Our dessert recipe came to us courtesy of Chris’s mom, on the Big Island of Hawaii. It’s a delicate cheesecake topped with lilikoi or passionfruit, which is an iconic sweet-tart fruit that always reminds us of the islands. This recipe is meaningful because it was Chris’s memories of his parents’ supperclub that inspired the creation of ours. Mahalo and aloha to Chris’ parents!
Lilikoi Cheesecake
(recipe adapted from NOLA.com by Mike’s on the Avenue chef Mike Fennelly)
Ingredients
24 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup passion fruit pulp
Passion Fruit Glaze
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup passion fruit pulp
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Garnish
Unsweetened whipped cream
Mint leaves or sprigs
Shortbread Crust
(recipe adapted from Emeril Lagasse “Papaya Pie with Shortbread Crust”)
Ingredients
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Technique
-To make Shortbread Crust
In a bowl, use hand mixer to blend the butter and sugar to make a paste. Add the yolk and blend thoroughly. Add the flour and using your fingers, blend to make a crumbly dough, being careful not to overwork. Pat firmly into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Cover with plastic wrap or parchment paper and let rest in the refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight. Remove from the refrigerator and prick the crust with the tines of a fork. Place a sheet of parchment or foil in the pie tin and fill with pie weights, dried beans or rice and blind bake the crust in a preheated 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove the pie weights and foil and bake for another 5 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool completely.
-To make Cheesecake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Begin to boil water for the water bath.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
- Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Scrape down the bowl after adding each egg.
- Add heavy cream, vanilla and passion fruit pulp and blend until smooth and creamy.
- Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. (If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil now, before placing in water bath.)
- Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the large pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. Bake 45-50 minutes, until cheesecake just barely jiggles in the center.
- Turn off oven (but don’t open the oven door!) and let sit 1 hour. Remove cheesecake from the oven, remove from water bath and let cool completely. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until fully chilled.
- To make glaze: Boil water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add passion fruit and lemon juice, and boil for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat. Let cool.
- Garnish cheesecake with the unsweetened whipped cream, glaze and mint leaves. Remaining glaze may be added individually as desired. Serve and enjoy!
Mahalo for joining us for our Hawaiian-themed supperclub! We hope you enjoyed these recipes and got a taste of the islands. To review the entire menu, please visit the overview.
Come back soon for our latest supperclub, which brought us to another tropical destination.
Spicebox Supperclub 