462. Pineapple tarts/ tart nenas

December 15, 2014

dainty and delightful

When Niloufer Riyas, a fellow member of the Home Bakers Challenge Group, gave us exciting Malaysian bake recipes, I got excited seeing the first recipe itself. I browsed through the others and my mind kept on going back to the first one which is pineapple tarts. The picture posted on rasa malaysia looked so cute, dainty and tempting. As I read through the recipe, I thought 'oh no do I really have the time to make the jam?' I was looking for easier options... that is at the other recipes. I liked the suji cookies, but didn't want to add artificial colours, thought of the bread but was not too keen on the caramel kaya. So went back to the original idea. As they say trust your instinct. I am so glad I did. As the tarts came out of the oven, and cooled down a bit, a couple went into my mouth. A few are just not enough and I was getting tempted to go to the tin for one more and one more. They are not overly sweet, and the tangy and sweet jam plays musical notes in your mouth. No, I didn't gobble down all 50! I shared them. Treated my brother in law and his family to some as it was his birthday.I get really excited when all these groups that I am a member of, challenge us to new recipes. Keeps us constantly busy. Just finished with this one and the next challenge is already up!
Making the pineapple jam from fresh pineapple was a bit tedious but well worth the effort. I just couldn't get myself to use tinned pineapple when right now its pineapple season here. They are so fresh, sweet and delicious. I will be definitely making these beauties again. Though I didn't have the special tart cutter that are readily available in South East Asia, I decided to use a normal cookie cutter. They do have beautiful pineapple tart cutters/molds out there. I would love to lay my hands on a few.

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PINEAPPLE TARTS/ TART NENAS (open faced)
Makes about 40 -50
Recipe source : Rasa Malaysia

For the pineapple jam :
1 fresh pineapple ( mine was about a 1kg after I removed the rind)
¼ cup sugar
3 - 4 cloves
1 pieces of cinnamon sticks (each about 1")
½ tsp fresh grated ginger
½ cup water

For the pastry/tarts :
1¼ cups plain flour (all purpose flour)
1 tbsp cornflour
1 egg yolk
100 g soft butter
2 tbsp icing sugar

a little extra butter for greasing the tray
a little extra flour for rolling the pastry

Preparation of the jam :

Cut the peeled pineapple into chunks.
Puree the chunks using the ½ cup water.
Put the puree, sugar, cloves, cinnamon and ginger into a thick bottomed saucepan.
Cook the mixture over medium heat till all the liquid evaporates and the mixture is golden in colour.
Keep on stirring occasionally and cook till it becomes a thick paste. Mine took about 1 hour.
When the jam cools down, store it in the fridge till required.
Just before making the balls, I left the jam open in the freezer.

Preparation of the tarts :

Remove the cloves and cinnamon sticks from the jam.
First make tiny balls ( from about ½ tsp of jam) from the pineapple jam.
Preheat the oven to 160°C.
To make the pastry, put sugar and butter in a bowl.
Sieve plain flour and cornflour together.
Cream it till its soft and creamy.
Add the egg yolk and mix.
Add the flour mixture and form a soft dough using your hands.
Roll out the dough about 5 mm thick.
Cut out the tarts with the cutter.I used a 1½" cookie cutter. Reuse the remaining dough.
Place them on a greased baking tray.
Leave little space between each tart.
Using the end of of the rolling pin or your thumb, make a small depression or dent in the middle.
Place a ball of jam in the dent.
Bake the tarts for 15 - 20 minutes or till slightly golden.
Place the tarts carefully on a wire mesh to cool.
Store in an airtight container.

Tips:

I had to reduce the temperature to 160°C. The original recipe indicated an oven temperature of 180°C.
You can add any spice of your choice to the jam e.g star anise, pepper, cardamom etc.
If you do not add egg yolk, add some milk to the dough.
Make sure the jam is really thick and pasty. If it remains a bit liquidy you will not be able to make balls with it. I used wet hands to roll the balls.
If you want to used canned pineapple for the jam, squeeze out the excess water before processing it. You will need half of the 20 oz can.
I got 50 tarts, but the number will entirely depend on the size of the cutter.
I went through quite a few recipes before I made mine. Some swear by thick tarts some by medium. I preferred the medium.

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