Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Pineapple Tarts

I don't usually make pineapple tarts for Christmas, as they are sacredly reserved for Chinese new year. The Chinese pronunciation of pineapple 'wong lei' auspiciously means 'prosperity arrives'.
But then I learned that K will be travelling to LA this month and as this is one of Mee Fung's (and my) favourite snacks, I took that as an auspicious sign to make it for Mee Fung and Christmas (:=p).

These pineapple balls weighs about 4 g each and perfect for one tart in a mouthful. The pineapple jam was done few months ago when pineapple was in season - at its sweetest and cheapest. It can be safely kept in the fridge (not the freezer!) for up to a year.

Pineapple Jam
10 small pineapple, peeled and pureed
1 inch cinnamon stick
sugar to taste

Cook pureed pineapple with the cinnamon stick in a big saucepan over medium heat. This is a very tedious process and takes about 2-3 hours of regular stirring to reduce the puree into a jam-like consistency. Add the sugar to taste. For the tart we need the jam to be of a thicker consistency so just cook until it can hold its shape.
It is well worth the effort if you want to have control over the sugar content of jam, otherwise simpler to just buy the jam from baking supply store.

The pastry recipe came from Betty many years ago and so far it has never failed to deliver. It is so good that Leanne purposely made some without the jam in different shapes of course, so she could identify them. Maybe I'd try making shortbread with the pastry too.

Leanne hard at work - creating her shortbread cookies.

Pastry
350 g all purpose flour
250 g butter (Golden Churn in can)
50 g icing sugar
50 g corn flour
50 g powdered milk
2 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence

Cream butter and sugar till fluffy. Add in egg yolks and mix well. Fold in the rest of the ingredients to form a soft dough. Put dough into a plastic bag and chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes. Shape pastry with the jam and place in greased baking sheet.

Egg wash each one and bake in the preheated oven at 170c for 15-20 minutes.

Wishing everyone a peaceful Christmas and an auspicious new year!!

Jo

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

mmm...nice...

It's the first time i'm looking at this design. I am used to the conventional designs - the ones I (was forced to)help my granny make at home when I was a kid. You know, the one with the 4 strings laid crosswise. I remember glazing with too much yolk and making it come out dark brown (to my granny's disgust).

Also, my wife's uncle had a version somewhat like this but he used scissors to snip arrow points on the pastry to make it look like a pineapple, and for the bud he used that spice bud (which I can't remember the name of at this hour).

I also recall being scalded by the tiniest plopping bit of the pineapple being simmered in the pot once it turned golden brown - hurts like blazes. :-)

cheers//

a feast, everyday said...

tis is the lazy man design. I won't even think of attempting ur granny's style, i'd be there till the end of the year unless i've ur help :P

yammylicious said...

great!! cny is coming!!! donno tis year mom will bake pineapple tarts not or she's lazy jus buyyyyyy! now i'm bz baking xmas cookies =(

a feast, everyday said...

cny in feb only, lots of time 2 do more cookies.

GFAD said...

Hello! Have been looking around for a pineapple tart recipe. May I ask what is the texture of this version? Is it like crispy and short like shortbread, or is it soft and melting? I am thinking of shaping it into mini mandarins with a clove on top. The jam from 10 pineapples is enough for pastry recipe you've given? Or is there extra? Thanks!