Announcement

This site will be migrating to a new address.
Please visit me at @Køkken and change your subscription to this blog to my RSS Feed

You Will Be Redirected!

Please do not leave any more messages on this blog. I will not be publishing or responding to any more comments left here. You will be automatically redirected to http://www.atkokken.com All posts have been migrated. You will be able to locate any posts by performing a quick search at my new site. Thank you.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Pineapple Tarts

Pineapple tart 13
Pineapple tarts 17
Pineapple tarts 16
By the time this is published, most of you would have seen,baked and eaten one pineapple tart too many in the last few weeks to want to read about yet another Pineapple Tart post...

As popular and festive as it may be for Chinese New Year, I have never made the pineapple tart before. I wrote about how futile it would be to try to create a tart that is good enough to hold its own against the myriads of family heirloom recipes here. A couple of sightings last few weeks prompted me to give this a go this year. First glimpse was sighted on Ju's Tweet. Second came in the form of a step by step guide to homemade pineapple jam at Wendy's blog.

Some of you may know that I had traveled to 2 continents and 3 regions in the last 2 weeks. I touched down at midnight last Saturday and was already stirring at my first batch of pineapple jam on Sunday morning. Made with ripe pineapples, I found the jam too sweet even though I had reduced the amount of sugar suggested by the recipe. In my desperation, I tried to balance the sweetness with fresh lime juice. This complemented the jam so well that for all subsequent batches, I retained the lime juice component.

For me, the element that blew my mind was the little ball of homemade jam on the buttery pastry. Juicier and fruitier, this is starkly different from the dry sticky pre-packed paste sold at bakery supply stores. And really, cooking the jam is more easy and effortless than I had originally thought.

Pineapple tart 11
Typical of me and prompted by my vegetarian sister, I also experimented with organic wholemeal flour for the pastry. The pastry took on the strange musty brown colour of the wheat flour. Although the texture was very similar to the cookie made with refined all-purpose flour, a 'wheaty'/grassy after taste lingered. I am not keen to see the scrunched up faces of friends I will be serving these to, so I guess between my sister and myself, we will have to clean these up.

P.S.: Just learnt that j3ss kitch3n is hosting a Aspiring Bakers event for 'My Favourite CNY Cookie'. I shall contribute this to join in the fun!

Pineapple tarts 17 (100)
Recipe :
Pastry (Adapted from Ju's Recipe)

200g            All purpose flour
50g              Corn flour
1 tbsp          Icing sugar
1/4 tsp         Salt
140g            Butter
2                  Egg yolks
1/2tsp          Vanilla extract
1.5 tbsp       Cold water

1 egg yolk for glazing

Method :
1. Sift flour,corn flour,icing sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl. Refrigerate for 5 mins.
2. Cut chilled butter into cubes.
3. Add cubed butter into flour and work the butter into the butter with finger tips until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Mix egg yolks, vanilla extract and cold water together in a cup. Add this to (3). Work briskly with finger tips to mix the liquid with the flour. Gather the dough into a ball and refrigerate for 10-15 mins.
5. Roll out dough to 0.8mm thickness. Cut dough with pineapple tart cutter.
6. Brush egg yolk glaze over the cut dough.
7. Place a ball of pineapple jam on the dough.
8. Bake at 160C for 20mins. Cool down and store in air tight containers.

Pineapple Jam (Please refer to Wendy's post if you need more details)
Recipe
1000g         Semi ripe pineapple, cut into chunks and puree in a blender.
150g             Castor sugar
1                   Lime juice
2                   Twigs of cinnamon

Method
1. Place pureed pineapple into a large heavy pot.
2. Add lime juice, and cinnamon. Heat over medium heat until 80% of moisture has evaporated. Stirring occasionally.
3. Add sugar. Stir once and leave to reduce further over medium -low heat until jam is 90% dry.
4. Increase heat and continue heating for another 10mins. Stirring 2-3 times to avoid burning.
5. Reduce heat to low and further dry up jam.
6. Remove from heat and cool down completely.

31 comments:

La Table De Nana said...

Shirley..they are gorgeous..Bravo..little golden blooms.

WendyinKK said...

Nice looking tarts.
I love the idea of lime juice in the jam to balance out the sweetness of the ripe pineapples and not sacrificing the perserving function of the sugar.

Jean said...

your pineapple tarts look beautiful and tempting :)

tracieMoo said...

Wow, they look great. What's CNY without pineapple tarts.. hahaha.. :)

Min said...

Shirley, nice pineapple tarts. I love homemade pineapple jam but I'm too lazy to make them, so this year we have store-bought pineapple tarts only.

Joanne said...

So much traveling! You must be exhausted. Well, you'll be happy to know that I have not had a SINGLE pineapple tart and so now I am really craving them after seeing these!

MaryMoh said...

Wow...you sound like a super woman...travelling and making cookies! Love these pineapple tarts....mmm...delicious. they are my favourite.

ICook4Fun said...

Our pineapple here is very sweet too and I too added some lemon juice to give it some tartness. I like your tart mould especially with the little heart shapes all around it. I have to look for one when I go back to Malaysia.

Swee San said...

looks good! Send some to me pleeaasseee :) Hope u can make it to the potluck

Maria @ Scandi Foodie said...

They look absolutely adorable Shirley! Well done!! :-) x

pigpigscorner said...

So pretty! I'm too lazy to make pineapple tarts this year, so only my eyes are feasting. Think you mistyped the amount of pineapple used in the pineapple jam recipe?

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Thanks, Anne. It should have been gram instead of Kg :)

Lisa H. said...

Very dainty and neat pineapple tarts.
Fresh pines are pricey here ... So I opt for canned pineapples in natural juice to make my jam :)

tigerfish said...

You are just wonder-woman! to have time to bake these in your busy schedule. :)

I lugged some store-bought ones in my luggage so that I can have some in foreign land during CNY :O

Zoe said...

Always a big fan of your photography. These pineapple tarts are elegantly crafted.

Zurin said...

those are beautiful Shirley! I love the rustic colour of the pastry. and I agree nothing like homemade pineapple jam. so much better and fruitier as u described. And so so easy to make too. I cant imagine why pineapple jam has developed the reputation of being so difficult to make when it is quite the contrary! good job :) Oh I love the first foto.

beyondkimchee said...

Too pretty to eat. I love pineapple tart. You photos look so lovely. Thanks for sharing.

Ju (The Little Teochew) said...

Compliments to you! They look so golden and pretty! Thanks for the mention, Shirley.

penny aka jeroxie said...

the tarts are beautiful. Where did you get the moulds? So cute.

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

@penny aka jeroxie ..Thanks! I got the mold at phoon huat :)

Edith said...

I baked a batch of this too but how do you find the crust. Is your biscuit like?

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Edith, the texture of the crust is 'loose and light' when just after baked. But as for most short crust pastry that is rich in butter, I find they taste better with a little aging. 1-2 days after, they will be soft and crumbly. But either way, I like it.

Pei-Lin said...

Beautiful tarts! I usually associate this type with the Peranakan, specifically, Malaccan Peranakan. Dunno why ... In Melaka, only this type of open-faced ones exist, though, it's not to say you can't find nastars there ...

Gong hey fatt choy! Rest more!

a frog in the cottage said...

they're so cute !!! i love your pineapple jam !!!

Barbara said...

Yesterday I heard about these on another blog. I'm intrigued and will try to find some locally tomorrow.

Angie's Recipes said...

I want some for my afternoon tea now! They look so pretty!

Anonymous said...

Lovely pineapple tarts. Great for CNY.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Your little tarts are so cute Shirley! :D I hope you have a very exciting Chinese New year coming up! :D

Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets said...

These are so cute, Shirley! I honestly don't recall ever tasting pineapple tarts (surprising for a Chinese girl I know) but have never been tempting by the sweet and thick looking topping...until now. With your description, I know your version will be just sweet enough and also have the unique tang of lime. Simply lovely. Happy early CNY dear!

Small Small Baker said...

Your tarts are so pretty! Thanks for joining Aspiring Bakers! Happy Rabbit Year to you! :)

Malay Kuih said...

great recipe! i have a different of this kueh tart recipe. check it out and let me know pls...tx!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails