients

For the crust

2 cups of crushed Oreos (without the filling)

5-6 tablespoons of unsalted butter (melted)

3 tablespoons of granulated sugar

For the filling

1 can condensed milk

4 egg yolks

½ + 1/4 cup passion fruit puree . This amount depends on how strong you want the passion fruit flavor to be. You can just use 1/2 cup but for my taste it needs a bit more.

For the meringue

4 egg whites at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 -1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract. I used clear vanilla by Molina

pinch of salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F

1.-Make the crust by stirring together the cookie crumbs, melted butter and granulated sugar. Press into the bottom  and sides of your pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Let it cool.

2.-While the crust is baking, make the filling. Whisk together condensed milk, passion fruit puree and yolks. Mix well until smooth and creamy.

3.-Once the crust is done, let it cool for 10 min and then  pour the filling evenly over the crust. Bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges start to brown and the top looks solid.

4.- Let the pie cool completely to room temperature and then place it in the fridge for 2 hours.

Before serving, make the swiss meringue frosting. I decided to use this kind of meringue because the egg whites are cooked, I know some people don’t like to eat raw whites in a frosting.

For the Meringue

1.- In a heat-proof bowl mix sugar, whites and salt.

2.- Now, place this bowl on top of a pan with a few inches of simmering water. Mix until it is foamy and you don’t see any leftover sugar granules. A trick to know if this mixture is ready is when you touch the mixture with your fingers and you don’t feel any sugar. This takes about 5 minutes.

3.- Transfer this bowl to your mixer and whip this mixture in medium speed for about 2 minutes. Then, whip it for about 5 minutes in high until stiff peaks form.

4.- Add in vanilla and mix in high for another minute.

6.- Scoop this meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a tip (I used a big star tip) and then make big dollops on top.

7.- Decorate with poppy seeds.

Enjoy… and don’t forget to share this pie with someone you like!