Pineapple tarts...an aunt's story

Hello everybody!!

I would like to wish everyone a good week and to my Chinese and Korean brethren a very Happy Chinese New Year this coming Sunday. While this is not strictly a food blog, I am going to share a recipe for a CNY snack called pineapple tarts. Ah~~ it has been almost 6 years since I've celebrated CNY back in Malaysia and I do very much all those days spent gambling with family and friends (besides to pocket money of course ;p). To gamble, we need energy and for energy we have all sorts of sweet snacks: kueh bangkit, peanut cookies, butter cookies, nian gao, and pineapple tarts just to name a few. These snacks are sold widely, so we really do not have to put in any effort to make them. At least I haven't until last week when I bravely went into the world of pastry making (ugh). The commercial snacks taste fairly generic and bland with the exception of the expensive non-traditional snacks (what ripoffs) all part of a massive marketing scheme. Hmph. What they do not understand is that all they need is quality ingredients and some heart to make something tasty. This brings us to the pineapple tarts which are full of hearts <3 <3 <3.  The main ingredient for the tarts are pineapples (Duh!) and they need utmost patience and care to make. These tarts are made by my aunt and perhaps many families throughout Malaysia. Every recipe is the same with certain twists in them. Today I will share the one from my aunt that we have all grown to love. Here goes nothing! :

Abo's Pineapple Tarts (about 100++ tarts):

Pineapple:
1 kilograms of cooked pineapple: 5 fresh pineapples
500 grams of sugar

Dem juices



Dem pineapples

1. Peel and cut away the "eyes" of the pineapple using diagonal cuts instead of cutting them away. This preserves the sweeter part of the pineapple. 
2. Once it's done, use a food processor to grind them into pulp. Run the end product through a strainer to collect the juice. The juice can be saved to be drank.
3. Have the pulp in a large pot on low/medium heat. Keep watch and stir as the pineapple boils. Rinse and repeat until you get a golden brown color pineapple pulp.(depends on how much pineapple you have, I reckon about 2 hours if not more)
4. Add sugar and mix thoroughly.
5. Transfer into another container, wrap with saran wrap and refrigerate overnight. Note: you can also freeze and keep for months! Thaw them when you want to make them tarts. Also they can be used as jam for your toasty toast. Also, the less you make, the less time for the filling to dry...duh...

Dem pulps

Cooked fillings

Pastry dough:
750 grams baking flour
100 grams milk powder
100 grams caster sugar
450-500 grams of butter (1 block)
3 egg yolks
1 egg white

The dough

Pastry brush
Egg yolks (depends on how many you make)

Mix them like you mean it!

1.  Mix them all together until you get a yellowish dough.
2. Weight 100 grams of dough and cut into 6-8 equal sized portions. Each of them is used per tart.
3. Flatten the dough with the palm of your hand, and add as much of the pineapple filling as you can before wrapping the dough around the filling without cracking. Note: you could use a mold and have the filling outside. This is personal preference, skill, and patience.
4. Line the made tarts up on a baking tray.
5. Pre-heat your oven to 330 F.
6. Before putting those tarts into the oven, brush the top of them with egg yolk. 
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the yolk on top of the tarts start to turn brown and you've got yummy pineapple tarts!

The dough

Tada! Fresh baked tarts!

Note: You can without the filling use just the dough recipe for butter cookies. Simply shape and bake them or add more sugar if you wish before baking! Once again happy baking and lunar new year!! <3