Pineapple Tarts II

Continuing the prosperity cookie posting for the new year.....enclosed pineapple tarts!

I halved the recipe which is adapted from Wendy's melt in mouth pineapple tarts. The tarts, no doubt, are very sturdy but still melt in the mouth in a delicious way. The dough, as I had been warned, was very difficult to handle and I was not able to get a full round shape after wrapping in the pineapple jam. No matter how I rolled them, the dough surface did not become smooth. I tried to refrigerate the dough but it didn't seem to make a lot of difference. Not sure if it was because I had halved the recipe, so I would need to adjust the liquid portion accordingly. The pastry cracked a bit after baking and the patterns are gone (it looked really messy, that explains why I didn't put in more photos) but it was still very sturdy and didn't break easily. Nevertheless the pastry tasted excellent. The fillings are a bit too sweet though. I will definitely make this again next year. Will definitely snap more photos for reference by then. Perhaps I should reduce the jam or roll the pastry thicker next time.

Getting ready to whip in whipping cream.

Ingredients:

• 125g salted butter
• 42.5g caster sugar (I think need to try with 20g next round)
• 85g whipping  cream
• 25g cream cheese
• 1 and 1/2 egg yolks (keep the remaining 1/2 egg yolk for glazing)
• 200g cake flour
• 15g corn starch
• Store bought pinapple paste
  

  

  All became creamy now.

Method:

1. Cream butter, sugar and cream cheese together.
2. Pour in whipping cream and whip on medium speed for about 10 minutes until it becomes creamy. Scrape the sides from time to time.
3. Beat in egg yolks for 1 minute.
4. Sift both flours and pour half of it into buttery mixture. Mix on low speed until it comes together and pour in the remaining flour and beat until it comes together. Do not over mix.
5. Let dough sit for 10 minutes minimum before wrapping the pineapple jam in it.
6. Use a sieve and gently press the top of the cookie twice to form criss cross pattern. (I think I will skip this step as the pattern is not so obvious and it almost disappears after baking.) Glaze with the remaining egg yolk.
7. Bake for 160 degree C (fan mode) for 20 minutes or till golden.

Updates for 2013

So, I doubled the recipe above as I received good feedback for this last year. This year, I cooked my own pineapple jam. And they tasted better than last year's store bought jam. But I still can't get a nice round shape, the shape will be distorted while baking. And if I make my mark on the cookie, the cookie becomes shorter and shorter. Sigh....will try again next year to improve on the shape.

Updates for 2014

I read that the distorted shape could be due to my jam being too wet. And my cooked jam is usually not as dried as the store bought ones. So, heeding Wendy's advice, I dried out the jam uncovered in the refrigerator. Using 1/2 tsp measurement, I scooped out the paste and rolled them into balls and placed them uncovered in the refrigerator for 2 days. And well, it seems to work. I also let the paste chilled until wrapping time. It is so much easier to wrap this time, even though it is still time consuming. I used 1 tsp measurement for the dough for the cookies will appear uniform. For this bakes, the shapes turned out to be nice dragon balls size. Some cookies have a bit of cracks. I am guessing I did not roll the dough properly into nice balls before wrapping the jam with it. So, next year, it will be rolling the jam into balls 2-3 days earlier and drying them in the refrigerator if necessary, then the dough will be rolled nicely into balls before wrapping the jam in.

 

The shapes have definitely improved this year, no distortions.