Open-Faced Pineapple Tarts

-

 


Making pineapple jam is a yearly tradition in the weeks preceding the Lunar New Year. This is because pineapple tarts, a festive dessert that historically represents prosperity and good fortune, are made with the delectable filling of pineapple jam.

Due to the laborious cooking process that requires a lot of elbow grease over the stove, pineapple tarts are traditionally very expensive to purchase.

There are two types of pineapple tarts – open and closed. I made an open-faced pineapple tart where the pineapple pulp is exposed, that is the pulp is placed on a butter cookie which I made with a flower cutter. This cookie recipe is relatively stable. It is made using flaky buttery pastry crust as its base, wrapping within is our homemade pineapple jam. With a beautiful shape appearance, they look so cute and filled with Chinese New Year atmosphere. The flavor of pineapple jam has fully combined with flaky pastry crust, sour and sweet. Personally, I more prefer this type of flaky Pineapple Tart Cookies.

I used a Thermomix to make my pineapple jam. With the Thermomix, everything is simpler because I blend and cook the pineapples all in the same bowl. Only the effort required to remove the pineapple's skin and core makes the entire process simpler. It takes around an hour or so to make the paste for two pineapples.

I puree my pineapple along with the cores together with the juice. The juice has an abundance of taste. The filling for the pineapple tart can be prepared in advance and frozen it.

If you cook the jam on stove. You can cut the fresh into small chunks and blend in a fruit blender or food processor. It can take up to 3.5 hours to cook the jam from the beginning to end, depending on the size of the pan, the volume of liquids, and the level of heat used.

INGREDIENTS

(Pineapple jam)

2 large pineapples (about 2kg each before peeling)

1 tsp of cinnamon powder

200g sugar (adjust to your preference)

 

METHOD

1. Cut the pineapples fresh into chunks. Cut the core into small pieces. Chop 5 Sec / Speed 5 until mushy. Pour the pineapple puree into a flat bottom pan or wok.

2. Add in the sugar and cinnamon powder. Cook for 60 minutes, 120°C, speed 2 until most liquid has evaporated, and the pineapple jam turns golden in color. Scrape down the jam every 15 – 20 minutes. Make sure the jam is evenly cooked.

3. Round the pineapple jam in a 1cm marble size ball.

 

INGREDIENTS

(Open-faced version)

200g cold butter, cut into a small cube shape.   

340g flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

50g icing sugar

1 egg

1 tsp cold water (if the batter is too dry)

1 egg yolk, egg wash

 


METHOD

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and icing sugar. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or you can use your fingertips to rub the flour and butter together quickly and lightly until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2. Add the egg to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together. Add one teaspoon of cold water to the mixture if the dough is too dry to come together. Do not knead.

3. Refrigerate the cookie dough for 20 mins or until it is in a workable state.

4. With two pieces of parchment sheet on the bottom and the top of the cookie dough. (you may use baking paper) Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Using your cookie cutter, I am using 2 pieces flower cutter, cut out shapes (dip in flour!) and place on parchment sheet. Put pineapple jam in the center of each piece. Brush the tart with egg wash. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes at 180°C. Switch the tray halfway baked.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baked Cassava or Tapioca Cake （烤木薯糕）

-
Image
Cassava or tapioca cake can be prepared in several methods, including baking, steaming and wrapping in banana leaves. It can be made with or without eggs and with or without butter. Today, I am going to share how to bake cassava or tapioca cake. Tapioca cake is very easy to make, whether to steam or to bake. The only tedious part is grating. I used to grate them into fine silk manually. But now I blend them with Thermomix to paste form. If you are using a regular blender, add a little water to the blender to blend it together. This cassava cake has a beautiful burnt skin on top and dense golden color inside. My daughter thought it was burnt cheesecake. The texture is soft but firm and not too sticky compared to the steam type. Every bite taste of cassava, coconut milk and the burnt aroma. Not overly sweet and greasy. If using a blender, cut the tapioca into smaller chunks, then carefully cut out the tough, fibrous core from the middle of each piece using a knife.   Once the t...
Read more

Steamed Ma Lai Gou （马来糕）

-
Image
  Today I will share with you how to make Malay kuih also known as “Ma Lai Gao”.   A steamed sponge cake from Malaysia, drew inspiration from British cakes. Later, Cantonese chefs modified it to become what we now know as dim sum. Traditionally, Ma Lai Gao's starter dough takes 24 hours to prepare. I'll show you how to make Ma Lai Gao quickly and easily today without losing out on texture or flavour. In fact, the appearance of “Ma Lai Kou” is very ordinary, not much different from ordinary cakes on the market, but its preparation method and texture are worth learning from. Because it is a fermented flour product, it has a soft and smooth texture. This recipe doesn't require baking, and the preparation of “Ma Lai Gao” is very simple, and the ingredients are divided into dry and wet. The wet ones are milk and eggs, while the dry ones are powdered ingredients. To put it simply, stir the wet ingredients evenly first, then slowly add the dry ingredients, ferment and then s...
Read more

Dong Po Rou （东坡肉）

-
Image
Dong Po Rou （东坡肉） – wine braised pork belly. It’s rich and savoury, tender that melts into your mouth. Traditionally, the pork belly is pan-fried before being braised or stewed for one to one and a half hours on low heat. Some of the recipes even call for steaming for an additional half an hour after stewing. It is very time-consuming. But as you are aware, I enjoy making recipes simpler without compromising the taste. You, too, I'm sure. Therefore, I skipped the pan-frying step and proceeded directly to braising the pork after blanching it, and then continued to cook with a pressure cooker. Don't worry; the dish's flavour remains unaffected. I'm hoping this simplified method may come in handy for your regular cooking. Trim off the edges of the pork and cut it into 3x3 cubes. Tie cooking twine around each cube. This will assist the cubes in keeping their form while cooking. If the pork that you bought is at the mid portion of the belly is ideal, there is a nice bala...
Read more