Pineapple Tarts

Every year without fail my parents will have a usual selection of things in the house in readiness for Chinese New Year. If you didn't see these things in the home it didn't feel like CNY. There were the mandatory mandarin oranges bought by crates, red envelopes, and pineapple tarts. Without fail there would be a container of pineapple tarts on the coffee table for guests. Sometimes the guests don't even have a chance, my brother would scoff almost all of it down well before the festive season was over.

This year, I decided to bake some pineapple tarts for my own place. Sure, I don't have a coffee table to place them on, but there's always the kitchen table - I'm all for establishing new traditions, me.

First step was to make the pineapple jam filling. I bought two large cans of pineapple pieces, squeezed out all the juices and ended up with a small bowl of pineapple. Then, I stirred the pieces with sugar in the pot over low heat on the stove. At the end of the 1/2 hour, my right biceps had grown by 1/2 cm for a tiny bowl of pineapple jam.

The next day, I made the pastry. Lots of butter, some sugar, some flour and 3 egg yolks. I had no idea what shape I should have for the tarts. I didn't have any moulds, cookie cutters, or anything that would make my pineapple tarts look as flash as the ones on the market. So, I made them in the shape of logs, or in keeping with the spirit of Chinese New Year, gold bulions.

This is what the end result look like after 25 mins in the oven.

Tadaaa!! My very first attempt at baking pineapple tarts. Definitely not export quality but still taste pretty good! The pastry melts in the mouth, and the pineapple jam is pleasant. I didn't add enough sugar - I try to reduce sugar and butter in all my recipes but obviously I shouldn't have for this one!