Assortment of Pineapple Tarts Recipes

Chinese New Year won’t be complete without these little morsels. Pineapple tarts are usually available during CNY. So, what makes a good pineapple tart? For me it have to be bite size so that you won’t feel too guilty eating too many of it. The pastry has to be buttery, sturdy enough to hold the jam but soft enough to melt in your mouth. The jam is flavored with cinnamon and I like the jam to have a hint of sourness in it. I like my tarts to have plenty of jam on it so I do not skims on the pineapple jam. When the flavor of the buttery tart and the jam comes together, it should strike a blissful balance. I don’t think anyone can stop at just eating one or two. Forget about your diet. Start your diet only after CNY ha ha...

Since most of you already have your favorite recipes for the tarts so I am not going to post it here but if you want it you can always check my previous posting here . I am just showing some pictures of the tarts I made using different design. There are so many designs and patterns out there now compare to years ago which only have one. Enjoy and let me know which one is your favorite design for the tarts.

I am submitting this cookie to Aspiring-Bakers # 3 My Favourite CNY Cookies hosted by j3ss kitch3n

This is the most traditional looking ones

This design has been around for some time now. To make this the dough have to be pretty soft.

This mould do not have an indentation at the center so it is quite difficult to put the pineapple jam.

I like the design of this one. Great for Valentine's Day but not easy to put the jam either.

I like this new mould the best. Great indentation in the center to hold the jam.

I love the design of this one but the mould is not so easy to work with.

This is the design that you can make even without the pineapple tart mould. Just take a round cookie cutter, cut the pastry, put the pastry in a small muffin tray, filling it up with jam and voila!!! Pineapple Tarts

Here are some enclosed ones. These involves more work and longer time to make.

Last but not least all the moulds and tool that I used to made these. Making pineapple tarts is hard work. No wonder people bake this once a year ;)

Bak Kua/Chinese Pork Jerky Recipes

This is another must have snack for Chinese New Year. Who doesn’t like Bak Kua? Maybe if you are a health nut than you might stay away from it. For me Chinese New Year is the time to indulge into all the sinful food, cookies and other luxury snacks that we don’t eat often. Bak Kua variously translated as dried meat, grilled Chinese Pork Jerky or BBQ meat slices.

Back in Malaysia you can get this jerky all year round but strangely, most people will eat this only during CNY. Many people are willing to queue for hours during this time of the year just to get their hands on the BBQ meat from their favorite store. My family is very picky over our bak kua. We only eat the bak kua from a certain store and it has to be lean and doesn’t have the rancid porky smell.

Living here I don’t have the luxury of eating Malaysia Bak Kua. I am able to buy them in New York but they do not taste good at all. They claimed to be made by Malaysian but it just doesn’t have the taste of the one from home. I tried making this once but it didn’t turn out too well either. It was too oily (because of the fatty ground pork) and the taste was out. I didn’t like it at all. So I stay away from making this for a few years.

I tried making it again this year by tweaking the recipe and lo and behold, it turns out really good. The meat was well marinate, a great balance of sweet and savory with a hint of fruity orange. I used mostly lean meat and I made everything in the oven. No more grilling it outside in the super cold winter. You should see me when I first made this. I was standing at the grill in my heavy winter clothing. My neighbors must be thinking this woman was MAD ha ha… If you want a healthier bak kua with no chemicals and preservatives why not try to make it at home. Since this bak Kua has no preservatives, try to consume it within a few days. I don’t recommend you make too much of it at one time unless you want to give it away to family and friends. These keeps well in the fridge and just reheat it in the toaster oven before consuming.

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground pork –with a bit of fat on it
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp dark brown sugar
Juice of half orange (about 4 tbsp)
Zest of one orange

1. Line 2 baking pan with heavy aluminum foil and set it aside.
2. Put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Using a big spoon mix it really well. Cover with plastic wrap and let it marinate in the fridge for an hour.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 220 degree F. Spread the marinate meat thinly onto the baking sheets. Use a spatula or the back of the spoon to do this and dipping it in water occasionally. This way it will prevent the meat from sticking to the spoon or spatula.
4. Place the baking pan in the oven and let it bake slowly for 35-40 minutes. At this stage you can see juices appear, the meat will shrink and the edges dry out.
5. Remove from oven and cool it down a bit and cut it into square with pizza cutter or scissors. Turn the oven to broil.
6. Line the cut meat back on the tray. Broil the meat on both side until brown and sizzle . This will only take 5-6 minutes (you have to watch this as it turn dark pretty fast)
7. Let it cool and keep it in an air-tight container.

Note: I put a bit too much of black soy sauce that is why the bak kua look a bit dark. I already adjust the quantity of the black soy sauce in the recipe. If you like to grill this, you can do so. Just cut and grill it after step 5.

Chinese Peanuts and Sesame Candy Bars Recipes

I grew up eating this peanut candy and it is Carlos favorite snacks too. This candy is something that we will have on our CNY snack tray too. I Google for it and the only recipe I find is from Aunty Lily’s so I used hers. Here is a note to myself the next time I am making this again. Do not talk on the phone while making this!! The phone rang when this was cooling down and by the time I hang up the phone, the candy got way too hard when I tried cutting it so I end up breaking most of it. That is why you see the ugly pieces here. I am submitting this cookie to Aspiring-Bakers # 3 My Favourite CNY Cookies hosted by j3ss kitch3n

Ingredients:
Recipe adapted from Aunty Lily’s

1 cup sugar
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp water
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
2 1/4 cups skinless roasted peanuts

1. Line a 6 ½" x 10" cake pan with foil and greased it generously with oil. Combined half of the toasted sesame seeds and peanuts together and lay it evenly on the pan.
2. Combine sugar, vinegar and water in a heavy bottom saucepan. Cook over medium heat until it reaches 300° F on a candy thermometer. (I just let it reach to light brown color stage)
3. When the sugar mixture has reached the required temperature, carefully pour the sugar mixture over the nuts in the baking pan.
4. Smooth the surface with a spatula. Sprinkle with the remaining sesame seeds and cool slightly.
5. While candy is still warm, remove from pan by lifting the foil. Cut into 2" by 1" pieces and then allow to cool completely.

Note: Be careful when you eat this as they are very hard.

Osmanthus Cookies Recipes

CNY is just around the corner and I see a lot of cookies popping up from fellow blogger’s blogs. It is making me very nervous as I’ve just started to bake mine. This is the very first cookie that I made for CNY using dried Osmanthus flowers. I only used the Osmanthus once to cook this chicken dish and I still have a big jar of it. I think the Osmanthus gives a really nice fragrant to the cookies and it is just the perfect fit for CNY celebration. If you’re looking for something different to bake for the CNY I hope you will try this out. I am submitting this cookie to Aspiring-Bakers # 3 My Favourite CNY Cookies hosted by j3ss kitch3n .

Ingredients:

180 gram unsalted butter – room temperature
140 gram icing sugar
1 egg yolk
260 gram flour
40 gram cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp dried Osmanthus flowers
1 egg – for egg wash

1. Sieve flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt together. Set it aside. Get ready a sheet pan and line it with parchment paper.
2. Beat sugar and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg yolk and continue to beat until combined. Add in the osmanthus flowers. Mix well.
3. Lower down the speed of the mixer and slowly add in the flour mixture until the dough comes together.
4. Transfer the dough to a work surface that is lightly floured, roll out the dough to about ¼”, cut into desired shapes and transfer it to the baking sheet.
5. Brush the top of the cookies with egg wash and bake in a pre-heated 325 degree oven until the edges are lightly brown. Transfer to cooling rack and store in an airtight container when it is cool.

Note: If the dough is too soft, wrap it up and let it rest in the fridge for an hour before rolling it out.

Celebrating CNY Recipes

Thanks everyone for all the well wishes! I hope you had a wonderful time with your family and friends during this festive season. As for me I am enjoying all the yummy good food and most of all the attentions given by family and friends ;)

No Chinese New Year celebration will be complete without cookies. For this year I only made pineapple tarts , Hup Toh Soh. Other cookies like Almond slices, Almond brittles, peanut cookies, crispy keropok and arrowroot chips were given by friends or relatives.

Here are some of the pictures taken during CNY

Reunion dinner with my family. Too bad Carlos can't join us :(

Tossing the 'Yee Sang'

The 'Yee Sang'



Simple decor for the house

No CNY is complete without the cookies.

Best to be eaten with a cup of Chinese tea.

Mandarin orange is a must for CNY

Hampers or goodies baskets given by friends and relatives

Happy New Year/Gong Xi Fatt Chai Recipes

Wishing all my family, friends and readers


Gong Xi Fa Chai and Happy Valentine's Day


May the Year of the Tiger brings you good health, wealth and happiness!!

Pineapple Tarts Recipes

Finally my pineapple tarts made it debut here for this year. . I’ve been busy doing last minutes baking since I came home. For these tarts I made the jam as I find the store bought one too sweet and lack of pineapple taste. Making these is time consuming and it took me over 5 hours do 5 big containers but it is all worth it. What is Chinese New Year without pineapple tarts, right? This year I made 3 different designs. . Which one do you prefer? For the recipe you can refer here .

This is the traditional design.

For this I used a flower pineapple tarts cutter.

For this I just used a normal flower shape cookie cutter and then bake it in small paper cups.

Here wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year, Gong Xi Fatt Chai and Happy Valentine’s Day.