Valentine day falls on the first day of Chinese New Year. We have decided to spend it with friends as some of them have become like family. There isn’t much of a festive mood here as we are away from family. So this year, I thought it will be a good idea to make more effort in creating a mood by baking some Chinese New Year favourites.
I have no baking skills. Even when I follow the recipe, something is almost always wrong. So this time, I decided to test run a small batch and have time to make amendments before the New Year. The first batch turned out ugly but tasted good. And the second batch looked better. More presentable. I did increase the amount of cold water that the Nonya recipe book had recommended.
Pineapple tarts is one of the more popular kuih (bite -size foods). In translation, it means ‘good luck to come’. And the colour of the tart which is a golden yellow plays an important role as well. Golden yellow is the colour of gold. So it can mean ‘wealth’ as well.
First batch of pineapple tarts getting ready for oven
So what has this got to do with this week’s theme? Pineapple tarts are time consuming to make. First, it requires constantly stirring of the pineapple jam for a period of time. So you have to make sure that you squeeze and drain out as much juice as possible. Secondly, care needs to be taken with the dough. Mister said that his grandma used to say that pineapple tarts are made from love as it takes time and effort. I found it very fitting for this week’s theme and this year the first day of Chinese New Year is Valentine’s day as well.
Pineapple (Source - Th0i3)
Ingredients:
Pastry
- 500g sieved flour
- 170g margarine
- 65g butter
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 egg white
- 1tbsp vanilla essence
- 1 few drops of yellow colouring
- 3 – 5tbsp ice water
Flour to breadcrumbs (Source - Th0i3)
Filling
- 4 pineapples
- 320g of sugar (depending on taste and natural sweetness of pineapple)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 star anise
- 5 cloves
- Pinch of salt
Pineapple jam
Batch number two
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- A few drops of yellow colouring
Egg washed tarts
Method:
- Rub butter and margarine into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs
- Beat egg yolks and white lightly. Add vanilla essence, 1/2 the amount of ice water, yellow food colouring. Add the mixture to the flour and blend slowly. Pour more ice water in if it still does not come together. (Can use hands to mix as well) Cover with a damn cloth and rest in the fridge for at least 1/2hr (Tip: Make use use less water first and then add if mixture is still very crumbly. Do not work it too much)
- Preheat over to 150C
- Use the kuih mould (in my case, a cookie cutter) to cut and fill with pineapple filling (Tip: I use my thumb to make a small dent and then place pineapple balls on top)
- Cut thin stripes from left-over pastry to decorate top (optional). Egg wash the tarts generously. Place on lined baking tray and bake for 20-25mins or until golden brown.
- Turn tarts out to cool on rack before eating or storing into air-tight container
Ugly but yummy pineapple tarts
Mister was a great help. He did most of the hard work which is stirring the jam. I was in charge of the dough which is my biggest enemy. And then I would cut the dough and Mister will roll the jam into big generous balls and place it on top. I would have preferred the dough to be more crumbly but the jam was perfect (to me). Maybe more margarine next time?
Waiting for it to cool down before consumption was near impossible. I like that warmth that the aroma of the pineapple and butter brings to our house. It feels festive. I just wish that I have more a bakers hand and gut feel. I just need more practice.
Bigger, better and prettier batches next year! 
And visit the rest of the bloggers for their love recipes:
Carolyn from Gluten Shmooten – French chocolate cake
Silver Moon Dragon from Dragon Musings – Satan’s own chocolate mousse
Ange from Vicious Ange – Oaty hotcakes with fruity toppings
Rizka from ini, itu – Raspberry cheesecake brownie
Anthea from What’s For Tea? – Friands
Maree from Melbourne Delectable – Black forest cake; Black sticky rice
Bri from Bri Eats – Pasta with unpestoed pesto
Agnes from Off the Spork – Moist chocolate beetroot cake
Kate from Something by Kate – Molten chocolate puddings
Shellie from Iron Chef Shellie – Penne alla vodka
Leigh from Chit Chat Chomp – Champagne risotto
Sarah from The Sugar Junkie – Chicken & prosciutto cannelloni
Rilsta from My Food Trail – Rick Katz’s brownies for Julia
What is your favourite Chinese New Year or festive cookie?
Mmmm….looks beautiful and mouth-watering. These are my favourite Chinese New Year cookies. I have already peeled and cut the pineapple. Still in the fridge….just lazy to cook
I better do it tomorrow before it rot.
MaryMoh´s last blog ..Creamy Mushrooms and Spinach Stir Fry
Uh-oh! I didn’t know I was supposed to wait until LNY to eat them! But thank you so much – I definitely felt (and tasted) the love.
Billy´s last blog ..Lamb dumplings – made by me!
Nah… Ive been eating from the stash everyday. I am glad you like it
RT @jeroxie: Our first pineapple tarts – Ugly but yummy http://jeroxie.com/addiction/cookbook-ch... #cookbookchallenge #chinesenewyear
@jeroxie YUMMMMM!!!!
@IronChefShellie thanks. ugly though….. the jam is like size of a golf ball! :p
@jeroxie haha your tarts looked fine! And my theory is the more pineapple jam, the better… golf ball size is very good
@citrusandcandy Thanks! …. true that. That was the round 2 of tarts.
Funnily enough, I have a proper pineapple tart kuih cutter, which is still in its pack. I must get around to making them for CNY.
But this year, I’m making a Durian gateaux!
mellie´s last blog ..Costco
so tempting…. looks wonderfully good and tasty
Drick´s last blog ..Garlic Shrimp
They are adorable! Kudos on making everything from scratch!
The pineapple tarts are lovely Penny. They are a work of art. Congratulations. I think you will be baking more pastries.
These pineapple tarts look so cute and appetizing. The filling ingredients sound delicious. Are they considered tarts or cookies? Happy New Year’s!
TeenieCakes´s last blog ..Ultra-Rich Corn Muffins
Pretty tarts! I didn’t know they were for Chinese New Year, time-consuming but worth-it!
citronetvanille´s last blog ..Always so special – Green risotto
Looks (and probably tastes) fantastic.
But sounds like a lot of work.
Good job, sweetie! You’re getting better. So, nothing to worry about! Just have fun. But make sure that’s enough for everyone LOL. haha…
kristy´s last blog ..Hazelnut Sandies
Your pineapple tarts are lovely. I like the heart-shaped ones, good for both CNY and Valentine day. Great!
Christine@Christine’s Recipes´s last blog ..Chinese New Year’s Cake (Sticky Rice Cake 年糕)
Very pretty tarts! It’s so time consuming and you are right about needing a lot of love and patient to make them.
Ellie´s last blog ..Traditional Pineapple Tarts for Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day
Ooh, a pineapple jam! Delicious. And you *can* bake
@jeroxie That looks delish! http://jeroxie.com/addiction/cookbook-ch... Another 1 of my favourites!!!! Like those 1s from Indo.. little round pineapple tarts
@eLLyClickClock teehee…. do they have it in taiwan?
@jeroxie They do & they’re round and flat! I love them too! Any desserts with pineapple r always my fav! =)
@eLLyClickClock you must take some yummy cny goodies photos for me!
@jeroxie NO WORRIES! =) CNY is da bomb here! 10 days off for everybody!
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by jeroxie: [New Post] Cookbook Challenge W13 (Love) – Pineapple Tarts – via @twitoaster http://toast.tw/100m2b...
@jeroxie LOVE PINEAPPLE TARTS!!!
@OBSCURACOFFEE shall bring some for you
@jeroxie Woohoo! Tom has never tried them. He won’t know what’s hit him. Best food in the entire universe.
@OBSCURACOFFEE i hope ours will live up to your expectations….
Nice work yo! Yeah, they def look time consuming. Funny how some of the most decedent foods take so long to make, but 2 seconds to hoover down. Diggin the hearts.
Adrian @ Food Rehab´s last blog ..Recipe Time: Mango & Soursop Jelly Jelly Crush
Penny these tarts made my tummy so happy when I saw them! They are so cute and perfect for New Years, I use to wolf these down when I was a kid. I bet they taste amazing when they’re warm and right out of the oven…
Joy´s last blog ..Epic Indian Feast
Penny. You did a marvellous job, from making the jam to baking the tarts. Yours look yummy too, but also quite time consuming by the look of it.
Cheah´s last blog ..Nastar ~ Pineapple Rolls/Tarts. CNY
These are so very pretty! Wish I had pineapple to make them!
I wish I wasn’t allergic to pineapple………
Kitchen Butterfly´s last blog ..Akara-Acaraje: The Brazilian-Nigerian connection
u better save some for me!
These look so delicious! and I also think they look pretty damn good too! well done
Just like to thank everyone for their very kind words. I hope that all of you had a very good and lucky Chinese new year!
Happy Chinese new year! These tarts look so good! Good on you for making them even though they look like a lot of work!
Rilsta @ My Food Trail´s last blog ..The Cookbook Challenge: Week 13 Love recipe – Rick Katz’s brownies for Julia
These look and sound fabulous, pineapple is a very underused cake ingredient if you ask me
Ange´s last blog ..The Cookbook Challenge – Week 14 – Japanese
[...] It all started a couple of weeks before Chinese New Year where we spent my weekends making pineapple tarts, cashew nut cookies and kuih bangkit. And I made heart-shaped ones because the first day of Chinese [...]
@eLLyClickClock 10 DAYS!!!!! WAHHH….. I wantttt