I love an occasion to go all out with food and festivities. A graduation certainly deserves a celebration and my mind was overflowing with ideas of how to celebrate my sister’s well-earned degree. The school is UC Berkeley so I incorporated the school colors, mustard yellow and navy, into my sweet treats. And for celebration dinner, the place that really puts Berkeley on the culinary map, the renowned Chez Panisse.
I designed and purchased custom Krispie treats and chocolate covered Oreos decked in Berkeley colors as little goodies/favors on graduation day. A little too fancy for me to actually make, mainly because I wouldn’t know how to create the logo print on the fondant.
The Krispies were dipped half way in white chocolate and covered in white and blue nonpareils.
Oreos covered in white chocolate and dipped in yellow and blue nonpareils. Unfortunately there weren’t any sprinkle options to match exactly to the Cal colors but they looked summery and fun.
Then for graduation dinner, I knew I needed a special dessert. I selected a family favorite, lilikoi chiffon pie. It’s light and airy, which is perfect after the big meal I knew was in store.
Lilikoi is Hawaiian for passionfruit and the recipe calls for it in puree form. You can get it in the frozen section at most Asian markets.
Since I had not made it before, I needed to do a practice pie. Mmm. This is just a pre-made crust, which works well for this pie. I always find pre-made crust to be a lot thinner than my own version, so it balances a lot better with the fluffy filling.
The topping is freshly whipped cream. For my tester pie, I mounded it on top.
Time for a taste
Mm I love when a bite takes you back to where you first had it. Delicious. Proportion needed a bit of tweaking though. Too much heavy cream weighed down on the filling which I don’t think set up enough, so the cream sank into the pie. Other than that, the chiffon is so delicate and has a slight tang.
Onto the real pie
Instead of spreading cream all over, I did pretty dollops all around the edges. I liked how it turned out with the yellow chiffon showing through.Continue to Graduation Celebration: Dinner at Chez Panisse
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