Little Bags of Gold - Pineapple Tarts

Tomorrow is the first day of Chinese New Year and I finally made my first batch of CNY cookies! I've never made CNY cookies as there will always be jars of different cookies lying around the house. My favourite is pineapple tart! My mum makes the best melt-in-your-mouth pineapple tarts. I helped her once with those gems and it was a PITA trying to push the dough through a nastar mould. I gave up after pressing out a few strips and needed the rest of the day to replenish my energy. I won't be home this year for CNY, so I decided to make some myself.


I remember my mum saying we should reduce ALL the juice that comes with the pineapple to get a more intense flavour, so I did, and that was the worst part of the process. I think it took me about an hour just to cook that paste. The paste was very flavourful, just a tad sour as I cut back on the sugar. I quite like the sourness of it, but the wild boar says it's not sweet enough for him. So just add more sugar to suit your taste. I don't have a nastar mould, so I rolled them up into balls instead. They don't look as nice, but it was definitely less tedious.


I am not sure why they cracked, but I will treat that as a good sign for my wealth this coming year. I hope my money will be like the pineapple filling, too much to be contained in bag (bank) =P


Apart from the fact that they cracked from baking, the pastry was delicious! It was crumbly and melt in your mouth. Although not as soft and fine as my mum's but they tasted great! We all love the texture of the pastry.

Ingredients: about 24 pieces

• 1 Egg - beaten (as egg wash)

Pineapple paste:

• 2 cans (452g each, 260g drained weight) Pineapples , Unsweetened in Natural Juice
• 6 tbs Maltose
• 6 tbs Caster Sugar
• 1 tsp Cinnamon Powder

Pastry:

• 120g Unsalted Butter
• 20g Cookeen (shortening)
• 30g Icing Sugar
• 1 large Egg Yolk
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
• a dash of salt
• 175g Plain Flour
• 25g Corn Flour

Directions:
For pineapple paste:

• Process pineapples in a food processor.
• Pour everything including all the juice into a pan, add maltose and sugar, simmer at medium low heat until all liquid has evaporated and until the paste turned golden brown. Remember to stir constantly to avoid burning.
• Add more sugar to taste.
• Mix in cinnamon powder.

• Leave to cool and refrigerate overnight.

For pastry:

• Beat butter and cookeen until light and fluffy.
• Mix in icing sugar.
• Beat in egg yolk.
• Mix in vanilla essence.
• Sieve together plain flour, corn flour and salt.
• Slowly fold into butter mixture.

To assemble:

• Roll out pineapple paste (1 tsp) and pastry dough (about the same size as pineapple paste) into balls.
• Flatten pastry dough with palms and put a pineapple ball in the middle.
• Wrap and roll into a ball or shape it to however you want it to be.

• Preheat oven to 180°C
• Brush the surfaces with egg wash.
• Bake for about 20-25 mins or until golden browned.

新年快乐! 恭喜发财! 身体健康! 万事如意! 祝你牛年行大运,发大财!!!

Happy Moo Year everyone! Wish you all a prosperous new year! May this year bring happiness, health, wealth and success to all!
Happy Ox-picious 2009!