Monday, January 16, 2012

Pineapple Tarts!


In preparation for the Lunar New Year, I have been pointing out things (对联), Chinese New Year goodies and other decorations when Dumpling and I head out. And with all our homeschooling themes, I try to involve some cooking / baking activity whenever possible.

As many would know, for Chinese, the play of words and symbols especially for festive and happy occasions is a common occurrence. This is primarily to symbolize good wishes. For the upcoming Chinese New Year, Dumpling and I made pineapple tarts over the weekend. Due to the colour and the hokkien name of fruit (凤梨; fènglí), pineapples are known to symbolize wealth, luck and excellent fortune. I decided to make that with Dumpling because it is messy fun and primarily, it is yummy. :p


 I downloaded a recipe I got from Phoon Huat but made some amendments to it.

Item

GOLDTREE Salted Butter 500 gm

RED MAN Cake flour 600 gm

RED MAN Skimmed Milk powder * 100 gm

RED MAN Caster Sugar * 50 gm

Egg yolk 4 nos

RED MAN Vanilla Essence 1 Tablespoon

Filling

RED MAN Pineapple Tart Filling 1kg


Method

1. Knead butter, sugar, vanilla essence, milk powder and flour together.

2. Add in yolk, blend into a soft dough, do not over work.

3. Measure 10-13 gm of dough to 8-10 gm of pineapple tart filling to form into shapes at your own desire, brush tarts with egg yolk

4. Bake at 190oC for 20 minutes




For my version, I reduced the sugar from 50 to 40-45gm. I also replaced Skimmed Milk Powder with Full Cream Milk Powder for a creamier and richer taste. (Indicated by asterisk above)



Lastly, I baked mine at 180oC for 16 minutes for the first batch and subsequently reducing the time by a min – 2 for the next 2 batches. For this, it is best to check on your tarts once you approach the 13 min mark.

As with most of the festive celebrations, C and I will pack it into as a small gift for her classmates. This is especially so since she attends a pure chinese Nursery class and the school usually includes a unit on such festivals. So with these baking activities, I hope to complement the good work her school does.


2 comments:

  1. Madam Know-It-All, is there anything you don't know? ;p

    I would love to try but seems too much work needed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. lol, ange, tons! You should try this recipe. It is not hard but just time consuming. Half everything and you will complete within 2 hours. :)

    It is very yummy because its so creamy and buttery that it melts in the mouth! :)

    ReplyDelete