Saturday, January 21, 2006

Here We Go Again....

I had a very good night's sleep yesterday, something which I've not done for a long time. The reason? I was dead tired, I've been baking for about 8 hours, taking a short break just for lunch. The results of that? 150 pineapple tarts and 90 cashewnut crisps. I know it may not sound like a lot, but considering that it's a 'One-Woman Show', I find it quite a feat (ahem!).

This is actually the first year I'm making pineapple tarts for Chinese New Year. I used Gina's recipe, named 'My Mum's Pineapple tarts'. I've made the tart dough some months back, but using blackcurrant jam. I really like this dough recipe, it's soft and buttery, and uses only 4 simple ingredients. Due to this, I found that the butter used plays a very important role. My first batch was 'ruined' because of the butter, there was no butter fragrance at all. I switched to another brand for the rest, and all the tarts turned out delicious, even the kitchen smells so nice while baking.

Forgot to add, I didn't have time to make the pineapple jam from scratch. Instead I bought those ready made jam, added some water, lemon juice, pandan leaves and cooked over low heat till slightly dry. Maybe my standard of pineapple jam is not that high, I found the jam actually quite good.

Also made another batch of Cashewnut Crisps, just added in some toasted black sesame seeds for a nutty aroma. Was a bit bored with round cookies, so tried to shape them into a slightly rectangular ones, ended up with a weird shape instead.

12 comments:

Jasmine Riko said...

Gosh, your cookies and tarts look so... stunning. Well-done Angie!

Btw what brand of pineapple filling did you use? Did the filling get harden after baking? I dare not cook the pineapple filling again cause I’m afraid they got ruin by me. LOL

Office hours huh. 8 hours with hundred over of tarts and 90 over of cookies very superb. My 110 pcs of tarts took me 6 hours! LOL

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

Thanks a lot, Jas. This batch was done using Bake King's jam. I actually also bought Phoon Huat's jam, but I found it's not as nice, now wondering what to do with it.

As for hardening, I expected it to be, that's why I baked the empty tarts for 5 mins first, take out and add filling, then continue for another 10 minutes. The filling still hardened a bit on cooling, but not rock hard, still can bite through nicely.
Ya man, we've been 'working' for office hours, churning out cookies.

Little Corner of Mine said...

Urg, how come the filling will harden after baking? Care to enlighten me? Is it for store-bought filling only?

First time heard of this... need to know more! :P

By the way, pretty pineapple tarts, Angie! And if you were standing most of the 8 hours making those cookies, no wonder you knocked out at night! :P Hard labor lah!

Unknown said...

Ching, I don't really have the answer whether homecooked filling will dry our or not, as I've not made my own before. I think if the fillinf is not very moist in the first place, spending 15 mins in the oven will just dry them our further. Anyone using home-cooked filling have any comments on this?

You are right about me being knocked out after all that cookie making ;)

Tazz said...

Jeez.. Ready made Pineapple jam turns hard after baking? Maybe got to do some search to see which is the best brand to use just in case we want to make PA again with such jam.

Two years ago, my neighbour gave me PA tarts made with such jam and it tasted bitter. :(

Unknown said...

Eve, luckily mine is not bitter. Actually personally, I find this Bake King's jam not bad. I don't like PH's jam, the colour is quite dark. If I partially bake the tarts, then add jam, it's not so bad after all. Or is it just my oven?? Another option would be to make closed-up tarts.

the baker said...

just made some pineapple tarts of my own too. but i made my own pineapple jam. in case you're curious, mine didn't turn hard after baking. I guess it's because it's not as dry as those ready made ones?

Unknown said...

Rustic, yeah, seems like those with home-made jam do not have this problem.

Anonymous said...

Angie, store bought jam will turn hard after baking..due to no juice. its already hard when you open the pack. home made ones tend to be very soft, juicy. What you can do is to add some juice to the premade jam. you can add orange juice(preferably to be freshly squeezed) so that its not sweetened. packet juices are very sweet.

Esther said...

hi! just wondering if you have a recipe for pineapple jam, even though you didn't take the time for your tarts.

Unknown said...

Hi Esther,

Do check out Evelyn's recipe below:

http://tazzinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2006/01/melt-in-mouth-pineapple-tarts.html