LILIKOI LEMONADE

A lemonade that will have you believing you stepped into paradise with one sip…Yes, it’s that good! Lilikoi Lemonade is a combination of tart and sweet with the distinctly bold, tropical flavor that lilikoi (passion fruit) is known for.

It’s fall in Hawaii, and though it certainly doesn’t feel like fall or look like fall – the air is not cool and crisp, there are no leaves changing colors or falling off the trees – fall here means the lilikoi, or passion fruit, are ripening and ready to harvest. The lilikoi season will go from late summer all the way through January. If you have never tasted lilikoi, you are missing out! Lilikoi is both tart and sweet with a very strong, unique, and amazing flavor! It’s the perfect fruit to make incredible tasting desserts, sorbets, and of course, lemonade!

We have quite a few lilikoi vines growing in our backyard. The vines are covered with beautifully unique flowers during the late spring and early summer! And the more flowers we see, the more fruit we will have to harvest in the coming months. I freeze most of the juice we get from the lilikoi, so we enjoy the fantastic flavor year-round – it really feels like we are spoiled sometimes! If you want to read more on lilikoi, you can find the information here.

For This Recipe:

The most important step (and really the only step) in creating great lemonade is making a simple syrup. Also referred to as “sugar syrup,” simple syrup is a liquified form of sugar commonly used to sweeten cocktails, iced tea, iced coffee, lemonade, and other cold drinks. Because it is a liquid sweetener, it’s much easier to blend into cold beverages than regular sugar. For example, if you simply stirred granulated sugar into cold water and lemon juice, the sugar would sink to the bottom. As a result, you would end up with the top half of your drink being pucker-producing tart and the bottom being over-the-top sweet.

How do you make simple syrup?

Gently heat 1 cup of water with 1 1/2 cups of sugar over medium-low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir the simple syrup occasionally to help with the dissolving. This should only take a couple of minutes. You don’t want the syrup to boil. If you do, it will evaporate too much water, and you run the risk of burning the sugar. When the sugar is completely dissolved, remove it from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.

Pour the simple syrup, 1 cup of lemon juice, and 1 cup of lilikoi juice into a pitcher. You’ll want to dilute the mixture with 4 cups of cold water, then allow your lemonade to chill in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours. If it’s too strong, gradually add more water until you get just the flavor your looking for. Keep in mind that you’ll be adding ice to your lemonade, and it will further dilute the lemonade as the ice melts.

Lilikoi Lemonade

A lemonade that will have you believing you stepped into paradise with one sip...Yes, it's that good! Lilikoi Lemonade is a combination of tart and sweet with the distinctly bold, tropical flavor that lilikoi (passion fruit) is known for.

4.75 from 4 votes

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Prep Time 15

Course Drinks

Servings servings

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup lilikoi juice, if you are not using fresh, make sure it is unsweetened.
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
pinch of salt
4 cups water, to dilute

Instructions

Add 1 ½ cups sugar and 1 cup water to a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved, stirring occasionally. Do not boil. Remove from heat. Let cool for 10 minutes.
Juice enough lemons for 1 cup of juice. Typically, this would be 4 to 6 lemons. If using fresh lilikoi juice, juice enough lilikoi to equal 1 cup. **
If you are using canned, bottled, or frozen lilikoi juice, make sure it is unsweetened.
Add the lemon juice, lilikoi juice, simple syrup, and a pinch of salt to a pitcher. Add 4 cups of cold water to the pitcher and stir well.
Refrigerate the lilikoi lemonade for 3-4 hours to completely chill.
To serve, add plenty of ice to the glasses. Pour over ice and serve.

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LEMON CHIFFON PIE

This pie is so light and fluffy yet bursting with lemon flavor! Add the graham cracker crust, which pairs perfectly with the lemon, and you have a dessert that is sure to be a favorite!

We have a Meyer lemon tree growing in our backyard. Our lemon tree produces the most amazingly sweet lemons. And one of our lemons may produce as much juice as three store-bought lemons. So it’s safe to say you won’t find lemons in my grocery cart at the store! Thanks to our lemon tree, I always have lemon juice on hand. I either harvest right from the tree in the late summer or from the juice I froze. Our tree produces more than we can reasonably use before the fruit turns. Usually, about half of the harvest, I’ll juice and freeze. I freeze the juice in half-cup containers, making it easy to grab the amount I need for a recipe.

I created this recipe to have another fantastic use of our abundance of lemon juice. This pie is so incrediably light and fluffy, but you still get a great lemon flavor! You do need lemon zest for this recipe, not just lemon juice. The zest gives it that punch of lemon flavor that makes this pie so good.

I went back and forth as to whether to use a traditional dough pie crust or a graham cracker crust… Finally, I made the right call. The graham cracker goes perfectly with the lemon!

There is a right way and a wrong way to zest citrus:

When you zest your citrus, you want to use a fine grater or a grater designed specifically for zesting. Use light to medium pressure and ONLY zest the outside layer or the colorful part of the rind. That is where the most flavor is found. When you get to the white layer, called the pith, you’ve reached the bitter-tasting layer, and you don’t want that in your desserts.

Different fruits have different thicknesses to their rinds. I always grate a few strokes and check to see if I’ve almost reached the pith (remember you don’t want to actually grate that part), turn the fruit slightly, and grate again. After a few turns, you’ll have a sense of how much pressure to use and how many strokes it takes to grate just the rind.

For this recipe, you begin with the graham cracker crust. This crust may use more butter than others you’ve seen, but for a good reason. The butter is the binding agent, and you don’t want your crust falling apart when you go to serve your pie. I’ve used store-bought graham cracker crust, and I have never had one that tasted fresh like the ones I make at home. Considering that it takes only 10 minutes to put together and 10 minutes to bake (if you bake it), it’s worth the small amount of effort you have to put in to have a fresh-tasting crust.

Mix your graham cracker crumbs and sugar together before adding the melted butter. It makes it easier to get everything evenly incorporated. I like to stir in the butter with a fork; I can simultaneously break up any clumps and fluff the crumbs.

Pour the mixture into your pie pan. Using a medium flat bottomed measure cup, press the graham cracker mixture firmly into the bottom of the pie pan. Press up the sides. I use my finger to pack downwards while using the measuring cup to press the sides.

I like to bake my graham cracker crust, though you wouldn’t have to. Baking helps the butter and sugar melt into the graham cracker crumbs and bind everything together. Also, baking just gives me more confidence that my pie crust will hold together. I bake at a lower temperature, 300F, for no more than 10 minutes. The number one reason for rock-hard graham cracker crust is baking too long or with too high of a temperature.

A few notes on making this pie:

Make sure you use unflavored gelatin (It will be in a powdered form). The gelatin will thicken and stabilize the pie filling. The easiest way to soften the gelatin is to soak it in 1/4 cup of cold water for 5 minutes. Stir it to moisten all the gelatin. After 5 minutes, heat it in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds. It should be melted and translucent. Set aside. You can not skip these steps.
When cooking the egg mixture, make sure you are not boiling the eggs. You just want a hot simmer. Be sure to stir constantly. After you have cooked the egg yolk mixture, let it cool for 15 minutes.
While it’s cooling, you’ll need to beat the egg whites with a handheld beater. Add 1/2 cup sugar and beat until you have stiff peaks. You know you have stiff peaks when you lift the beater from the egg whites, and you have tall mountain-like peaks that do not collapse (be sure to turn the beaters off before lifting…trust me, I’ve made this mistake).

Fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture until everything is incorporated evenly.
Pour into your prepared crust (your crust must be completely cool), and refrigerate for 4 hours.

If your crust is not releasing from the pie pan when you are ready to serve, you can let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes; as the pie pan warms to room temperature, it should release the crust. If you want to speed up the process, set the pie pan in a little warm water (careful not to get water on the pie itself) for 15 to 30 seconds. The crust should lift right out. But if you’ve made a pie before, you’ve probably discovered that the first piece is the hardest to get out…I call it the “hostess’s piece.” Sometimes you can do everything right, and you’ll still struggle to get out that first piece of pie. It’s just due to the shape of a pie pan, so don’t stress, just give the first piece to yourself and everyone else the “pretty” pieces.

Lemon Chiffon Pie

This pie is so light and fluffy yet bursting with flavor! Add the graham cracker crust, which pairs perfectly with the lemon, and you have a dessert that is sure to be a favorite!

4.70 from 13 votes

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 25

Chill Time 4

Course Dessert

Servings servings

Ingredients

Crust:

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs, (10 full sheets of graham crackers)
⅓ cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter, melted

Pie Filling:

1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
¼ cup cold water
4 eggs, separated
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Garnish:

whipped cream

Instructions

Graham Cracker Crust:

Preheat the oven to 300°F.
Process the graham cracker in a blender or food processor until you have fine crumbs.
Mix the graham cracker crumbs with the sugar, mixing until evenly combined. Stir in melted butter with a fork until the butter is incorporated evenly.
Press the mixture into a pie dish and up the sides. Make sure it is tight and compact. The bottom of a medium-size measuring cup works well. You want the crust to be thick.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Allow pie crust to completely cool before adding the lemon filling.

Pie Filling:

In a small microwave-safe bowl, soften the powdered gelatin in ¼ cup of cold water, stirring to moisten all the gelatin. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Microwave for 10 to 15 seconds until the gelatin is translucent. Set aside.
Zest one lemon or until you have 1 tablespoon of zest, set aside.
Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks until thickened. Add to the egg yolks; salt, lemon juice, and ½ cup sugar. Blend well.
Add the egg mixture to a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until thickened, about 15 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the gelatin mixture and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Stir in the lemon zest and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
While the lemon filling is cooling, beat the egg whites with the remaining ½ cup sugar until stiff peaks form. Pour lemon filling into the bowl with egg whites and fold together until thoroughly combined.
Pour filling into the graham cracker crust and chill in the refrigerator until firm (about 4 hours). Top with whipped cream and serve.

Notes

If your crust is not releasing from the pie pan when you are ready to serve, you can let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes; as the pie pan warms to room temperature, it should release the crust.

If you want to speed up the process, set the pie pan in a little warm water (careful not to get water on the pie itself) for 15 to 30 seconds. The crust should lift right out.

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CHEESY LEMON ASPARAGUS

Roasted asparagus with parmesan cheese and lemon zest make for a great side dish to accompany any entrée. Super easy to make in just under 15 minutes!

I’ll admit I have not always liked asparagus. I don’t remember my mom serving it very often when I was a kid. And as a young adult, I avoided it. But I have discovered over the past ten years that I really like asparagus! So I make it quite often. My kids, however, are not fans…”Mom, do we have to eat it?” I just smile; I know that one day they will come around…I hope.

I like my asparagus to shine in my dishes, so they are usually simple dishes with not too many competing flavors. The way we typically eat asparagus is grilled and seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper. That’s it! And it’s so good.

For this recipe, the asparagus is enhanced with lemon zest and Parmesan cheese for a light flavor that still allows the asparagus to shine.

For this Recipe

I begin by washing and trimming the asparagus, cutting off the lower 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches. The lower part can be woody and difficult to chew.

Brush lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. I then sprinkle the asparagus with shredded Parmesan cheese. Be sure you are not using grated; it’s too fine and won’t yield the same results. Bake the asparagus in the oven for 10 minutes.

When it comes out of the oven, sprinkle with the lemon zest, garnish with a lemon spiral (optional) and serve. That’s it! So simple and so good. Enjoy!

Cheesy Lemon Asparagus

Roasted asparagus with parmesan cheese and lemon zest make for a great side dish to accompany any entrée. Super easy to make in just under 15 minutes!

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Course Side Dish

Ingredients

1 pound asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
⅓ cup shredded parmesan cheese (do not use grated)
zest of one lemon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Wash and cut 1 ½ to 2 inches off the bottom of the ½asparagus (see notes). Place on a baking pan.
Brush asparagus with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle evenly with parmesan cheese.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Plate the asparagus and sprinkle with lemon zest.

Notes

Cut 1 ½ to 2 inches off of the asparagus stalks. The lower half of the asparagus is tougher and more woody.

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LEMON/LIME POSSET

If you are looking for a smooth, creamy, and decadent dessert, look no further. Not to mention it’s effortless to put together with just four ingredients!

Posset is one of those desserts that will wow your friends and family with just one bite. The texture of this dessert is so incredibly smooth, creamy, and decadent that everyone will assume you spent all afternoon creating this bit of perfection. But it will be our secret that it took maybe 15 minutes and four simple ingredients to make.

What is Posset?

It’s a dessert that originated in England as a creamy beverage curdled with wine, ale, or liquor and flavored with spices. But today’s posset is something altogether different: a chilled dessert with a luxurious texture that comes together almost by magic from nothing more than sugar, cream, and citrus juice. The three ingredients work perfectly together to get that silky, smooth texture. The citrus reacts with the cream (there is a whole chemical reaction that you can read about here) and causes the cream to thicken, while the sugar gives a silkiness to the texture.

Posset is one of those recipes where you can not make substitutions, except for changing the citrus. This is because you must have the fat in the heavy cream react with the acid in the citrus. So you can not use milk or lower-fat cream; it must be heavy cream; otherwise, you’ll be drinking your posset! The portions are meant to be small, usually just half a cup, so you don’t need to worry too much about the calories. Just dive right into the silky decadence and enjoy!

I will be experimenting with other citrus flavors, so stay tuned for more posset recipes!

Garnishes:

This dessert pairs well with a garnish of berries; blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, or even sliced strawberries.

To add another layer of elegance to the dessert, I like to combine a teaspoon each of lime zest, lemon zest, and granulated sugar. Stir to combine, then sprinkle on top of the dessert. Trust me; you won’t regret this part one bit!

A dollop of cool whip or homemade whip cream, and you’re set to go!

Check out my other posset recipes:

Lemon/Lime Posset

If you are looking for a smooth, creamy, and decadent dessert, look no further. Not to mention it's effortless to put together with just 4 ingredients!

4.80 from 5 votes

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Cook Time 15

Chill 4

Course Dessert

Servings half cup servings

Ingredients

2 ¼ cups heavy cream
¾ cups sugar
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Garnish

1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 teaspoon sugar
cool whip or homemade whipped cream, optional

Instructions

Using a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream and sugar over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, and boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. If the boiling cream is bubbling too much, turn the heat down to medium, but maintain a boil. To prevent it from boiling over, lift the saucepan off the burner for a few seconds, return it to the burner and continue stirring.
Remove from heat and whisk in the lemon and lime juice. Pour the mixture into the serving dishes. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or until set.

Garnish

When ready to serve, zest one lemon and one lime (1 teaspoon of each). Mix with the sugar. Sprinkle over the posset and garnish with whipped cream (optional).

Notes

The serving size for this dessert is just 1/2 cup. It is a rich dessert yet delicate. You certainly could make the serving sizes bigger, but you would get fewer servings.

For 1/2 cup servings, ramekins or custard cups work perfectly for this recipe.

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STRAWBERRY LEMONADE

What’s more satisfying on a warm summer evening than an ice-cold glass of homemade strawberry lemonade? It’s a perfect combination of tart and sweet that’s as refreshing as it looks!

Lemonade is a perfect summery drink. Made right, it’s sweet, flavorful, and refreshing. With all the fresh, ripe berries and other fruits available in the summer months, don’t limit yourself to basic lemonade. Experiment with other fruits or a blend of different fruits!

This recipe starts with my basic recipe for Simply Perfect Lemonade. It’s easy to build upon something that is already amazing, all on its own! I’ve taken this lemonade to a whole new level by adding blended strawberries. But don’t let your imagination stop there…peach lemonade, kiwi lemonade, mango lemonade…the possibilities are endless! Leave me a comment below and let me know what you create!

The most important step (and really the only step) in creating great lemonade is making a simple syrup. Also referred to as “sugar syrup,” simple syrup is a liquefied form of sugar commonly used to sweeten cocktails, iced tea, iced coffee, lemonade, and other cold drinks. Because it is a liquid sweetener, it is much easier to blend into cold beverages than regular sugar. For example, if you simply stirred granulated sugar into cold water and lemon juice, the sugar would sink to the bottom. As a result, you would end up with the top half of your drink being pucker-producing tart and the bottom being over the top sweet.

How do you make simple syrup?

You gently heat 1 cup of water with 1 cup of sugar over medium-low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir the simple syrup occasionally to help with the dissolving. This should really only take a couple of minutes. You don’t want the syrup to boil. You will evaporate too much of your water, and you run the risk of burning the sugar. When the sugar is completely dissolved, remove it from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.

For the strawberries, slice about 2 cups of berries. Add strawberries and 1/4 cup water to a blender and puree strawberries until smooth. Add the simple syrup, lemon juice, and strawberry puree to a pitcher and stir. Add 4 to 5 cups of cold water to the pitcher and thoroughly chill in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.

When deciding how much to dilute the lemonade, I suggest starting with 4 cups and then sampling it. If it’s too strong, gradually add more water until you get just the flavor you’re looking for. Keep in mind that if you are adding ice to your lemonade, it will further dilute the lemonade as the ice melts. My personal preference is to go with 4 cups of water. When serving the lemonade, I load the glasses with ice to get super refreshing, ice-cold lemonade. Garnish with sliced lemons and strawberries, and ENJOY!

Check out my other lemonade recipes to quench your summer thirst:

Simply Perfect Lemonade

Sparkling Lemonade

Lilikoi Lemonade

Strawberry Lemonade

What's more satisfying on a warm summer evening than an ice-cold glass of homemade strawberry lemonade? It's a perfect combination of tart and sweet that's as refreshing as it looks!

No ratings yet

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Prep Time 15

Course Drinks

Servings servings

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup fresh lemon juice
4-5 cups water, to dilute (this will vary depending on your taste)
1 pint strawberries, sliced, (2 cups), (see notes)
¼ cup water, to blend with strawberries
garnish with sliced strawberries and lemon wedge, optional

Instructions

Add the 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water to a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat until sugar is completely dissolved, stir occasionally. Remove from heat.
Juice enough lemons for 1 cup of juice. Typically this would be 4 to 6 lemons.
Add the lemon juice and sugar mixture to a pitcher. Add 4-5 cups of water to the pitcher and stir well. **See notes
Add sliced strawberries and 1/4 cup water to a blender and process until smooth. Stir into lemonade.
Refrigerate the strawberry lemonade for 2-3 hours to completely chill.
To serve, add plenty of ice to the glasses, fill and garnish with sliced strawberries and lemon. (optional).

Notes

When deciding how much to dilute the lemonade, I suggest starting with 4 cups and then sampling it. If it's too strong, gradually add more water until you get just the flavor you're looking for. Keep in mind that if you are adding ice to your lemonade, it will further dilute the lemonade as the ice melts.

If you have questions on how many strawberries to use, basically 1 pint is about 2 cups sliced or quartered. You can find more helpful information here.

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SPARKLING LEMONADE

How do you make great lemonade even better? Make it bubbly! Kids and adults alike will love this simple twist on a classic!

This recipe starts with my basic recipe for Simply Perfect Lemonade. Adding one simple ingredient, lemon or lime sparkling water, gives this lemonade a fun, bubbly kick!

The star of any lemonade is the bright, sunny lemons. We have a dwarf Meyer lemon tree growing in our backyard. And most years, during the summer, it is heavy with the juiciest lemons we’ve ever seen! The amount of juice we get from one lemon is more than you’ll get from two to three store-bought lemons. We use what we can of the fresh lemons, but the tree produces more than we can reasonably use, so I juice the lemons and freeze the juice in a half-cup container. That makes it incredibly easy to pull out the exact amount of juice I need for a recipe. I don’t mind making lemonade with our frozen lemon juice, but nothing beats juicing fresh lemons!

MAKING A SIMPLE SYRUP:

It really is quite easy. You gently heat 1 cup of water with 1 cup of sugar over medium-low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir the simple syrup occasionally to help with the dissolving. This should only take a couple of minutes. You don’t want the syrup to boil, or you will evaporate too much of your water and risk burning the sugar. When the sugar is completely dissolved, remove it from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.

Pour the simple syrup and 1 cup of lemon juice into a pitcher. You’ll want to dilute the mixture with cold water, then allow your lemonade to chill in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours. When deciding how much to dilute the lemonade, I suggest starting with 4 cups and then sampling it. If it’s too strong, gradually add more water until you get just the flavor you’re looking for. Keep in mind that you will be adding sparkling water to the lemonade, and if you add ice to your lemonade, it will further dilute the lemonade as the ice melts.

Do not add the sparkling water to the lemonade until you are ready to serve, or it will go flat. When ready to serve, put some ice in the glasses, fill the glasses 2/3 full with lemonade and top off with sparkling water. Garnish with lemon-lime wedges or slices, and ENJOY!

Check out my other lemonade recipes to quench your summer thirst…

Lilikoi Lemonade

Strawberry Lemonade

Simply Perfect Lemonade

Sparkling Lemonade

How do you make great lemonade even better? Make it bubbly! Kids and adults alike will love this simple twist on a classic!

4 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 15

Course Drinks

Servings servings

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup fresh lemon juice
4-5 cups water, to dilute (Depending on your preference)
lemon or lime flavored sparkling water, chilled

Instructions

Add 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water to a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat until sugar is completely dissolved, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
Juice enough lemons for 1 cup of juice. Typically this would be 4 to 6 lemons.
Add the lemon juice and sugar mixture to a pitcher. Add 4-5 cups of water to the pitcher and stir well. This will vary based on personal preference. **See notes
Refrigerate the lemonade for 2-3 hours to completely chill.
To serve, add plenty of ice to the glasses, fill 2/3 with lemonade, 1/3 with flavored sparkling water and garnish with lemon (optional). Adjust amounts of lemonade versus sparkling water to suit your personal preference.

Notes

When deciding how much to dilute the lemonade, I always suggest starting with 4 cups, then sampling it. If it’s too strong, add more water gradually until you get just the flavor your looking for. Keep in mind you will be adding sparkling water to the lemonade, and if you are adding ice to your lemonade, it will further dilute the lemonade as the ice melts.

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