this shit rocks no. 60: passion fruit-lime bars

With a heavenly, ginger snap-graham cracker crust!!

If you want to be at the center of every social gathering that you attend despite the occasion, might I recommend that you get into cooking? This past week, I attended two of my friend’s (did somebody say…socialite?) respective birthday parties and prepared food for both because I cannot help myself. For the first, I made a polenta olive oil cake with passion fruit curd and vanilla cream cheese icing.

For the second, I spent the day prepping at the birthday girl’s house (she sacrificed her younger sister to me for the day so I had some help) and made chicken Parm, rigatoni alla vodka, Caesar salad, garlic bread, and passion fruit lime bars (more on those below).

I am not presenting this information as a way to brag about how selfless and gracious I am—if anything, it is quite the opposite. I fully recognize that cooking is a way for me to shift the spotlight from someone who is celebrating a birthday, wedding, milestone, etc., to ME and how talented, thoughtful, and creative I am.

It is a scenario where everyone wins because I give myself an excuse to play in the kitchen (my favorite activity), and then everyone ends up thanking ME for doing something that I wanted to do anyway. And on top of that, they are so immensely grateful for my cooking that they do the dishes FOR ME! I really have it figured out.

If you similarly suffer from this disease of desiring affirmation and attention from everyone you encounter at all times, then pick up a knife, turn on the oven, and start cooking, baby!

Passion Fruit Lime Bars with Ginger Snap–Graham Cracker Crust

Active time: 25 minutes

Total time: 55 minutes

Makes: 16 bars

I made these bars for Lizzie’s birthday because she “doesn’t like sweets,” but per the advice of her sister, anything fruity or tart gets a pass. In my brain, fruity & tart means PASSION FRUIT! Think of these as a tropical version of key lime pie with a gingery addition to the crust.

Since access to fresh passion fruit is a privilege, I should add that you don’t need fresh passion fruit to make these (though it sure does look nice as a garnish). The filling is made with frozen passion fruit (I buy this one at Whole Foods, or you can buy frozen purée). These bars were a hit, and now my ego is well fed.

Pucker up, people!! These bars are tangy and buttery and creamy and crusty all in one delicate bite.