Pineapple Tarts

The Sign that Chinese New Year is upon us!

The reason for my video on the rubbing in method with a pastry blender is simple - I've been making pineapple tarts! :)

I can't remember when I began making pineapple tarts for Chinese New Year, but I know that the recipe that I've only ever used is the one belonging to Joyce aka Dutchess-of-Cookalot.

She has a recipe for the pineapple jam, but I prefer to use the ready-packs available at Phoon Huat, and tweak them.

But her recipe for the pastry!!! OH!

I love her pastry recipe for its simplicity and result.  There are so many recipes out there with ingredients like custard powder, milk powder, corn flour, and even cheese!  And in a myraid of teaspoonfuls and half teaspoonfuls that clutters what is a very simple shortbread pastry.

The whole pineapple tart eating experience after baking these all these years is simple:
Enough crunch and crumbly buttery pastry, to enhance the chewy, fragrant, sweet-sourish, sticky mouthfeel of the pineapple jam.  A hint of spices hits the nose.  And all in one satisfying mouthful of pineapple tart.

The effort put into such a satisfying endpoint is certainly worth it.  And with a bit of organisation, making these wonderful festive biscuits isn't that difficult.

The Pineapple Jam (To be prepared a day in advance)
Ingredients:
1 packet AAA Pineapple Paste from Phoon Huat (This gives a sweet-sourish taste)
1 packet Premium Pineapple Paste from Phoon Huat (This gives a smoother texture to the overall jam)
2x 1.5" sticks of Cinnamon
10 cloves
1 Star Anise
Hot Water (about 1/2 cup - depends on how firm you want the overall jam to be)

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a large microwave safe bowl.  I use a pastry cutter to mix my ingredients because of the hot water, and when it's sufficiently cooled, I get my hands in there to squish the jam and spices together.
2. Microwave the mixture for about 3 minutes to get hot, but not cooking.  Then leave it aside to cool down.
3. Put it in the fridge overnight for the spices to enhance the jam further.

Once that's done, I roll 1 measuring teaspoonful of the jam, making sure to remove any black bits (stems of the pineapples) or spices that might be in the jam.  These pineapple balls are put onto a large tray, in neat rows, and then the tray is wrapped in clear plastic before returning to the fridge.

Jam in neat rows, and all the other parts of the tarts in progress

The Pastry (To be made a day in advance)
I usually make the pastry a day in advance to give it sufficient time to rest.  Also, because the weather is hot, the pastry can be very tricky to punch out, so preparing the pastry ahead and allowing it to cool sufficiently is a good idea.

Ingredients:

340g Plain Flour
½ tsp Salt
1 tbsp Icing Sugar
250g Butter, cold (I used unsalted, but if you're using salted, you may reduce the amount of salt in the recipe)
1 Egg Yolk
25ml Ice-cold Water
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Rolled Pineapple Jam

1 Beaten Egg+Water, for glazing

Method:

1. Put salt in the bowl, then sift flour and icing sugar into it. Rub in cold butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs (See video).
2. Mix in the egg yolk, ice-cold water and essence. Mix well to form a dough. Place in a plastic bag or plastic box and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.  I usually leave it overnight. 
3. Roll pastry out to 0.5 cm thickness between 2 baking papers, and either cut out or punch out the pineapple tart mould with a tart cutter.  Place the tarts on a lined baking tray.
4. Return the tart to the freezer to harden.  This way, when glazing with the egg wash, the tart doesn't lose its shape.
5. After the egg wash, fill each piece of cut-out pastry with the rolled pineapple jam filling.  Lightly shape the pineapple jam so that it sits nicely in the pastry, and the tarts look uniform.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for at least 20 minutes.  If you want a more golden look to the tarts, reduce the temperature to 170°C and continue to bake for another 5 minutes or until you achieve the colour you want.  Then remove the tray and allow the tarts to cool before storing in air-tight containers.

I use a punch mould.

After freezing the tarts, I apply an egg wash.  By the time the tarts are glazed, the pastry is softened by the heat.

After putting the pineapple jam balls on the glazed tarts, it's ready to go into the oven.

Ta-da!  Time to cool down and store in airtight boxes.

But beware of Knaves of Hearts, who will steal your tarts! ;)

Have a blessed year of baking and cooking and sharing your bounties with your family and loved ones! :)

Pastry Cutter/Blender

My first video demonstration! ;)

Please (try to) ignore the background sounds.  Edna was practising on her piano, and Ezra was playing with the pots and pans... *sighs*

This demonstration is on the use of a pastry cutter to rub in cold butter into flour for making shortbread pastry and piecrust pastry.  To achieve light and crumbly pastry, cold butter (and cold cold ingredients, especially water) are necessary to prevent the butter from melting.

Here's the video, beginning with a block of butter from the fridge:

Durian Puff!

It's durian season, and what more lovely way to eat it (apart from eating it fresh), is to feast on it in a Durian Puff?

The Puff or Choux Pastry is so simple to make - it took less than 15 minutes to gather the ingredients and ready, and then it's simply just a matter of piping and popping it into the oven to puff up, and then to cool it down, ready to be filled with a creamy durian filling.

In fact, you don't have to use a durian filling - any sweet or savoury filling would taste good in the puff pastry!  I've done tuna-mayo filling, custard filling, lemon custard filling and whipped cream filling... and they were all yums! ;)

Pastry
Ingredients:

1 cup hot water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs

Method:

1. Set your oven to 220degC.
2. Boil the water and butter in a saucepan.  When the mixture is boiling, turn off the heat and immediately pour the flour in and stir.  Be careful though - the mixture would boil up as the flour goes in, but once the flour gets in, the mixture would settle.  Stir the mix until all the flour is absorbed and the mixture doesn't stick to the sides of the saucepan.
3. If you have a mixer, pour this hot mixture carefully into the mixer, and while the mixer is on, put one egg at a time into the mix.  Make sure that the egg is incorporated into the mix before adding a new one. The mixture is hot, so to prevent the eggs from cooking/curdling, you'll have to mix each egg into the mix fast.  If you don't have a mixer (go buy one! ;P), you can mix each egg into the mix quickly, and you'll develop lovely toned arms for the efforts! ;)
4. Once the eggs go into the mix, and you get a lovely, smooth, shiny mix, just put the mix into a pipping bag and pipe the mix into the size and shape of the puff pastry you want.  Pipe them onto prepared baking sheets lined with baking parchments.  Remember to give lots of space between your mix because these puff pastry aren't called puff pastry for nothing! ;P
5. Into the oven they go, for at least 20 minutes (or until they turn golden brown).  Refrain from opening the oven early - all those lovely steam from the mix helps to cook the pastry and make it crisp and hold up the shape.
6. Once it's done, cool the pastry down before filling it up with your choice of yummy fillings. 

Because I add whipped cream and sugar to taste for my durian fillings, I don't usually need to buy the most expensive durians for making these pastries.  Essentially, I need the durian creaminess and fibres to give the Durian Puffs its features, and durian varieties are such that you get a gamut of sweet to bitter durians, so take my recipe and tweak it to your personal satisfaction. ;)

Durian Filling

Ingredients

600g Durian flesh

300g Whipping Cream

Icing Sugar to taste

Method:

1. Whip the whipping cream until its texture is thickened.
2. Add in the durian flesh and mix well.
3. Add icing sugar to taste.
4. Use a pair of scissors to cut any durian fibres that are too long or clumpy.  This helps achieve a smoother filling.  But don't cut the fibres too fine - you still want to have some satisfaction of having a durian mouth-feel. ;)
5. Chill filling in the refrigerator until needed.

I pipe the durian into the pastry from the thinnest part of the pastry.  Once done, I put it in the fridge to chill and set.

A light dusting of icing sugar to dress it up! ;)

Durian Puffs with Malteasers eyes! lol!

A Trio of Durian Puff Friends! ;)

Simple, quick and so yummy to feast on! ;)

Air-fried Chicken Chop

I bought a Philips Air Fryer about 2 weeks ago, and was inspired to try modifying a baked crispy chicken recipe.

The initial recipe can be found here, but I felt that the baking time of 60min is too long for boneless chicken parts.  Anyway, the idea of using mayonnaise as a coating base appealed to me - it sounds perfect as a coating base for the Air Fryer.

The Air Fryer works like a mini-oven, but with a better air-circulation, thus ensuring that food is cooked on all sides evenly.  Unlike oven baking, where one side is usually heated more than the other, and there is a need to flip the food, the Air Fryer eliminates this need.

Anyway, this is my easy version of Air-fried Chicken Chop:

Ingredients
Filet of Chicken
Herb, Spices & Salt for marinate
Mayonnaise (I used my homemade mayo)
Crushed Cream Crackers mixed with pulverised Oats (but you could use Breadcrumbs or panko)

Method

1. Use a meat hammer to flatten the chicken.  Doing so not only ensures that the meat has an even thickness so cooking is even, but it also tenderises the meat.  Then, marinate the chicken with your favourite blend of herbs and spices and salt.  Try to keep it a dry marinate.  For this particular version, I used dried oregano, basil, paprika and pepper.  You don't have to marinate it long - about 10 minutes will do.  However, if you want to marinate it longer, it's up to you. ;)

2. Because it was a dry marinate, dipping it into a mayo undercoat ensures that the chicken is evenly coated.  After the mayo dip, dip the chicken into the Cracker mix.

3. Put the meat into the Air Fryer basket, and fry the chicken for 10 minutes at 180degC.

And that's it... crispy coated chicken, with a moist, tender texture.  Yummy, simple and if you're using homemade mayo, heart-healthy oils. ;)

 

Edna's Chicken Chop with Mashed Potato

Adult version

This is the full meal - mashed potato with herb butter, and Fresh Tomato Soup.

The chicken chop can be made smaller like nuggets, or served as a main course, or even between bread or in a bun like a chicken burger. ;)

Heart-healthy Roasted Garlic Herb Butter

This is so easy to do and the end result is so delicious and its impact on your plate and palate is so WOW!

Ingredients:
1 bulb roasted garlic (Don't peel the garlic.  Just remove as much of the outer skin as possible and put the entire bulb in a toaster oven for about 10 minutes.  Once the garlic is done, let it cool, and then squeeze the individual garlic out of its pod.  Trust me, it's less messy this way. ;) )
1/3 cup olive oil
1 block butter soften to room temperature

Any favourite herbs, fresh or dried (I have a pot of rosemary plant, and I used one stalk for this, along with dried oregano, basil, paprika and pepper)

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Blend the roasted garlic with the olive oil and other herbs.
2. Put the butter in to blend well.
3. Done!

The butter mix is now very soft because of the addition of the olive oil.  This is actually good because it means that spreading the butter on bread for garlic bread would be very much easier.  Also, if used by itself to accompany potatoes or meat, the butter would melt to the food faster.  However, it doesn't look too appetitising to put a dollop of the butter mix on food, does it?  So, take it a step further, and whip out your pretty IKEA ice-trays...

I find it a challenge to scoop the butter into the trays and get it into the crevices, so I use my piping tube to help me out:

Then I pop the ice tray into the freezer overnight and then to save freezer space, I take out the frozen cubes and arrange them in an air-tight freezer container, separating each layer of butter with plastic wrap:

Aren't they pretty?  And since they're made in advance, all I need to do is to just arrange them on a plate to serve with warm rolls, or on top of a hot juicy steak or a nice fillet of fish. ;)

Don't forget to keep them in the freezer so that they maintain their lovely shapes. :)

Almond Biscotti

I just bought a Dolce Gusto to make lovely lovely Cappucino at home.  And what better to accompany that perfect cup of coffee than a slice of crisp, almond biscotti?

I had this recipe for ages - ripped off a Popular Bookshop Magazine, POPclub, years ago, but never had the impetus to actually make the biscotti until today. :)

I'm retyping the entire recipe here, and will comment on it after:

Ingredients:
120g Plain flour (sifted)
a pince of salt
3 egg whites
100g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
180g unblanched almonds

Method:

1. Beat egg whites with salt until form.  Gradually add in castor sugar and vanilla essence.  Beat until it thickens.
2. Add in flour and almonds.
3. Spread mixture into a well-greased 18cm by 18cm square tin.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 min at 170degC until light brown.
5. Remove and place it on a wire rack to cool.
6. Wrap dough with foil and keep for 2 days under room temperature.
7. Cut the dough into thin layers, and place a single layer onto a baking tray.
8. Bake in oven 160degC for 12 to 15 minutes or until it is dry and crispy.

Comments:

I didn't have 3 egg whites - only two because I used the yolk for baking 2 pies.  Therefore, I reduced all the ingredients proportionally.  Also, I didn't have a 18cm by 18 cm square tin, and so I used a 16cm circle tin, which I sprayed with oil.

After baking and cooling, I wrapped the cake/bread in an aluminium foil, and put it into a non-airtight plastic box because I was concerned about ants. ;)  After 2 days, I sliced into thin (but I think I could slice it even thinner if I had a sharper knife... too lazy then to sharpen it. ;P) slices and pop it into the oven.  It took longer than 15 minutes to get crispy, but the texture is nice - not very sweet - and perfect to pair with a hot cup of aromatic coffee. :)

Ice... Cream Cake?

It being Children's Day, it would be the perfect time for cupcakes and ice-cream... only in this heat, how could an ice-cream retain its shape?  Ah-ha!  The perfect solution then: an "Ice" Cream Cupcake! ;)

This is really an easy and fun project for the kids to do too.  I started out with a flat bottom ice-cream cone wafer.  Flat bottom, because I wanted to end up with a cake that looked like McDonald's Vanilla Cone, and also because it would be less of a hassle to bake.

I used my favourite chocolate cupcake recipe and poured it into the cups.  I used the muffin tray to help hold the cones evenly separated.  With the recipe, I was able to make 18 cones.

Next, I made a perfect buttercream for this weather: Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

I discovered this recipe while looking for a better buttercream recipe, and this was the result.  Swiss Meringue, because of the way it cooks the egg whites, creates a buttercream that holds well in our hot and humid weather, and yet has a silky, creamy texture - much like a soft, creamy marshmallow. *dreamy sigh*

Instead of posting up the how-to, here's a video of how simple it is to make:

Although the ratio for the eggwhite:sugar:butter is 1:2:3, I actually used 70g egg white (from 2 eggs), 125g sugar and 200g butter.

After the cake was cooled, I covered the top with the cream and then piped the soft-swirl look on the cones...

And ta-da!

Happy Children's Day, young and young-at-heart! =)

ETA (2 March 2012):

I made this again, on my Girl's request that I make it for her Birthday.

Instead of using the SMBC, I just used a plain meringue frosting.  The frosting held up better and was much easier to pipe.  I used about 1:1 amount of eggwhite to sugar, and added vanilla for the white cones and added strawberry emluco for the pink ones. :)

The Meringue frosting kept better and was better received by the kids.  It tasted like marshmallow. ;)

I used these baskets, and sewed fishing lines across to hold the cones apart.  It also stabilised the cones so that I could carry it to school.

I used another basket to cover the bottom basket, and taped the sides to secure.  The blue baskets were later used to elevate the cones for display.

Happy 6th Birthday, Beautiful Girl! :)
I used 6 'Happy Birthday' tags to jazz up the cakes.  With cones, displaying them is a bit difficult.  I had a '6' candle that's at the table, which you can't see in this pic.  The pink and purple cloth are recycled from last year's display, and they are hiding the blue baskets. ;)