Homemade passionfruit curd is a labour of love but passionfruit occupy a warm spot in my heart.
In my youth, (many moons ago!), I travelled around South America with my sister, and one abiding memory was arriving in Cartagena, Colombia and hearing street stallholders shout ‘Maracuya con leche, maracuya con leche!’ – I had no idea until years later what those golfball-sized, wrinkly purple fruits that they used were named in English; I simply remembered the most heavenly cold milkshakes, made with tins of Milo milk – the equivalent of evaporated milk here- so a combination super, super sweet and acidic. If you can’t get hold of passionfruit curd then fear not, lemon curd will taste just as good.
Makes 6 individual pavlovas
40g chopped, roasted hazelnuts
3 large egg whites
Pinch of salt
175g caster sugar
1tsp cornflour
½ tsp white wine vinegar
150g double cream, lightly whipped
3 passionfruit – pulp scooped out
½ jar of passionfruit/lemon curd
• Preheat the oven to 140 deg C. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment.
• Whisk the eggs whites, with the pinch of salt, into stiff peaks. Gradually whisk in the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until a shiny meringue appears. Finally whisk in the cornflour and vinegar and then fold in the hazelnuts.
• Place six large spoonfuls of the mixture on the baking sheet and shape them into 10cm rounds, making a slight dip in the centre and a higher rim around the edges.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes until pale coffee colour. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues to cool inside.
• To serve: spoon whipped cream onto each meringue, top with the passion fruit curd/lemon curd and then drizzle with passionfruit pulp; serve immediately.