Cheese Pineapple Tarts

Pineapple tarts are always my favourite. During house visiting, that is a must-try cookie no matter how full my stomach may have been.

After experimenting various recipes, I settled down with this cheese pineapple tart recipe. It tastes really awesome for me. The pineapple tart brings a subtle saltiness that comes from the salted butter and cheese which combines really well with the sweet and sour pineapple filing. Also, it doesn't have the kind of 'immediate melted' effect when you eat. It still brings some crunchiness that makes it really so good to eat. I think it is necessary to feel the crunchiness before the melting sensation. Haha.

So, enjoy making these pineapple tarts. I have delayed writing this post since.. CNY, which is February. I have been so busy with so many things lately. Well, mainly my crochet and weaving projects.

Cheese Pineapple Tart 

INGREDIENTS

500g pineapple filing 

250g butter 

50g icing sugar 

2 egg yolks

40g Parmesan cheese powder 

370 low protein flour (cake flour)

30g custard powder 

20g corn flour 

Substitutions and what I used: 

• I used salted butter almost whenever the recipe calls for butter. However if you are using unsalted, just add half to a teaspoon of salt. 
• I blended sugar into powder to substitute the unnecessarily expensive icing sugar.
• My Parmesan cheese powder costs RM 9 for 100g pack. 
• I used normal wheat flour for the low protein flour. 

STEPS

1. Mix room temperature butter and sugar until well combined. Add egg yolks and combine well. 
2. Add cheese powder. 
3. Add sieved flour, custard powder and corn flour in 1/3 proportion at each mixing time. 
4. Mix all the ingredients and knead to form a dough. 
5. Rest the dough for 30 minutes with the top covered with a cloth / placed at a non-windy area.
6. Form 8g of dough and 5g of filing. Wrap/roll your pineapple tarts.
7. Bake at 150 degree Celsius for 20 minutes or until thoroughly cooked with fan oven switched on for even baking. 

Based on my experiments of different shapes of pineapple tarts, I noticed that the shape did affect the taste. How? 

This kind of pineapple tart gives a more mouthful 'melting' effect. Also, when you put a paper cup carrying it, the overall appearance looks very presentable and beautiful. However, you will miss the crunchy sensation. Oh not to forget too, making rounded pineapple tarts is considered as one of the easiest shaping methods.

This type of pineapple tart shape is more towards the Nyonya style. Basically, it is from the sunflower concept. I was lazy. I skipped the stripes on top. I wanted the process to be quick because I had something else to do. This shaping method is actually quite easy too as you just need to roll out the dough flat (approximately half an inch thick) and then cut them out using a cookie cutter (flower shaped, like mine). Then you just need to roll the pineapple filing to rounds and then flatten slightly when you place them on the dough. This type of pineapple tart will provide some crunchiness bite as compared to the previous rounded one.

And lastly this type of tart actually is the best of all. However, it is the hardest to make as well. It requires really good effort of energy and time to squeeze the dough out from the pump to get those nice printings on the tarts. Well, mine did not look that great because I was reluctant to add more butter to the dough just to get a more finished and clear lines pattern. It is not worth doing that. So, I just proceeded and baked them. This type of pineapple tarts are the best because the lines pattern actually help to accumulate the egg wash at its maximum volume and then give the best crunchy effect to the tarts. Another downside about this type is that it cracks easily and therefore resulting in a mess while storing and eating. The neatest will be the one in rounds. 

Coming to the end of the post, I hope this is useful for anyone who is considering which shape to use. =) Happy baking.