Tangerine Style Pineapple Tarts

This is my last post from Adelaide for now. I'll be flying off back to Malaysia in less than 24hours! I can't wait to bring back the cookies, all the bakings I have done previously and some stuffs I have bought and requested by some friends. These tangerine tarts, they are the last batch of Chinese New Year goodies I've made.

There's a good and a bad story behind these tangerine style pineapple. I didn't make nastar. I don't know why. The mould, I just can't seem to get it right. The opening from the mould yield a very very thin pastry. It makes my jam looks huge. As much as I really love pineapple tarts with lotsa filling, the one I made was way too much. I cannot make open face. The dough just wouldn't roll properly even after chilling because I have used the creaming method. I always have a tendency to overcream stuffs. I ended up making tangerines, something I am comfortable with.

I have to let go of my favourite nastar because I really don't want to repeat all the piping that I did, like thrice the effort just to make decent nastars. I needed to make like seriously, a lot! So bad as in I cannot make nastar but good as in I still can bring more pineapple tarts back and they do look good but I just would have preferred nastar....

I made two batches. One using self raising flour and one using plain flour, both from the same reliable recipe that I have always used when I found it here. The tarts above are made using plain flour wheres the ones below that I have placed in mini muffin liners are made using self-raising flour. I actually like the one with SRF better because they are more fluffy and they do expand a little when baking so the muffin liner comes in handy. It's really not that big in reality.

Talking about pastry, I have edited my pineapple jam post so do check it out. I've added in more pictures and tweaked the steps a bit using what my granny always does. I like her method way better. In fact, I always like anything caramelized.

And nope, I will stick to my chopsticks wire rack. I don't bake cookies often really so when I bake a cake, I use my oven rack as my wire rack. I have too much tools really. But I really need a good pasta maker though so I'm planning to splurge a bit on a good one. I think I can make flaky egg tarts, croissants, puff pastry and danish pastry with it too apart from just making pasta. The maker will help me save a lot of rolling time which I suck at.

These 'Tau Sar Piah' looking tarts are made specially for Aaron because he doesn't like the strong smell of cloves. And he whined I've only made 8 tarts without cloves. Simply because I like them so much better with cloves. They look more tangerine like! Did I mention I wrap the filling in when they are frozen from the freezer. When it is frozen, I work so much more quicker and the skin roll up so quickly and seamless too. I don't need to chill the dough and it did not ooze oil. I love wrapping in filling when they are frozen. They are always more moist when baked and even cooled after days...

And for storing, see if you can get red plastic jar/bottle like this. They are so traditional and typical of Chinese New Year. Again, I have used jumbo muffin paper flattened and spread out to line each layer. The tarts are so crumbly and fragile. And did I mention, yummy! And they fit just snuggly in my little red jar. And they are all of the same size. I NEVER WEIGH MY FILLING AND PASTRY. I'm not bragging but I would love to tell you all what I've done. For tangerines, 1/2 tablespoon of dough to 1 tspful of filling is the perfect proportion. Simply use your measuring spoon, the one with 1/2 tbsp capacity and 1 tsp capacity and measure. There is no need to weigh it in my opinion, just my thoughts. Please don't condemn me.

Layer the tarts in the jar until it is full to the brim/bottleneck. Before screwing the top, place a kitchen towel or baking paper on top and press the cover down. Twist till tightly secured and tape it with sticky tape all around. Baking paper or kitchen towel helps absorb moisture and prevent tarts from turning mouldy too quickly since I always like my jam on the moist side. Apart from that, they are a very good sealer and act as an insurance air-tight. And with the sticky tape all around it, yeah my little red jar of tangerine tarts look as if it's storebought/pasar-malam bought. And I place it under my bed. It is such a good spot, not too cold and never get warm from the summer heat. Anyway, they are all n my hand carry luggage now. I can't wait to go back Malaysia. I'm already homesick now. I will still post from Malaysia if I'm not too busy.

And my fellow bloggers, I can't wait to see all of you!!!!!

Butter Cookies

These are probably the most expensive butter cookies I've ever baked for Chinese New Year. They are also probably the most hideous, dare I say it, ugly looking cookies I have ever baked. Having said that, this batch of butter cookies is the best tasting butter cookies I have ever made too! Maybe I don't eat butter cookies that much, I don't knwo but I really like how these little morsels tasted. So ever fragrant.... The recipe is extracted from Grandma's 'Buku Latihan' aka recipe booklet. In terms of look, I'd say it's just a 5 out of 10. But in terms of taste, I'd give it a 9.5 out of 10. The other 0.5 is still deducted because of how ugly it look and because I'm a real sucker and a real perfectionist for anything cutesy and pretty.

The recipe may not look extraordinary compared to any other butter cookie recipe you can find out there. But if you may, use the best quality butter you can find because it is the butter that makes all the goodness difference. It's just a very simple basic butter cookie recipe at its core. It is suppose to hold its shape real well. Even after chilling it for 30mins or more, it didn't help. They failed me the very moment they were popped into the oven. Loosing shape, spreading and just plain ugly. But I love the aroma. I would love to wake up to that kinda aroma every single morning if I could. That block of Lurpak butter cause me a frigging AUD6 ! Now, can anyone who always say butters are so darn cheap in Aussie please stand up?

I do know that you're suppose to garnish it with chopped Maraschino cherries but I can't seem to find it anywhere in the supermarket. They have tonnes of jar of peach slices, apricots, mixed fruits and sour cherries but just no Maraschino or glazed cherries. You know, the one that comes in red and green bits. I didn't mind actually. I love chocolates. I could eat chocolates all three (or four, or sometimes five!) meals a day. A mini chocolate button took over the place of glazed cherry bits.


Start off with a block of good butter, just grab the most expensive ones you could see and afford!Salted or unsalted, I really couldn't care less though I have had numerous times encountered recipe calling for unsalted butter in a cake and then it called for 1/4 tsp of salt. Whatever, I'll just use a 'slightly salted' butter, happy? Cubed them and place them in a mixing bowl. It's all softened up, don't be deceived. And yes, you can over-soften butter so just poke it with your index and if it leaves an indentation, you're good to go. Now, having think twice, I think I really did over soften my butter.


Mmm....the most glorious looking batter above is obtained after adding 1 cup plus another 1/4 cup of sifted icing sugar. Icing sugar tend to get lumpy you know so sift it as an insurance. I'm using a whisk here, you can use electric mixer if you're a lazy, hillybilly person. Just kidding, use it if you're making a large batch. Cream them well until smooth and even smoother!

Now crack in two eggs, just crack them in one by one and see that bits of brown dots there? It's from the eggs. My mother used to tell me these are part of the unformed legs of the chick. She got me when I was young but now, nope mum. They are god-knows-what-they-are-but-definitely-not-the-unformed-legs-of-a-chicks. But I don't like them. Remove them with a fork.

And beat them very well until it look like above before cracking in the next egg. I use jumbo size eggs. I think it doesn't matter. We all know how olden days recipes are. They are uncertain, no exact measurements and often, written illegibly. It took me a while to decipher them you know...

Now, add in 1 tsp of Madagascar Pure Vanilla Bean Paste. I was feeling generous on that particular day to splurge like that plus the fact I don't have vanilla extracts in my pantry anymore, not a drop. Priced at AUD30 for 4 fl oz = 24 teaspoons, I officially used AUD1.25 just for flavouring (and looks as well because I love the tiny meeny vanilla bean specks!) in these cookies. Just use 2 tsp of vanilla essence, that's what it says in the recipe in 'Buku Latihan'.

Mix well upon adding the vanilla bean paste and see millions of speckles in your batter. If you accidentally dropped the whole bowl of batter on the floor, scrap them back into the bowl and stir around! No one would tell it's dust specks, not vanilla! Nah...I'm just kidding really, I'm in a real good mood today. No particular reasons really, the weather is good, I went cycling along the river with Aaron today, someone paid me a frigging AUD10 for me to make my ultra yummy peanut cookies for them and yeah, if only life is always this good, everyday.

Now, weigh out 2 cups plus another 1/2 cup of plain flour. Also measure out 4 heaped tablespoons of cornflour. Mix them together well and sift them thrice. Pop that into the batter gradually. I did it in three batches, folding the flour in with a spatula after each batch.

Oh, did I mention, you need to scrap the sides of the mixing bowl from time to time as well to make sure everything is well incorporated. This blog is idiot proof so I guess I better mention that fact. When you get that batter above, stop. Pop them into a ziplog bag fitted with the largest star nozzle. Chill the bag for 30 minutes before using.

Now, pipe out the batter into small stars/flowers because they look cuter this way. This is the first tray and it's been ages since I need to pipe and make something neat rather than sloppy so pardon the unevenness in size. It's no biggie!


Dot the centre of each cookie with a chocolate button/mini hersheys kisses/choc chips or chopped bits of glazed cherries.

Bake it in a preheated oven of 200C for 15-20 minutes. I guess that's it. Just a last shot of how they look before baking. May they rest in peace right before going into the oven...They really deserve to hold their shapes. Having said that, I hope mum won't find this an embarrassment to have in our living rooms. I know she's a typical Chinese woman who cares a lot about the 'face' and 'name'. I don't blame her really, it's just how olden days women are brought up.

P/S: Sonia, if you are reading this, see what I meant and how I felt when I saw your butter cookies post??? Apart from one fact, yours look so much better than mine!

Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies

These are not peanut butter cookies, they are not western peanut cookies. These are Chinese New Year Style Peanut Cookies. They are made up of five ingredients and that's it. They are essentially roasted peanuts, sugar, salt, plain flour and lard. Lots and lots of pork lard.

Fresh pork lard rendered from a large piece of pork belly fat. The pork belly fat can be obtained from butcher stall (they usually give you for free or you get a large bag for just a mere 50cents). Wash, clean them thoroughly, dry them very well and cube them into bite size. Place them in a hot wok with no oil. The fat would slowly render and before you know it, they would be cooking in their own fat. Drain the pork fat cubes for other use such as Hokkien Mee and pour the oil into a heat resistant bowl. Cool down well and you'll eventually get a white mass that look like shortening, the only difference is that this taste a gazillion times better than shortening!

A good substitute for butter if you're not a vegetarian and very good in producing flaky egg tarts and to make black sesame filling for tang yuan or steamed buns. I always buy pre-packed peanuts. They come in roasted and salted. What I do is I place them in a colander and shake off the excess salt. Then dry roast them in a wok and stop just before it starts turning oily. This twice roasted method gives it a very fragrant after taste and I definitely like it better this way.

Spread them out on a half sheet pan and cool them down completely. Recipe is always 2-2-1-1. It's a ratio rather than a recipe. Simply use any cup (just make sure you measure out all the ingredients with the same cup!) you like and measure two cups full of the roasted peanuts. Pop that into a food processor. Into the food processor goes another 2 cups of plain flour. Doesn't have to be exact; scant, more or less is absolutely fine. Throw in 1 cup of icing sugar or you can also use castor sugar. The icing sugar will help prevent your peanut from being overly grinded into peanut butter. It basically prevents paste formation before you add your lard. Add in a pinch of salt now if your peanut is not pre-packed salted and roasted.

Pulse the ingredients until fine powder. I usually like to leave a bit of bites in my cookies so I stop them before they came too smooth and fake tasting. Now, you can let the food processor run and dribble in a cup (same cup like previous!) of cooking oil but if you use lard like me, I turn the powdered ingredient onto a work table. Throw in a cup of solidified lard and work the dough until it's shiny and lumpy. You might need more or less lard/oil depending on your flour absorption. I always use a cup scant of lard. Form them into balls. Poke them with a long slender straw and glaze.

Bake until done, typical cookie temperature, 170°C to 180°C for 15 to 20mins. The one made using lard has the lightest, flakiest, melt-in-mouth feeling. I hope everyone is not sick of hearing the word 'melt-in-mouth' yet due to the pineapple tarts overdose previously. These are so light, like what I've told Pei Lin, my favourite cookie texture is where when I hold it, it doesn't crumble in my hand that I have to be so careful with it. But when you pop it in the mouth and press it against your lelangit (a Malay word for palate), it crumbles/crushes, followed by a melt-in-the-mouth effect where your tongue and palate kept demolishing it. And that piece of cookie end with a push of saliva down my throat. Talk about food writing...Ahhhh....kinda hard to describe sometimes.

Make these, they are so easy and yummy you'll never buy those from pasar malam (night markets) in Malaysia anymore!

Open Face Pineapple Tarts

Baked these pineapple tarts today. They are so pretty, totally Valentine! Heart shape tart with heart shape jam, aren't they adorable? Thank you so much again Edith!

I was a little puzzled at how the mould works. Laugh all you like, there's no instructions and the mould came in two parts. It took me a while before I figured it out. No, it doesn't work like the heavy copper mould that come in one piece. You're suppose to do two stamping on each mould to get imprints. But I quite like that the imprints are clear and holds its shape. I don't quite know though whether is it due to the recipe or due to the mould. Having said that, many has said that copper mould imprints are clearer and better than plastic ones.

I have a slight problem with rolling the dough into equal thickness. I kept rolling and chilling again non stop until I was satisfied. It did too up a fair bit of time. But once you get the hang of it, you're good to speed things up a little. Having said that again, 41°C today obviously didn't help!


I have no problem glazing, they were quite firm when chilled in fridge. Didn't have enough egg wash so I just glaze the sides. The centre is gonna be covered with pineapple jam anyway, I didn't bother glazing. The jam adhere well to the pastry, nothing came off.

And the heart shape jam. It's really not that hard you know. Roll the jam into ball, make a slit with a sharp knife all the way to the centre. Open it up like 'V' shape. Sharpen the bottom edge and blunt the top edges and done. It's easier when you have frozen jam. Just in case you are wondering, the frozen jam are very much pliable but it doesn't stick to your hands. Perfect to work with!

These moulds are so cute I don't think I'll just pull them out once a year. I think they make lovely butter cookies with a nutella filling or just any other jam! Back to pineapple tarts. I made it the rub-in method with the same recipe. I tweaked the pineapple jam recipe and cooking method a little using my Granny's Sis method. The sugar is caramelized before being added to the almost dried jam. It takes sugar to a level higher when you burn it.

Roll out the dough. Don't knead it, just exactly like doing pies and tarts pastry, kneading cause it to shrink. Here, kneading cause it to be crispy and crunchy, not too good and not yummy. Trace out the patterns using a mould. For each trace, dip the mould in a mound of plain flour piled nearby. Gives a neat cut and dough doesn't stick to it. Now am I Einstein or what???

Remove excess dough and repeat the rolling process again until you finish up the dough and are left with many cute little hearts all over *winky wink

Now, use the inner mould (the mould comes in 2 pieces, one fits into the other one with minimal tolerance/gap) and press it on the previously traced hearts. Again, dip the mould each and every time into a mound of flour to avoid sticking. Cannot stress enough, do it! I'm talking from experience!


Lovely! Now, glaze all of them with egg yolk wash. I diluted them with milk a little. Too brown makes it look a little fake. I want edible, pleasant-to-the-eyes tarts this time around for my guests.

Now, make that heart shape jam or 'V'-for-Valentine shape jam and smear it on the centre of the tart, pressing gently.


Just like the one shown above. Do it for all and don't be lazy, declare love to your partner/husband/wife/girlfriend/spouse/boyfriend/gap partner/lesbo/ parents/great-grandma etc. Aren't they just too cute to eat? Even before baking, they are this cute, can you imagine after baking when their cheeks are brushed with brown hue colour????

If you're not romantic like Aaron, simply just flatten your ball of jam and plop it over the centre of the tart. We like more jam, less pastry. That is a crazy ration from the picture so don't follow me!

Pop it into the oven to bake until done. And sniff the air *sniff *sniff. The aroma of butter and milk powder mingled together. Simply arousing! I love my house smelling of pineapple tarts!

I'm so tired now, I made 70 pieces of these for my family and Aaron's. I'll start on nastar next week. Right now, rest time, I'm shutting down.

Pineapple Tart Moulds

Hey everyone,

Bring it on!!! About two weeks ago, Edith left a comment on my Pineapple Tarts...two ways post. She was rather straight forward and I was a lil' startled in fact. Here's what she said:

Quinn, give me your address

I shoot her an email with my address only to find out later her intention was to send me nastar mould to ease my life. It came in last week. And it not only came with a nastar mould, it also came with this lovely heart shape open face tart mould in it!!! Edith, I cannot thank you enough for the moulds. Edith thought I have been nice and kind to her but the inner me thought Edith was the one being nice and kind to me. I totally don't deserve the moulds and no, I have not met Edith in real life before. Not even once!


It surprises me how sometimes blogging has built my network and brought nice people closer to me. I know good people when I see one. I can't wait for the bloggers meet up in KL. I can't wait to meet Zurin in real. Zu, I hope pomegranates are still available next week so I can get them for you as fresh as possible! I can't wait to meet Angie.

I have so much more to learn about baking. I have long way to go in cooking. I have more flavours to invent for cool concoctions. And I just cannot tell you all enough how little things like leaving me a comment and even just dropping by and bookmark my page sparked my life. You don't have to send me gift to make my day!


I have never thought I would be where I am today. All these started off as a past time and it shall continue to be. I am a professional engineer now, I have already graduated. I have no regrets and will not turn my head and look back at those times thinking I should have worked on a Pastry Chef Degree instead.

And to those of you who sent me hate mails and hate comments saying I'm not posting frequent enough, I am getting boring and my skills aren't right here and there, jeeeezzzz.....go get a life. I'm not here just to entertain you. I am a self-taught, never had the luxury to attend a single class like you. I don't mind if you tell me nicely. But if you do it like how you did on my Old-Fashioned Tiramisu or my French Toast, trust me you'll either get deleted or on days when I'm up for an argument, I'll approve you and shoot the hell out of you along with other people. I'm here to entertain myself and hope I might entertain you too. It's a symbiosis process, a two-way thing. Not like you, you parasite! Blog! blog! blog! Did you care about my life? Did you ask me how am I faring if I didn't tell you?

Let's not go there. Edith, thank you so much again. You have made me so happy today I couldn't sleep last night. That is true. I sure will have fun with the moulds you sent me.


Cheers,
Quinn