Chinese new year is not complete with pineapple tarts. This was my first time making pineapple tarts because it’s impossible to find them in Australia. Pineapple tarts are one of the most expensive new year goodies after making them on my own, I finally understood why. Making these tarts is seriously a lot of work and my back was aching after that.

To make pineapple tarts, first you need to prepare the jam. Cooking the jam takes two hours and requires a lot of patience. After that you need to make the cookie dough. I made the jam and cookie dough at the same time and then placed it in the fridge to rest overnight. The next day, I spent about 1.5hr rolling the cookie dough out. You will probably spend about 4hr in total preparing the jam, cookie dough and making the tarts.

To me, the perfect pineapple tart is one with a crumbly, melting texture to it and the jam must not be too sweet. So the trick to a crumbly, melty texture is condense milk. My auntie passed me a recipe that uses milk powder but milk powder is so expensive in Australia that I decided to use condense milk instead. These pineapple tarts were delicious and I couldn’t stop eating them as they came out of the oven. So if you have all the time in the world, definitely give it a go!

Nutrition per pineapple tart (one batch makes 100)

Ingredients

Pineapple jam (enough for 2 recipes):

1. 2 whole pineapples (1.8kg of fresh pineapple flesh)
2. Zest 1 lemon
3. 1 tbsp lemon juice
4. 0.5 tsp cloves
5. 120g caster sugar

Cookie dough:

1. 325g unsalted butter (room temperature)
2. 100g condensed milk
3. 3 egg yolks
4. 500g plain flour

Directions 

Jam cooking time: ~1.5hr
Pineapple tart making time: ~2hr

To make the pineapple jam

1. Cut the pineapple into pieces and place it through the electric juicer
2. Sieve out the pulp from the juice
3. Add the cloves into the juice and boil the juice and pulp in separate pans and stir it constantly to prevent it from burning
4. When the pulp is almost dry, add the sugar in and pour the juice over (with the cloves removed)
5. Cook it until it becomes golden brown and almost dry
6. Leave the jam out to cool

To make the cookie dough

1. Using a mixer, cream the unsalted butter and condensed milk together until a smooth and creamy
2. Add in 2 egg yolks and continue to cream
3. Sieve in 500g plain flour and fold it until a cookie dough is formed
4. Leave it in the refrigerator overnight or place it in the freezer for an hour

To make the tarts

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees
2. Prepare an egg yolk in a separate dish for the egg wash
3. Roll the cookie dough out and using a round cutter (I used a 5cm round cookie cutter), cut out the cookie dough
4. Place the cookie dough onto your palm and flatten it slightly
5. Place 0.5 tsp of pineapple jam onto the cookie dough and using your hands, roll it into a ball and place them onto the cookie sheet
6. Once you have rolled out the tarts, using a knife, gently make little criss-cross patterns on the tart
7. Using a brush, gently egg wash the tarts before placing it in the oven
8. Bake it for 20min or when it turns slightly brown
9. Leave it to cool

Hours of hard work and there you have it! Delicious pineapple tarts that reminds me of home.