Oaty ChocoChips Cookies

It was a school holiday project for Leanne and my hair-pulling strategy to get her off her PSP. Go to Hungry Hamster for the recipe as we followed it to the T except for the chocochips which we threw in a few handfuls (definitely more than 12 oz) and added some chopped walnuts as those were the only nuts I had in hand. 

A true winner with me for its simplicity and the lovely texture which was crisp on the outside and moist/chewy inside. 

The oat content make this indulgence a healthy snack in my book *hookwink*and between my two girls and me we polished off these in one movie sitting!

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