Recipes : Pineapple Tarts & Butter Cookies

Finally, I have time for CNY bakes ! Decided on pineapple tarts after seeing the exhorbitant prices that home-made ones are sold at $25 for a small bottle ! In addition to home-made pineapple filling, I had mixed some store bought one to it as well. This was taught to me by one bakery chef who told me that this method will enhance the taste of the pineapple filling. Indeed, I find that the filling is more fragrant and sweeter after cooking both together. In addition, instead of cloves as what is stated in the recipe, I had used pandan leaves. Personally, I feel that the pandan leaves will bring a better frangrance to the pineapple than cloves. This recipe made a very buttery tart base which tend to be flaky and brittle once removed from the oven. But it shall be alright after cooling as it will harden slightly and will be easy to handle. Previously, I had made kueh lapis using Agnes Chang's recipes and there were many raves about it. This is the first time I adopted her recipe for pineapple tarts but they are equally good. In fact, so good that we couldn't stop eating ! So thumbs up again for Agnes Chang's recipes !

Made whole lot of this to be given away...

Recipe adapted from [ Baking Made Easy ] by Agnes Chang

?Rich Short/Crust Pastry :

250g cold butter

50g icing sugar, 1 egg yolk

360g plain flour, mixed with 2 tbsp custard powder and sifted

Pineapple Jam Filling :

2 pineapple, grated (You can used a blender to process the pineapple too.)

200g sugar (I used 150g only because I will be mixing in the store-bought filling, which will enhance its sweetness also.)

2 cloves (I replace this with a few pandan leaves instead.)

3cm cinnamon stick

1 tbsp lime juice (lemon juice will do also!)

1 egg, beaten, for glazing (I prefer my crust to be more crusty and flaky, so I omitted this too!)

Method :

1. Pineapple jam : Put all ingredients into a big pot, bring to boil, lower fire and leave it to cook till almost dry, stirring once in a while. When almost dry, keep stirring to prevent it from burning until golden brown and dry. Leave to cool. Divide into small parts and form into balls.

2. Pastry : Mix butter, icing sugar and egg yolk till creamy. Fold in flour and mix to form to form a dough. Leave aside for 30 minutes.

3. Roll out the dough and cut into shapes using a pineapple tart cookie cutter. Glaze with beaten egg.

4. Bake at 180 degrees C till golden brown. (My oven took 20 minutes.) Leave to cool before storing.

Note : Pineapple tarts must be cooled completely before storing so that they will not turn mouldy easily.

I will submit this post to Jess who is hosting the Aspiring Bakers #3: My Favorite CNY Cookie (Jan 2011).

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