Tiring but fun.
http://www.thelittleteochew.com/2010/01/pineapple-tarts-buttery-melt-in-your.html
Taken from the above link for recipe:
Recipe for Pastry
- 400g plain flour*
- 50g corn flour
- 1/4 (heaped) tsp salt
- 280g cold, unsalted butter (do not allow it to soften)
- 3 egg yolks, beaten
- 3 tbsp cold water (or iced water)
- 6 tbsp icing sugar**
- 1/2 tsp cognac or pure vanilla extract
- For glaze, mix 1 egg yolk
* Note that the original recipe called for 450g plain flour.It was changed to 400g plain flour + 50g corn flour to make the dough more "melty".
** The recipe called for 4 tsp castor sugar. Here used 6 tbsp icing sugar instead. Read from somewhere that icing sugar helps soft pastry dough keep their shape during baking.
1. Sift the flours, icing sugar and salt. Mix well to combine.
2. Using the pointed ends of a fork, rub the butter into the flour until it looks like fine bread crumbs. If necessary, use fingertips to continue rubbing lightly the bigger pieces into finer pieces. Basically, just scrape / flake the butter with your forks. You essentially want to coat the butter crumbs in flour. Using forks prevents the cold butter from melting since there is no contact with heat. If you want to rub the butter into the flour using your hands, make sure you use only your fingertips.
Not able to make it like fine bread crumps...hmm..
4. Roll out to desired thickness (mine was about 8mm thick). Cut out dough using cutter. Arrange neatly onto baking tray, with at least 1.5cm apart. Since this is a very buttery, oily pastry, it would be good to use a small portion at a time. Keep the rest covered in the fridge, otherwise it will ooze oil.
5. Once you have arranged the tart shells on your tray, glaze them (the entire surface, not just the rims).
6. Place the pre-rolled pineapple jam balls onto the centre of each tart shell.
7. Bake at 160°C for 20 minutes, turning the tray halfway through baking. According to the original recipe, when placing jam onto the pastry, take caution not to smear jam onto the sides as this will easily “burn” and render the sides of the pastry (the flowery design) darker.
More notes from The Little Teochew:
~ This recipe yields about 96 tarts.
~ Cognac and pure vanilla extract. They were both equally aromatic. So, no real need to use cognac. But do use a good quality vanilla extract.
~ The egg wash helped make the pastry "studier" during baking. This pastry has a tendency to puff and expand a little. Also, glazing makes the colour a little more golden, a little more festive. ;)
~ Always pre-roll your pineapple jam before making the pastry.
~ Chill your pastry. It's much easier to work with it.
~ If you are not averse to lard, you can try adding some lard oil. Lard always gives that additional oomph to pastries. Someone left a comment to say that the best Pineapple Tarts he/she has ever eaten was made using lard. I have heard this many times and I believe this 100%.
~ Ready-made pineapple jam, buy the one from Red Man. It costs $4.60 at Phoon Huat, as compared to the generic house brands which cost $3.40. The difference is that for Red Man, only ripe pineapples are used. The cheaper brands mix both ripe and unripe ones together.
