There is something very elegant about hazelnuts. They are among my favorite nut flavors including pecans, walnuts, and almond. I ran into a bag of hazelnut flour in our local grocery store recently, and my curiosity tried to figure out a way to use it in a dessert. This light as air, tropical dessert was my mind’s reward. This is the first time I put this dessert together, so I have not quantified the recipe enough times to feel comfortable sharing it. However, I thought I would do a “Rambling” on it, and share it visually with you until then!

It begins with the sun, water, and air that saturates these lush green island. The local fruits reflect back every element that goes into producing it with stunning brilliance. Passion Fruit juice from a combination of local red and yellow passion fruits. Can you see the orange sun burning brightly in a bowl? Nothing but pure intense passion fruit flavor.

Organic butter is the base of the Passion Fruit Curd that is the true flavor driver in this tartlet!

I have to say that this whisk is one of my all time favorite kitchen utensils. I don’t know what it is actually called, but I refer to its weird shape as a spider whisk. It makes short work of every sauce, ice cream base, and curd recipe I create. If you don’t have one, try it out. Love it! You can see dots of butter spread throughout this rich crust.

A tender tart dough like this one can be very troublesome to roll out in a warm Caribbean kitchen. It has always disappointed me in previous tries. However, a stroke of kitchen brilliance hit me. I let the dough soften slightly to make it just malleable enough. Then I dusted off my tortilla press, sandwiched it between two pieces of plastic wrap, and gently smashed it to tartlet perfection!

This crust is so gossamer thin that you can literally see the sunlight shining through it. Crumbly, nutty, heavenly!

The pillowy softness of the lightly scorched meringue is just divine in compliment to the other flavor profiles in this dessert. Sweet, tangy, crunchy, soft, buttery richness!! If you ever have a chance to take a trip to our little Rock in the middle of the sea, and taste a vine-ripened passion fruit for yourself, you will begin to understand why this dessert is more than worth the labor involved in its creation. What are you waiting for!? Enjoy!