A Taste of Yesteryear

Just like the past couple of years, weeks before the Chinese lunar new year, I started looking up recipes to bake for the occasion. I have in mind to make some peanut cookies, kueh bangkits and my kids' favourite horlicks doogies cookies.

Pineapple tarts are never on my to-do list. Every year, I let it pass, as the thought of making the pineapple jam from scratch really, really puts me off. I am never good at anything that has got to do with the stove...and the homemade jam will easily take 2 hours of non-stop stirring and cooking, not forgetting the effort and time spent on cutting up fresh pineapples and grating them. Phew!


Things started to change after reading Small Small Baker's post on 'Looking for Pineapple Tart Recipes'. Then, after some exchange of emails with fellow blogger pals, Elyn and Yuri, I was convinced that ready-made jams are actually not too bad. At least I could try my hands with making the pastry and if it didn't turn out well, the effort spent on making the jam would not be gone to waste. After reading up reviews on the various store-bought jams, I narrowed down my choice to this brand "Bake King". Next, it was another daunting task to look for the 'right' recipe to make the pastry. There are so many types of recipes available...they look rather similar, and yet there are little differences...be it the amount of ingredients, or the little extras such as custard powder, milk powder, etc. To make things even more confusing to me, there is this Rub-in method vs Creaming method; and whether the recipes would yield crispy tarts or melt-in-the-mouth pastry! Finally (actually this is still not the final decision), I almost settled on this stack of recipes which I have photocopied long time ago...they were taken from the Female magazine, the January 1998 issue.

Well, The story didn't just end here. Somehow, by chance, while discussing with my siblings, what are the dishes to prepare for our CNY dinner, I got hold of our very old pile of recipes. You know, those old recipes that were handwritten in old exercise books? I got hold of two of them...and one of those booklets was my personal copy. I have copied down some recipes in an old note book (the first few pages were my school notes...my 3rd year subjects on 'Dynamics of Machines'!), and the recipes were dated January 1994, I bet that was the last time I wrote anything on that note book.

These old recipes have brought back so much fond memories of those yesteryear when we would help mum with all the Chinese New Year baking...be it kueh bangkit, pineapple tarts, butter cookies, kok-chai...spending hours painstakingly making them from scratch. During that few nostalgic moments, I decided that I should make it a challenge to recreate the taste of those goodies we made in the past. The top on the list is our pineapple tart recipe.


This is my first attempt at making pineapple tarts after a very long break, it was almost two decades ago since I last made them. I have only a very vague memory what was involved. After spending three hours on these cookies, they didn't taste as good as they look. I could have over baked them, causing the jam to turn hard and dry. The pastry was also too crispy...well, they were nothing close to those we had.


Fortunately, I also made these closed type of pineapple tarts. I have never made them before, as in the past, all pineapple tarts were the open-type. Since the jam was wrapped inside the dough, it was kept moist and I have also shorten the baking time.


After consulting my baking pal, Elyn, I made the second batch yesterday. Thanks to her tips, I omitted the egg white that was called for in the original recipe. This results in a much softer dough, no wonder, it was more difficult to cut out the dough with the mould as compared to the first trial. The resulting pastry was very soft, crumbly, very fragile and really melts-in-your-mouth. Half way packing the finished cookies into a container, I accidentally knocked if off! I ended up with tarts on the floor, piles of crumbles and the tarts were beyond recognition...if you have also spent hours making these, you will know why I was almost in tears :'(

To tackle the issue of dried jam, I rolled the jam into small balls with a pair of wet hands. I then placed them on a tray which was filled with a small amount of water. The purpose was to let the jam soak up some extra moisture to prevent it from drying during baking. I also experimented with baking the tarts for 10 mins before adding the jam. After which I let them bake for another 10mins. This time, the jam remains soft after baking!


With proper planning, I could even make those signature criss-cross patterns. I am very happy with this batch of pineapple tarts. They are much much better than those from the first trial. Even for those closed type, I was able to wrap the same amount of jam with less dough. Although the taste of the ready-made jam is acceptable, I really hope I will be able to make my own homemade jam next year. Until then, this is the closest I could recreate the delightful taste from our nostalgic recipes. Thank you for spending your time to read this very much long winded post :)


Pineapple Tarts (refer here for updated recipe)

Ingredients
(portion is enough to make 55 open and 20 closed tarts)

8oz (227g) butter, soften at room temperature
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
14oz (396g) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

1. With an electric mixer, on medium speed, cream butter till the mixture turns pale. Add in the vanilla essence and whisk to combine.
2. Dribble in the egg yolks and continue to whisk the mixture till fully incorporated.
3. Sift in the flour and salt into the mixture. Mix the mixture with your hand and gather to form a rough dough. Transfer to a work surface and lightly knead the dough for about 5 minutes until the dough becomes smooth.
4. Wrap the dough with cling wrap and chill in the fridge for about 30mins. (This will prevent the dough from spreading, and makes it easier to handle.)
5. Mean while, roll ready-made pineapple jam into small balls, about 1 teaspoon each. To measure the amount of pineapple jam, place a small sheet of cling wrap/plastic sheet over a measuring spoon (1 teaspoon), pack it with the jam to the brim and release with the cling wrap. (To prevent the ready-made jam from drying out during baking, roll the jam with wet hands. Wet your hands when they become dry after some rolling. Place the pineapple balls on a plate/tray filled with some water, just enough for the base of the balls to touch the water. This will allow the jam to soften and soak up some moisture.)
6. Remove dough from fridge. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about 5~7mm thick. (To prevent dough from sticking to the rolling pin, place a plastic sheet or a sheet of parchment paper over the dough before rolling.)
7. Cut out the dough with the tart mould and transfer to baking tray, lined with parchment paper. (To get very clear imprints, place both the outer ring and the inner piece of the mould on the roll out dough. Press the outer ring into the dough then push down the inner piece with some force. Lift up the mould and carefully remove the cut out dough which is stuck to the mould. Dust the mould with flour regularly for easy release.)
8. Bake in the middle rack position, at 180 degC for 10 mins. Remove from oven and place pineapple paste on each tart base. To decorate, you can either top it with a tiny ball of dough or cut out thin strips of dough and lay over the top of the pineapple paste.
9. Return to oven and continue to bake for another 5 ~ 10mins. Leave to cool on baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack. Let cool before storing in air-tight containers.