Singapore Style Pineapple Tarts

Delicious Chinese New Year Treat

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Yields: 30

Ingredients

• Filling

• 4  fresh pineapple
• 400  g caster sugar
• 4  cm  piece cinnamon sticks
• 1  star anise, use 4 segments
• 4  cloves
• 2  tablespoons lemon juice or 2  tablespoons lime juice

• Crust

• 340  g plain flour
• 340  g cake flour
• 1  tablespoon salt
• 2  tablespoons icing sugar
• 450  g butter, cubed (Lurpak is great)
• 2  egg yolks
• 1  teaspoon vanilla essence
• 50  ml  ice water
• 2  beaten eggs, for glaze

Directions

1. Filling.
2. To make the jam, grate the pineapple coarsely.
3. Combine the grated pineapple with the rest of the ingredients in a heavy-based saucepan and cook over a moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is almost dry.
4. Set aside to cool.
5. Pastry dough.
6. Put sifted flour, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl.
7. Rub in butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
8. Beat in the egg yolk and add ice-cold water and essence.
9. Mix well to form a dough.
10. Place in a plastic bag and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
11. Roll pastry out to 0.5 cm thickness on a lightly-floured tabletop and cut out rounds with a pie cutter.
12. Fill each piece of cut-out pastry with pineapple jam filling.
13. Pinch a small neat frill aroud the edging.
14. Cut thin strips of pastry to form a lattice on top of each pie.
15. Glaze the strips with beaten egg.
16. Place tarts on a greased baking tray and bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 15 minutes.
17. Reduce the temperature to 170°C and continue to bake for another 10 minutes or until golden.
18. Turn tarts out to cool on a wire rack before storing in air-tight containers.