Tuesday, January 17, 2023

The Ultimate Melt-in-your-mouth Nastar Cranberry Pineapple Tarts - HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

I love pineapple! And l love baking pineapple tarts!!!

I have been having this pineapple tart baking obsessions for years as you can see that these are the recipes that I have investigated and created:

2011:
My Express Homemade Pineapple Tarts at HERE

2012:
Testing three popular Pineapple Tarts recipes at HERE and HERE

2013:
Testing another three popular Pineapple Tarts recipes at HERE

2014:
Searching for the Best Enclosed Pineapple Tarts (from three popular recipes) at HERE

2015:
Searching for the Best Nastar Pineapple Rolls / Tarts (from four popular recipes) at HERE

2016:
Searching for the Best Open Faced Pineapple Tarts (from five popular recipes) at HERE

2017:
My BEST Ultimate Melt-in-your-mouth Nastar Pineapple Rolls / Tarts recipe at HERE
My BEST Melt-in-your-mouth Open Faced Pineapple Tarts recipe at HERE
My Melt-in-your-mouth Parmesan Cheese Nastar Pineapple Tarts recipe at HERE

2018:
My Ultimate Melt-in-the-mouth Malay Style Condensed Milk Enclosed or Nastar Pineapple Tarts recipe at HERE
Ultimate Melt-in-the-mouth Salted Egg Yolk Pineapple Tarts 咸蛋黄凤梨酥 recipe that are baked with Salted Egg Yolk Butter Pastry at HERE
More of my Melt-in-your-mouth Enclosed and Open faced Pineapple Tarts 凤梨酥 recipes at HERE

2019:
My Melt-in-the-Mouth Gula Melaka Pineapple Tarts recipe at HERE
My Vegan Coconut Oil Pineapple Tarts - Egg-free / Dairy-free recipe at HERE
My Melt-in-the-mouth Maple Syrup Pineapple Tarts at HERE

2020: Missing in action for a year... LOL!

2021:
My Open Faced Egg-less Honey Pineapple Tarts recipe - Less sweet with No added cane sugar at HERE

2022:
My Open Faced Melt-in-the-mouth Brown Sugar Pineapple Tarts recipe at HERE
My Melt-in-the-mouth Open Faced Gula Melaka Coconut Pineapple Tarts 马六甲椰糖黄梨塔 recipe at HERE


This time, I’m creating something new again! I'm baking cranberry pineapple Nastar tarts using my newly created homemade pineapple cranberry jam and my best nastar pineapple tart pastry recipe at HERE. These melt-in-the-mouth nastar cranberry pineapple tarts are simply superb!!! The cranberry pineapple jam with chunks of cranberries and pineapples are sweet and tangy yet not too sweet and the buttery pastry can just melt into our mouth. Berri-licious!!!

best ultimate melt in the mouth nastar cranberry pineapple jam tart rolls
My Melt-in-your-mouth Nastar Cranberry Pineapple Tarts
Berri-licious!!! 

What I like about these innovative pineapple tarts?

Unlike the traditional pineapple tarts, I have added dried cranberries to cook the pineapple jam.

Pro One: As the dried cranberries are already sweetened, I don't really have to add a lot of sugar into the jam. 

Pro Two: The cooking time is shorter than usual because the added cranberries are already dried with minimal moisture.

Pro Three: Cranberries are good for you!!! Some people consider cranberries to be a superfood due to their high vitamin, mineral and antioxidant content.

Pro Four: These cranberry pineapple tarts are delicious!!!

I can't think of any Cons! LOL!!!

Here's a video showing how I baked these yummy pineapple tarts. You'll see that I added the dried cranberries with 50% less sugar and I had to adjust the sweetness of the jam accordingly to avoid having the jam tasting too sweet.

Music: Bensound

best ultimate melt in the mouth nastar cranberry pineapple jam tart rolls
Can't wait to feast on these berri-licious pineapple tarts...
best ultimate melt in the mouth nastar cranberry pineapple jam tart rolls
chewy fruity berry jam with chunks of cranberries and pineapple
plus melt-in-the-mouth buttery pastry... YUM!!!

Planning to bake more goodies for the coming Chinese new year? These are all of my highly recommended CNY recipes that you might wish to try:

my pineapple tart recipes:

Best Melt-in-the-mouth Enclosed Pineapple Tarts at here
Best Ultimate Melt-in-your-mouth Nastar Pineapple Tarts at here
Ultimate Melt-in-the-mouth Malay Style Condensed Milk Enclosed or Nastar Pineapple Tarts at here
Ultimate Melt-in-the-mouth Salted Egg Yolk Pineapple Tarts that are baked with Salted Egg Yolk Butter Pastry at here
Melt-in-the-mouth Parmesan Cheese Nastar Pineapple Tarts at here
Melt-in-the-mouth Gula Melaka Pineapple Tarts at here
Melt-in-the-mouth Open-faced Gula Melaka Coconut Pineapple Tarts at here
Melt-in-the-mouth Maple Syrup at here
Vegan Coconut Oil Pineapple Tarts at here
Open Faced Egg-less Less Sugar Honey Pineapple Tarts at here
Open Faced Melt-in-the-mouth Brown Sugar Pineapple Tarts at here

my other yummy CNY goodies recipes:

My BEST Kek Lapis recipe - Super Moist like Bengawan Solo at here
Easy Fail Proof Strawberry Jam Butter Cookies at here
Parmesan Cheese Butter Cookies at here
Best Nyonya Butter Cookies / Biscuit Samprit at here
4 Different Chinese Almond Cookies recipes at here
Ultimate Melt in the Mouth Chinese Cashew Cookies 腰果酥 at here
Melt in the Mouth Crispy Chinese Butter Cashew Cookies 香脆牛油腰果酥 at here
Melt-in-your-mouth Pork Floss Chinese Cookies at here
Melt-in-your-mouth Salted Egg Yolk Cookies at here
Melt-in-your-mouth Vegan Black Sesame Cookies at here
Melt-in-the-mouth Low Sugar Egg-less Black Sesame Butter Cookies at here
Crispy Nestum Cereal Cookies at here
Extra Crispy Nestum loaded Cookies at here - extra crispy with twice amount of Nestum!
Buttery Crispy Nestum cookies (with NO egg and a subtle melty texture) at here
Ultra Soft Pineapple Chiffon Cake at here
Quick Easy Milky Yummy Mini Honey Cranberry Cookies with NO added Cane Sugar (with or without egg) at here
The Ultimate Smooth Melt-in-the-mouth Peanut Butter Cookies - Low Sugar and Egg-less! at here
My Best Coffee Butter Cookies (made with real coffee) at here

Want more CNY recipes? I would love share more but I can't because CNY this year came too quickly after our Christmas holidays. Sorry! I didn't even have enough time to bake for our own consumption... Hmmm...

If you like my recipes, videos and baking tips, please LIKE, SHARE and FOLLOW me at either my Facebook at here or here or my Instagram @zoebakeforhappykids or SUBSCRIBE my YouTube channel at here.

Unfortunately, I know that Facebook and Instagram have lost its popularity recently. Hence, it will be nice if you can show your support by subscribing to my YouTube channel at here so that you will be informed of my latest video / recipe promptly whenever it is published.

I would like to say again that every LIKE, SHARE and FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE from you means a lot to me. I will know that I'm in the right track and continue to bake and share more in the future. Thank you so much for your support!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!!! 新年快乐!

I'm having a short break again as there is no point for me to blog if no one is reading or baking during CNY. So stay tune as I will be back sharing more recipe in mid February.

Here's the recipe that is adapted from my best melt-in-the-mouth nastar pineapple tart recipe at HERE

Makes about 36-40 nastar tarts with some leftover pastry to make about 5 more tarts

To make your own homemade pineapple jam to fill about 36 pineapple tarts:
1 medium pineapple, about 1 kg each before peeling, about 500g after peeling
150g dried cranberries, preferably the ones with 50% less sugar
90g caster sugar* or slightly less or more accordingly to your preference and the sweetness of the pineapple used

*IMPORTANT TIP: Depending on the sizes and sweetness of the pineapples that you used, you can adjust the amount of added sugar accordingly. However, please be aware that this recipe has suggested the amount of sugar to ensure the jam to preserve and store well at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. If you prefer to reduce the amount of added sugar, you will have to either store your jam and tarts in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or consume all within 1-2 weeks if you store the tarts at room temperature. Please be aware that chilling will affect the texture of the pastry too.

Peel the pineapples and cut them into chunks. Do not discard the core as it contains lots of fiber.

Using a blender or processor, process pineapple chunks into purée in 2 equal batches or less. Processing the pineapples in small batches helps by avoiding the addition of water to process the pineapples. Transfer 250g pineapple purée into a cooking pan first. Then, process the remaining pineapple with the dried cranberries until the purée turns pink. It's ok to have chunks of cranberries in the purée.

Combine both purée. Cook with medium low heat and occasional stirring until thicken. Beware of the hot splattering pineapple juice while cooking the jam.

When the pineapple purée lose more than 80% of its liquid and becoming like paste, stir in sugar and the jam will look watery again. Reduce cooking heat, and cook until the jam look like a paste.

IMPORTANT TIP: Pineapple jam can become firmer when it is cooled. Besides, the baking of open-faced pineapple tarts can dry up the jam slightly. Hence, it is better to under-cook the jam rather than over-cooking it. If the jam is still too wet after cooling, you can cook the jam again to reduce the moisture further. If it's too dry, diluting the jam with water will ruin its texture.

Store jam in an airtight container in a fridge for up to 2 weeks or in a freezer for up to 12 months.

For the pastry:
Please use the exact weight and make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature.

200g unsalted butter, well soften at room temperature
30g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract - please do not use vanilla essence!
25g egg yolk
250g all-purpose / plain flour with 10% protein** - please check protein content
50g cornflour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

** IMPORTANT - Please do not use cake flour or all-purpose / plain flour that contains less than 9.5% protein.

For the egg wash:
1 egg yolk
1 tsp milk

store bought or homemade pineapple jam (see above) to fill the tarts

For the pastry:
Using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter and icing sugar at medium speed until combined and fluffy for about 1 min. Do not over-beat. While beating, beat in vanilla and egg yolk until all are well-combined.

Combine flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt. Sift flour mixture into the butter mixture. Use a spoon or spatula to mix to form a soft pliable dough.

Line baking trays with baking papers. Preheat oven at 350ºF or 180ºC.

Use a nastar presss (see video) to press dough into long strips. Roll the dough strip around each rolled tablespoonful of pineapple jam (10g each) with its ruffled side facing outwards. Cut any excess dough.

Arrange the shaped tarts on the prepared tray. Use a fine brush to brush the top and the side of the pastry with egg wash. Bake at for 15-18 mins or until golden brown - Please note that the baking time and temperature may vary a little if you are making your pineapple tarts in different sizes. My nastar tarts are all baked at 180ºC for 15 mins.

Allow all tarts to cool slightly on the baking trays for about 10 mins and transfer them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2-4 weeks depending on the amount of sugar that you have added to preserve your pineapple jam.

Warning: These melt-in-your-mouth tarts are fragile. So please handle them with care. If you are stacking them in a jar, please place pieces of baking or parchment paper in between every layer of tarts.

Happy Baking
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