A Taste of the Tropics

If you live in Brasil, you call it maracuja (accent on the "a," which I don't know how to arrange on Blogger). If you live in Honduras, you call it maracuya. If you live in the U.S., you don't know what the heck to call it, because you've probably never seen it. But you've certainly heard of it, arguably the raciest of all fruits: passion fruit. I LOVE this stuff, and ever since it came to my attention that Welch's offers it in frozen juice concentrate form and in a box, I've been consuming it like crazy. Mark is a convert, too, so we've been drinking the juice, eating the mousse and experimenting. My latest invention turned out so well that I want to share it with you. Some of you live in a place where you can buy the real deal. Others might have to resort to buying the 15% juice-85%high fructose corn syrup version like we did, but if you're up for an adventure, then I offer you:

Tiramisu de Maracuja

10-12 ladyfingers (if you live in OKC, Super Cao has the real deal, real cheap)
1 can of Welch's passion fruit juice concentrate, thawed
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 can of creme de leite (in Brasil), creme de leche/table cream (in the U.S.)
1 cup of flaked, sweetened coconut
1/2 a can of crushed pineapple

Pour 1/4 of the can of concentrate into a bowl, diluting it slightly with water.

Dip each of the ladyfingers in the "juice" mixture and line the bottom of a serving bowl or 9x9 pan (if using the 9x9, you may need to use more ladyfingers).

Sprinkle the coconut on top of the ladyfinger layer.

Dump the drained 1/2 can of pineapple over the coconut.

Combine the sweetened condensed milk, creme de leite, and the leftover 3/4 can of juice concentrate in a blender and blend until blended:)

Pour the blender mixture (also known as "mousse de maracuja," which is fantastic on its own) over the mixture in the bowl.

Refrigerate until the top mousse layer has set, and serve.