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I just love cooking and baking. It's a way of expressing myself,gaining satisfaction out of giving and seeing people consuming what I've made.It does fill up the stomach and people go away happy!

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Tips On Making Pineapple tarts

Author: Mel // Category: ,
It's been quite a while since I posted anything, ever since dear Ain kindly took to task of "decorating" my blog (thank you darling, muahs!). I had been busy being obsessed with making fine pineapple tarts ever (:p) and taking care of a very demanding 8 month old little munchkin to have enough enthusiasm in paying attention to this blog. Also, honestly in the beginning my intentions were to share with the world recipes I knew, until someone asked for my lasagne recipe that I hesitated and became reluctant. Okay, I admit. Sometimes it's not easy giving away prized recipes. Well, hell! All this while I've been cursing secretive recipe holders and now its come back full circle biting me in the bu..... ehem... my behind.



Anyway, I had a grand time making the tarts with all kinds of recipes and alterations.Everytime I thought I finally had the recipe, it failed or wasn't just good enough to my mum's discerning taste. I even got a recipe from my Aunt coz she makes the most delicious tarts and even that did not work for me, though I passed with flying colors with her jam recipe. That, I am thankful for.
In the end, my mother told me to create my own recipe and trust that it would be great. I thought I couldn't do it as I have always thought myself to be a good copier, not a creator until I just went ahead and hantam sajalaahh labuuu! I surprised myself when I managed to do it. I had to read alot about pastry, committing time researching the net and with alot of trial and error I have come to a recipe I am satisfied with. Only set back is that because my pastry is high in butter content and with the hot and humid weather it gets soft real fast after coming out of the chiller. It's fine and dandy if it was a base for a pie - just quickly roll out the pastry dough, place it on a pie dish and blind bake. Not so for making tarts because time is needed to shape the pastry using a cookie cutter or special pineapple tart mould. The pastry tends to stick to the mold when it starts to get soft. Even dusting the mould with flour just does not make a perfect shape. So, for now I just roll out small pieces of dough at a time, leaving the rest in the chiller and contend with not so perfectly shaped tarts. Atleast the taste is there. I could go for a beautiful looking tart but I would have to decrease the amount of butter and sacrifice taste which I am not willing to do. Another thing is that if I tend to dust too much flour on the dough and the mould, it tends to change the texture of the tart, leaving a floury taste on the baked goods. I will need more practice in shaping techniques.
There are hundreds of pineapple tart recipes to be found in the net. Here are a few guidelines I have listed below to follow when choosing a particular recipe you like and in the process of making and baking so that your chances of failure is greatly diminished.
  • For tasty tarts, choose a recipe where the ratio of butter is more than half of the flour. The standard recipe for shortcrust is usually half amount of butter to flour. E.g 250 gms butter and 500 gms flour. Increase amount of butter.Butter is the one that produces melt in the mouth pastry.
  • Use all purpose flour. FYI plain flour is all purpose flour. Pastry flour is good too. If it is not available you can "make" your own pastry flour by using 3 parts plain flour and 1 part cake flour of the total amount of flour stated in recipe. E.g, amount of flour is 400 gms in recipe. So, weigh 300 gms plain flour and 100 gms cake flour and walla!
  • Choose a recipe that uses either egg whites or egg yolks, not a combination when making cookies, that is. For tarts, choose egg yolks only. Egg yolks not only tenderize the tart but also makes it crispy. Egg whites tend to make the tart puff up in the oven and you end up with a dry, cake like pastry. If you still insist on using whole eggs,replace some of it with milk to have a more crispy tart.
  • No need to use oil. Like any fat it does tenderize the dough but in my experience, even though it makes a melt in the mouth pastry but when you take a bite into the tart, it leaves some sort of left over sticky flour tasting dough you end up having to clean your gums and teeth with your tongue.Egg whites tend to produce this kind of texture as well.
  • Know your oven well. It is recommended that you buy an oven thermometer to get the right oven temp.
  • http://www.malaysiabest.net/ has great tips on making good cookies that can also be applied to making tarts.
  • For crispier tarts, bake them longer than what is stated in the recipe and immediately transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Other than that, make it with all butter.
  • For the tarts to stay crispy only use air tight containers - this applies to hot and humid weather only. Abstain from using brown sugar because it is one of the ingredients that hold moisture. White granulated sugar or icing sugar is preferred.
  • This is another tip I found from baking 101 online. If you find that your tarts are starting to soften after a few days, rebake in a 300 degrees farenheit oven for 3-5 minutes. That will re-crisp the tarts.
  • You are looking for tender, crisp, crumbly and melts in the mouth pineapple tarts

All else failing or you neither have the time nor the interest to bake your own pineapple tarts, you can always drop a line and order from me. Leave your contact number and I will get back to you as soon as I can :)

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