Pineapple Tarts...Two Ways

My advice is do not ever attempt to make Nastar or pineapple roll if you don't have the right mould. I don't know what came to me. I thought I have a Nastar mould. I turned the kitchen upside down, searched high and low, icing tips flying everywhere and I cannot find the right mould.


Not only that, after baking, I couldn't find the wire rack, just so damn it!!! I recalled I've seen a chopsticks wire rack at HHB thus I quickly gather all the chopsticks I could find in the house. How was I glad the bottom of the tart did not turn soggy!


I improvise accordingly, Aaron took a step-by-step shot. But really, spend that 5 bucks and get a proper mould rather than being like me!

Pineapple tart is really not that hard. You just gotta get organized, have ready everything needed from before baking till after baking else you'll go head-wired like me! I've enclose here a very detail steps and recipe so bake some for Chinese New Year!

Generally, there are three types of pineapple tarts, the Nyonya Style which is what they call the open face tart. I didn't make this because I don't have the right mould and it is impossible to cheat with any other cookie cutter, just my opinion. Also because tarts made this way tend to have dry jam unless you spread it on halfway through baking. I like my pineapple jam moist, thank you. No store-bought jams anymore please...

Another type is the pineapple nastar or pineapple rolls, probably the most tedious among all but most good looking one too I would say!

One last one is the all wrapped in pineapple tart. Depending on how you stick in your cloves, some would call it tangerine style tart (below) and some would call it apple style tart. (above) This is good, moist filling and looks good too! Cloves don't come cheap in Australia, I'm stingy!

There is another type of tart, very much like tangerine style pineapple tart, where all filling is totally enclosed in pastry case. It is square and they usually call it Taiwanese Style Pineapple Tart. It has no cloves and is not a common sight during Chinese New Year and you need special square mould for that too. Let's get back to what I've done and more about CNY from now on!

Also, you can make the pastry two ways. You can either pulse them in food processor like how I make all my tarts or you can use the creaming method, typical of how you mix butter and sugar till light and fluffy then add in egg yolk and vanilla if desired and beat until combined again. Finally fold in the flour. Creaming method produces a melt-in-mouth tart whereas food processor or the rubbing in of butter method produces a crumbly tart. The rubbing-in method will also yield tart that holds its shape better. I sorta combined both ways and got a crumbly but also melt-in-the-mouth tarts. So, try mine!

Here comes the recipe and detail steps, you're so welcome!

Pineapple Tarts
(makes 16 tangerine style perfectly or 20++ Nastars but you'll need more jam accordingly)

One portion of Pineapple Jam, rolled into 16 balls

Pastry:

95g plain flour
2 tbsp milk powder
2 tsp custard powder
2 tbsp + 1 tsp cornflour
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp castor vanilla sugar
85g butter (I substituted 3 tbsp of this with pork lard, ultimate food orgasm!!!)
1 egg yolk, mixed with 1 tbsp of water

Glaze: 1 egg yolk + 1 tsp water

Combine together the first 6 ingredients in a food processor. Pulse a while until combined and fine. Chop in the butter and lard, if using. Lard addition yield a more crumbly tart. Pulse until butter is the size of green peas, if not smaller. Pour the butter-flour mixture onto a clean work surface. Make a well on the mound of flour and pour in the egg yolk-water mixture. Apply the Frissage Method, like once or twice. When it starts coming together, gather together everything and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for an hour. After an hour, remove it from the fridge. Knead it a little to bring it back to room temperature.

If you are making the tangerine style tart, use a 1/2-tablespoon capacity measuring spoon and form 1/2 tablespoon ball of dough. Roll into round and flatten it. Wrap in the pineapple jam ball and seal well. Place on a lined and greased tray. Glaze with egg yolk wash and stick in a clove. Stick it in with stalk protuding out if you want an apple-like tart and vice versa for tangerine-like tart. Just make sure you remove the little ball (formed due to unopened sepals, just fyi!) at the centre just to be perfect!

If you are making the nastar or pineapple rolls, do as below if you have no nastar mould:

Pipe one long strand of pastry onto a baking paper, taped to the table on both sides.

Pipe another two strands of pastry like above. That strand makes 3 nastars for me.

Take one pineapple jam filling and roll it between your palm until slightly oblongi-sh. Place it as above.

Use a spatula and gently lift up the pastry strands together like above.

Use your thumb and index finger to hold the filling and roll it upfront. The pastry will follow it and roll up the filling nicely, enclosing it snuggly.

Use the spatula and cut off the remaining pastry and repeat again until done. Pipe more accordingly.

Chill them for 10mins and glaze. They firm up a little and holds it shape better when you glaze and even after baking. When commercialized, they have a sorta spray glaze, I've seen how they do it. They place the glazing liquid in a sprayer mist and spray it on the tarts. They have large tray of tarts, and they place the tarts all close together.

Finally, bake them in a preheated oven of 170°C for 20 mins or until lightly brown. Cool them on the baking tray for 5 minutes and working quickly and gently, remove them to cool on a wire rack so they don't get soggy bottoms. Grab the nastars by the jam rather than the pastry because they're crumbly when warm. You might also want to make sure they are loosen up from the baking paper using a spatula.

Very addictive. All the best in loosing weight for those going on diet!

Credits:

Pinkcocoa (Recipe Source)
Malaysia Best (Step-by-step Guide)
Little Teochew (the reason I made some because I couldn't resist her temptating photos)
Pineapple-Tarts (lots of good tip and idea)