Caipiracujá Cocktail

A delightful change from my favorite lime-based cocktail, the caipirinha, this deliciously refreshing libation is made with tart fresh passion fruit and cachaça. 

Ever since I made the passion fruit muffins a few weeks back, I’ve been wanting to try passion fruit in a cocktail. As I mentioned then, I came to love that funny fruit when we lived in Brazil so it seemed appropriate to switch out sour limes for tart passion fruit, but still use cachaça for the alcohol component. For the name, I mashed together caipira, the Portuguese word from whence the diminutive caipirinha comes, and maracujá, what the Brazilians call passion fruit. A most successfully mash up, if I do say so myself. By which I mean the drink although I am hoping the name will catch on as well.

Ingredients
2-3 tablespoons passion fruit pulp (I used two small passion fruit per glass.)
1/2-1 tablespoon sugar (depending on how tart your passion fruit are and how sweet you like your cocktails)
Crushed ice
Cachaça

Note: Cachaça is cane alcohol so if you can't get your hands on a bottle, substitute rum. It won't be the same but I'm betting it'll still be delicious.

Method
Cut your passion fruit in half and scoop the pulp into a short cocktail glass.

Add the sugar.

Muddle the sugar and the pulp to loosen the seeds.

This shot is really just to show off my parrot muddler. He is Brazilian.

Fill the glass with crushed ice.

Top up with cachaça.

As you can see, this is a powerful drink.

Stir vigorously and serve with a straw.

Enjoy! And saúde!


If you found your way here looking for traditional caipirinha instructions, you are in luck. I have those for you too.

Passion Fruit Muffins with Passion Fruit Glaze #MuffinMonday

Many passion fruit recipes suggest that you strain out the seeds but I happen to like the pop and crunch they add to a dish, dessert or baked good. I am delighted to share that they are also reported to be a nutritious addition, adding fiber, antioxidants and magnesium to a healthy diet.  

Although I spent some time in tropical climes when I was a child, passion fruit only reached my consciousness when I moved to Brazil as an adult. There it is called maracujá and features in many desserts, especially the local favorite, ubiquitous at every restaurant and house party, mousse de maracujá. It occurs to me that I’ve never posted that recipe here and perhaps I need to rectify that.

Meanwhile, since my local grocery stores are filled with passion fruit at reasonable prices, and since it is Muffin Monday, I put them in beautiful, flavorful muffins. I think they would be great for the upcoming Holy Week, the week before Easter, which commemorates the passion of Christ. Maybe I can start a new worldwide tradition of baking passion fruit muffins in addition to hot cross buns. Anybody else game to join me?

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups or 190g flour
1/2 cup or 115g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup or 60g butter, melted then cooled
1/2 cup or 120g passion fruit pulp, including the seeds

Optional glaze – passion fruit pulp from two small passion fruit (1/8 cup or 30g) plus an equal amount of powdered sugar (1/4 cup or 30g) and small pinch of salt.

Method
Preheat your oven to 350F° or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing or lining with paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl mix together your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In a smaller bowl, whisk your milk, eggs and melted butter, along with the passion fruit pulp.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Evenly distribute the batter among the muffin cups.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Meanwhile, make the glaze, if using. Mix all three ingredients together in a small bowl, until all the sugar has dissolved.

Remove the muffins from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Remove the muffins from the muffin pan and finish cooling on a rack.

When the muffins are completely cooled, carefully spoon the glaze over the tops. It will soak in and make the muffins even more moist.

Enjoy!

Passionfruit Cookies

Beautifully crunchy on the outside with sweet and tart chewy insides, these passionfruit cookies taste of Brazilian sunshine and samba.

Since I started this blogging thing, I have met some wonderful bloggers online and have learned a lot from those who have been at this a much longer time.  I would read about ingredients they had been offered by companies who wanted them to create a recipe and get-togethers with other bloggers at foodie events.  And, while I was happy for them, I was a little sad for me.  I didn’t know any other bloggers personally and no one had ever offered me free stuff.  Well, in Dubai, all that has changed!  I now belong to a great group of UAE bloggers and have even had the privilege of meeting a few of them face-to-face.  And then, some weeks ago, I received an email from a public relations person who wanted to send me some sugar.  Not some strange ingredient that I would have to work around, but sugar!  Of course, I said yes!  Hey, why not?  The company is called Aveem and they very kindly sent me not only white sugar, but some light brown sugar as well.  (And a few other goodies.  As I said, nice people!)

According to the initial email, the sugar is from Brazil so I decided that a recipe with one of our favorite flavors from Brazil, passionfruit or maracujá, would be most appropriate.  And delicious.

Ingredients
1/4 cup or 60ml fresh passionfruit pulp, as measured without seeds (Don’t panic!  I’ll show you how to do this.  Also, don’t discard the seeds.  We are going to put some back in for color.)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup or 130g sugar
1/2 cup or 110g butter
2 eggs
1/2 - 1 cup light brown sugar for rolling dough in before baking

Method
Cut open your passionfruit and, using a spoon, scoop the pulp and seeds into a bowl.  Whisk vigorously to loosen the seeds from the pulp and juice.

Pour the whole bowl into a strainer over another clean bowl, and whisk again until all you are left with in the strainer is the seeds.  Measure out your juice and set aside 1/4 cup or 60ml for your cookies.  If you have any extra, you can sweeten it with a little sugar and serve it over ice and topped up with soda water for a very fresh and refreshing drink.

Add 2-3 teaspoons of the seeds back into the juice for color.  They are perfectly edible but too many will distract from the soft chewy cookie.

Preheat the oven to 375°F or 190°C and grease or spray your cookie sheet with non-stick spray.

Mix together your flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

Put your light brown sugar into another small bowl and set aside.

With electric beaters or in your stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar.  Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one.

Add in your passionfruit juice and beat again.  At this point your mixture might look like it’s curdling on you but do not despair.

Add a few tablespoons of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and beat again.

Still mixing, continue adding in your flour mixture a couple of tablespoons at a time, until it is all incorporated.

You now have a soft dough and can proceed to the next step or, it might be easier to chill the dough for half an hour or so in the refrigerator before proceeding.  I plowed right ahead but next time, I will definitely chill the dough.

Using a small scoop or tablespoon, drop small amounts of your soft dough into the light brown sugar.

Swirl the bowl around until the ball of dough is covered in brown sugar.

Gently lift the little ball out and place it on the greased cookie sheet.  Leave room between the balls for the cookies to spread while baking.

Continue until your cookie sheet is full.  Bake in the preheated over for about 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown.  Chill the dough in the refrigerator while the first batch bakes and continue the process until all the cookies are baked.

Remove the cookies with a metal spatula and cool on a wire rack.  Sometimes one slips into your mouth.  It's a risk all bakers take.

This recipe will yield almost four dozen beautifully crunchy outside, chewy inside passionfruit cookies.   Serve them in your blue and white Brazilian pottery and savor the sweet taste of sunshine and samba.

Enjoy!