I know it is strange to be making pineapple tarts at this time of the year but hey, it doesn’t make sense to turn down good stuff! This pineapple tart recipe has been tested countless times. Everyone loves it! I hope you will try it out when you are free. It’s very simple to make. One thing I have to admit is I didn’t make my own pineapple filling. I did try once but it was just too much work for too little filling. Go buy Bake King’s pineapple paste. They work wonderfully. I think it cost $5 (more or less) for 400 or 500g of paste. One packet is enough to make 80 tarts. Throw in some TLC while doing this and you’ll never buy pineapple tarts from elsewhere!
Pineapple Tart Dough
(makes 40-50 tarts)
- 250g butter (unsalted or salted doesn’t seem to make much a difference), softened
- 170g Nestle UHT cream
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| Pineapple Tarts |
- 75g caster sugar
- 400g plain flour
- 30g corn flour
- 50g cream cheese (I used Kraft Philadelphia), softened
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 egg for glazing
1. Sift plain flour and corn flour together.
2. Whisk (on medium speed) the cream, butter, cream cheese and sugar together till you get a creamy mixture.
3. Add the 3 egg yolks into the mixture. Mix. (egg whites can be frozen for up to 2 weeks. You can make pavlova! Or just make egg white omelette.)
4. Add in the sifted flour all at once. Using low speed, whisk till it becomes a smooth dough. It will feel oily and you will be wondering if the dough looks right. If some flour escaped, use your hands to gently combine the escaped flour and the dough. The dough will still not look right to you. I guarantee that. But go on to the next step. It’ll turn out ok!
5. Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes or more. This is the magic step that will make the dough look and feel right. Hence, do not omit this step! However, you will not want the dough sit too long in the fridge and become too hard. It will be difficult to shape it.
6. Now is a good time to roll the pineapple paste into small balls. Depending on how big or small you want your tart to be, the pineapple paste balls should be 1/4 smaller. (You will not want too little paste or too little dough in a tart. Balance and your preferences are important.)
7. Shape the chilled dough into small balls. You may want to work on individual small batches and keep the rest in the fridge in case the dough gets warm (it won’t look right again!). Best if you do it with your family. Everyone gets the chance to make pineapple tarts!
8. Flatten the round dough in your palm. Wrap pineapple paste ball with the flatten dough and shape as you like.
9. Glaze with the tart with the egg wash.
10. Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 20 mins in a oven. (please preheat the oven while shaping your tarts)
11. The tarts are done when they are yellowish brown. Leave them to cool before storing in containers.
Side notes:
1. This is a closed tart recipe. If you want to make an open faced tart, you need to roll out the dough after it has been chilled then work with the cookie cutter. Roll till you acquired your desired thickness, cut it, place the rolled pineapple paste on it. Viola! Glaze only the dough and not the pineapple paste.
2. These tarts can keep quite a long time. According to a colleague (he bought a lot from me) they remained edible even after 3 weeks. While his other store bought tarts were mouldy a week after Chinese New Year, mine were mould-free even without preservatives. But I don’t think your tarts will last so long. They will probably be gone in a week ;)
3. Now you are wondering what to do with the left over pineapple paste. You can wrap and eat with bread. You can buy some frozen puff pastries and make Danish with pineapple paste filling. If you have other brilliant ways to use up the paste, please let me know!
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