Pineapple Tarts Again! (Part One)

I can't believe that it's Chinese new year soon again...

At about same time last year, I was committing myself to search for my most ideal pineapple tart recipe but tested only three recipes and prefer this one (by The Little Teochew) the most. Afterwards, I got carried away and didn't continue my quest for more delicious pineapple tart recipes - Oopsie!

Wake up, Zoe! Got to get back to my pineapple tart experimental mood again...

To start off, I need to make my pineapple jam from scratch. Last year, I have used this recipe from Wendy, Table for 2 or more and really love using this super-reliable and effective method. I reckon I don't have to test any other pineapple jam recipe further and happy to stick on this recipe for the rest of my life - LOL!

For the pastry, I'm testing out three different recipes from three different bloggers:

One is a popular recipe from a popular Malaysian blogger, Mandy of Fresh from the Oven who resides in the United States since 2005. Unfortunately, Mandy has stopped blogging since June 2011.

Two is from Alvina of Alvina's Baking Journey. This pastry recipe contains milk powder which create a nice melt-in-the mouth effect.

Three is from a Singapore blogger, Sugahmommy of A Spoonful of Sugah who claimed that this is THE pineapple tart recipe. In her post, she described that her best pineapple tarts are the ones with moist and caramelized jam with melt-in-the-mouth but firm biscuit-like pastry

For a better comparison, I have converted three of these recipes by standardising the amount of butter to 100g and list all the ingredients in a table for a better understanding of the recipes' differences. Before proceeding onto my pineapple tart pastry comparison, I would like to show the reliability of Wendy's pineapple jam recipe again... It's like watching a giant pineapple transforming itself into a container of pineapple jam... Magic - LOL!

Please stay tune for part two to see which is my preferred pineapple tart pastry recipe.

Pineapple tarts made with homemade pineapple jam

Here's my star ingredient - PINEAPPLE!

Making the jam using Wendy's recipe

From one giant pineapple to one small container of pineapple jam...

... jam used to make these lovely pineapple tarts

Here is the pineapple jam recipe from Table for 2 or more
(with my notes and modification in blue)

2 Morris pineapples
(about 1.6kg each before peeling, after peeling it’s about 900g each)
(I used one giant pineapple only. It is 2.5kg before peeling, after peeling is about 1.2kg)
2 cups sugar (400g)
(I used 200g for 1.2kg of peeled pineapples - please see note*)
1 cinnamon stick (I didn't add this) 

1. Peel the pineapples.
 
2. Cut pineapples into chunks. Do not discard the core which contains most of the precious fiber.

3. Put half the pineapple chunks into a blender, add 1/3 cup of water and blitz away. Pour 80% of the blended stuff into a pan or wok. (Tip: Wendy recommends pan or wok with large evaporation surface)

(I didn't add any water while blending the pineapples. I blended the pineapples in 4-5 batches and didn't need any water to blend the smaller batches of pineapples)

4. With some remaining blended pineapple in the blender, repeat blending process with the rest of the pineapples, always leaving some blended stuff in the blender if you need to blend more chunks and you won't need more water.

5. Cook pineapple paste with cinnamon stick (I didn't add this) on medium heat until it's very pasty, like thick oatmeal. Do not stir it all the time.

6. Add in sugar and the jam will turn "watery" again. Turn to lower medium heat, and cook until it is very pasty. Stir once a while only, but keep an eye on it.
 
7. Increase the heat to high. Do not stir to allow the base jam to develop its caramelized colour. Stir once a while to check on the colour. Stop when it almost reaches your preferred colour. Take note that some pans will continue to caramelize even when the heat is off.

Wendy's important tips:

• Add sugar after the pineapple paste has lost more than 80% of its water. It reduces the risk of burnt jam and the most importantly, it splatters horribly when there is a lot of water with the large amount of sugar.
• Do not stir often when you reduce the pineapple paste. Once you stir, it starts splattering again, even with no sugar.
• Use a heavy based pan, if possible. It reduces the risk of burning the jam.
• Wear kitchen mittens to protect lower arms and hands from hot splattering jam.
• It's better to under-cook the jam rather than to overcook it. The jam will thicken further when it is cooled. If the jam is too wet after cooling, the jam can be cooked it again to reduce the moisture further. If it's too dry, diluting the jam with water may ruin its texture.
• If need to cook more than 2 pineapples, do not cook all at once. Pour in paste from one fruit into the pan/wok and let it reduce. While it reduces, prepare the next fruit and pour in when it is drying.
• Turn on exhaust hood to aid the evaporation of moisture

* Please note that Wendy has suggested this amount of sugar to ensure that the pineapple jam will preserve and store well at room temperature. With my reduced amount of added sugar, the sweetness of my jam is just right for us. My pineapple jam was stored in the fridge and made into pineapple tarts on the next day. Eventually, we finished all our pineapple tarts in less than two weeks which means storage and shelf-life of these tarts is never a problem for us. Cheers!

Here's the comparison table containing three of the chosen pineapple tart pastry recipes :

* Number of pineapple tarts made can vary with the sizes of mould used.

All of the above standardised recipes do not contain any vanilla extract or iced water for fair comparison

Please remember to visit part two of this post to see the baking of these tarts and details of these recipes. My sequential post will also reveal which will be my preferred pineapple tart pastry recipe... So stay tune!

Happy Baking
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