Ohhh, if you’re a passion fruit lover, you better run to Trader Joe’s now. LIKE NOW. Trader Joe’s Passion Fruit Meringue Tartelettes ($4.99 for a pkg of 2) landed in the freezer section this week. And they are goooooooood. Think of it as a fancier lilikoi chiffon pie. Usually passion fruit desserts are cut with mango or other tropical fruits because of how pricey the pulp is, but not here. This is a straight passion fruit (lilikoi) curd in a buttery pastry case thats just chef’s kiss, topped with a bit of meringue. Product of France.
So, things did shift around a little in transit, apparently. And there’s kind of no way to know which way is up. But I had just gotten them home, so they hadn’t thawed a lot. I just got a butter knife and slid it iback into the pastry case as best I could. The meringue had taken a little bit of damage, but overall not catastrophic and more or less presentable.
The box advises letting them thaw for two hours, but I think that’s mostly so the crust isn’t rock hard. I ran a couple of errands, and these were in the car for probably 30-40 minutes before I got them home. I tried it straight away. Worked for me.
They’ll be great Easter desserts . If you want to fancify it a little, you can always add a strawberry slice or a mint leaf as garnish. It doesn’t need it. But if the meringue needs a little camouflage to look like an occasion dessert, there you go.
I love passion fruit, but I”m usually limited to having it when we visit Hawaii. They’re pricey little buggers, when you can even get them on the Mainland. So these are — no question — a definite buy again for me. At $4.99 you can’t beat it. And if you’ve never had passion fruit before and you like tart tropical flavors, you gotta pick up a box.
Check out some other We Tried’s from Trader Joe’s:
(Chocolate Chip) Mini Croissant Swirls
Chocolate Chip Mini Croissant Swirls