The Making of Pineapple Tarts

Following on my previous entry on baking for CNY, I decided to be more adventurous and attempt something I've never done before......The Pineapple Tarts.

Yeap....."pineapple tarts" in Malaysia do not look like typical tarts. The dough, when baked, is not flaky and crispy, and the filling is not made from custard or filled with fresh fruits. Pineapple tarts are basically biscuit filled with pineapple jam....i guess, you could say it is almost similar to fig rolls in the UK, just that the biscuit tastes more buttery.

Pineapple tarts come in different shapes. Some looks like cylindrical fig rolls, some looks like sushi (as in a roll filled with pineapple jam in the middle), and the others look like raspberry jam biscuits.

I grew up eating pineapple tarts. We have them as treats during Chinese New Year. I recalled watching mum making the tarts, and I all I have to do is to eat them! They tasted divine. I haven't had a pineapple tart for such a long time....and obviously, I have developed a sudden craving for them. So since I can't get any pineapple tarts at home, I shall make them! :)

I used mum's recipe. I was meant to make them last week, before Chap Goh Meh (the last day of CNY), but unfortunately, I fell ill at that time, and was not in the right state of mind and energy to make them. However, I recovered quickly, and decided to give it a go last weekend.

The most time consuming part of the process was making the pineapple jam. I grated fresh pineapples, and then, boil them slowly with sugar in a pot for more than an hour. The end result being a thick sweet sourish pineapple jam. I added cloves and a bit of grated nutmeg into the jam just to add some extra flavour. The jam was made the night before I made the batter for the biscuit, as it needs to cool down fully.

Pineapple Jam! :)

The next morning, I made the dough. Mum would usually use a mould to create a nice flower shaped biscuit with a small hollow in the middle to allow one to fill it with a tiny portion of pineapple jam. As I do not own one, I decided to make the ones that look like fig rolls. So the idea is to wrap some dough around a small portion of pineapple jam. I also made the rolled ones too.

This is how they looked before popping them into the oven.

I baked it in the oven for about 20-25mins....and here they are:

Don't they look like cylinder shaped fig rolls?

The end result! :D

Not bad for a first timer....But the looks can deceive you. It looks nice and brown...but I think I might have over baked it a little as the biscuit tasted a tad too crunchy for a pineapple tart. Nevertheless, the pineapple jam was brilliant! :D