Keyword: chinese new year pineapple tarts, homemade pineapple tarts, pineapple tarts
Prep Time: 40 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 45 minutesminutes
Total Time: 1 hourhour25 minutesminutes
Servings: 100pieces
Calories: 66kcal
Author: Bee Leng | The Burning Kitchen
These highly addictive pineapple tarts are made from scratch using homemade chunky spiced pineapple jam, which sit atop a buttery, crumbly tart pastry. One piece will not be enough, so make all you want!
Sift the plain flour. Then add in the salt, milk powder (optional) and icing sugar, and mix well.
Cut the cold butter into cubes, then use a dough blender or your fingers to blend the butter into the dough until it achieves a breadcrumb-like consistency.
Add the vanilla extract and eggs (2 egg yolks and 2/3 egg white), and use your fingers to gently bring the dough together. Be careful not to overwork the dough.
Divide the dough into 2 batches. Place each batch in a separate bag, then flatten it and chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, weigh out and roll the pineapple jam into balls of about 6g each.
COOKING METHOD
Preheat oven to 170°C, then roll out the 1st batch of dough to about 0.5cm thickness on a well floured surface. Ensure that the rolling pin is well floured as well.
Cut out the dough using a pineapple tart cookie cutter. First, press firmly on the outer cookie cutter to cut the shape out. Then press down on the inner mould to get a nice deep impression. Flour the cookie cutter before every use. Place the cut out cookies on a greased baking tray.
Add 3 egg yolks into a bowl and beat it. Then brush egg wash over the surface of each tart using a soft bristled brush.
Bake batch #1 tarts for 5 minutes at 170°C on the middle lower rack of the oven. Meanwhile, work on batch #2.
After 5 minutes, place the pineapple jam balls on the batch #1 tarts, pressing down gently to remove any air pockets. Then bake for another 10 minutes at 170°C.
Take out batch #1 to cool, and place batch #2 in oven to bake as per instructions above. Allow cookies to cool completely on a cooling rack before storing in an airtight container.
Video
Notes
MARKETING TIPS
Use good quality butter and vanilla extract. For butter, we use the SCS brand, and the ratio of butter to flour we use is about 3:4. We also add a little good quality vanilla extract from Nielsen-Massey which tastes much better than vanilla essence.
Use Hong Kong flour to give a 'looser' pastry with a finer crumb. The pastry is more fragile than those using plain flour, but it is super delicious and worth a try!
Choose to use a good quality butter brand rather than other shortening for the pineapple tarts to have a nice buttery fragrance.
Use a dough blender (or pastry cutter)as it is less messy than rubbing in the butter with your hands. and doesn't transmit heat to the dough.
Here are the cookie cutters we used. You can get a set from baking supplies shops such as Bake King
HOW TO WORK THE DOUGH
Don't to overwork the dough, as the pineapple tarts will come out very hard and tough.
Place the dough in the fridge as it makes the dough firmer so it is easier to handle. Work quickly when cutting out the pineapple tarts. If the dough becomes too soft, chill it in the fridge again to allow it to harden so it is easier to handle.
COOKING TIPS
Use a soft bristled pastry brush for applying the egg wash (similar to a calligraphy brush) because the dough is very soft.
Its normal for the pineapple tarts to be slightly crispy when fresh out of the oven. By the next day, the pastry will softened and become crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth.
JAM TIPS
Add in the sugar midway through the cooking process when cooking the jam. This way the sugar won't caramelise too much and the jam will end up light golden in colour.
Choose to pre-bake the pastry for 5 minutes first, before baking it with the pineapple jam for another 10 minutes. This way, the pineapple jam remains very soft and juicy, and nicely golden coloured, not over baked
TART TIPS
Use more egg yoke to give a softer and more crumbly texture. We also added a little egg white (binding agent) to ensure that the pineapple tarts are sturdy enough to be packed and transported.
Adding sugar also helps as a binding agent to hold the tart pastry together.
Glaze the pineapple tarts evenly with egg yolk, as it results in a more golden brown colour as compared to using a whole egg glaze.
REPLACEMENTS AND STORING TIPS
Pineapple tarts last about 7-10 days at room temperature in the tropics using our homemade pineapple jam recipe, and a few months in the fridge.
Add a small amount of milk powder can help to give a more melty texture but this is optional as some do not like the milky taste.
Replace the icing sugar with 1.5 tbsp of castor sugar instead if you wish.