Pineapple Tarts for Beginners

I am not a huge Chinese New Year goodies gal, but I just love Pineapple Tarts.

The good thing is, in Singapore and Perth, you don't have to wait till Chinese New Year to find them.

Singapore's Bangawan Solo stocks a decent albeit soft batch all year round, and in Perth, you can always find some cardboard tasting ones in the Asian grocery stores.

If you want good Pineapple Tarts though, they usually only show themselves during the festive season, when that meek-as-a-mouse auntie suddenly unleashes her secret baking skills and rakes in $$$ with the sale of truck loads of tarts.

Since I am neither in Singapore, nor interested in eating cardboard, I have had no choice but to try and bake my own Pineapple Tarts for the last two years.  

Amazingly, Pineapple Tarts are incredibly easy to make with the right equipment.  I used my Breville Kitchen Wizz Pro.  If you have any sort of mixer than can churn out dough, you will be fine.  If not, you will find yourself slaving away at the counter trying to get the damn pastry mixed.

I found this recipe to be quite fail proof - the tarts taste yummy.  I doubt you will be able to make any money selling these though, because they are the ugliest Pineapple Tarts you will ever consume.

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Easy Recipe for Beginners (adapted from Delicious Asian Foods)

> Sift into a food processor/mixer:

3 cups plain flour

1/3 cup corn flour

6 tbsp icing sugar

> Slice in 280g refrigerated butter

> Add in

3 egg yolks

3 tbsp cold water

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

> Mix together using the dough blade until it clumps into a nice ball

> Drop the ball into a cling wrap and refrigerate

The dough can stay refrigerated until you are ready to begin assembling your tarts.  

Simply microwave it for about 20 seconds, until it is soft enough to be flattened using a rolling pin.

Next is the pineapple jam recipe (my own)

> Skin 2 large pineapples 

 

> Mince the flesh (including core) using a food processor

> Throw the mixture and 2 cinnamon sticks into a pan on medium/low heat 

> Stir occasionally

> When it darkens, add in 1/2 cup brown sugar and turn heat to medium/high

The sugar will caramelize, causing the mixture to darken even more, and thicken.

Once it looks like a jam and you can no longer see any standing liquid, remove from heat. and cool. 

Now a lot of recipes will try to make this process super complicated, but really, it is up to you to decide what kind of texture you want your jam to be.  Mine turned out to be fibrous with a bite, and not too sweet.  Many of the recipes I've come across ask for just 1 cinnamon stick, and a lot of white sugar.  But sugar kills, so I just used 1/2 cup, and brown sugar. 

Once again, you can now refrigerate your homemade (be proud!!) jam until you are ready to assemble the tarts. 


I stored mine like this ^

 

I don't own any cookie cutters, so I selected this bottle mouth to cut out the round pastry shapes.

This particular opening is smaller than regular sized tarts, but your pastry will come out bite sized, less than 3cm across, and about 1cm high.

Switch on your oven and let it heat up while you cut your round pastry shapes.

Place the circles on a baking sheet and brush them with a mixture of 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water.

Then, using a teaspoon, heap as much or as little pineapple jam onto your pastry, and bake for 20 minutes.  You will know they are done when the tarts start to sizzle.

My Not-a-Baker Pineapple Tarts, ugly but adorable?

These tarts are not too sweet, with a buttery taste and a creamy texture.

 

I also experimented baking some tarts in my Philips Air Fryer

 

I must have put them in for less than 10 minutes, and when I checked on them, the jam was already starting to burn.  I had to take them out, but when I bit into one, I found that the pastry was not cooked through, even though the surface was dry.

I reckon this must be the easiest Pineapple Tarts recipe and hope that those Not-a-Baker out there will feel confident to try making your own Chinese New Year favorite at home.  Look at how small and cute they are! 

Gong Xi Fa Cai!