Pineapple Tarts - My Style
They are my absolute favourite and a must-have during Chinese New Year, even more so over love-letters, kueh lapis, cornflake cookies and bak kwa. And if you ask me, I think my Ah Kim bakes the best pineapple tarts in the world! She makes the best pastry (salty enough for my liking) and she cooks the best pineapple jam (a tinge of spiciness with the cinnamon sticks, aniseeds and cloves added into them) Well… I might be biased in my opinion, since I practically grew up eating only her pineapple tarts.
My world came crashing down when she stopped baking them about 5 years back due to work and family commitments amongst other things. Naturally I was upset. Hence I conspired with my cousin to attempt to bake them on our own. To my disappointment, my cousin was bogged down with setting up her own business and running a family, and was thus not able to make time for me and my cravings.
I embarked on this ‘journey’ alone, and for the past 3 years, I’ve been making some sub-standard pineapple tarts. They usually are edible, but there are bound to be complaints from recipients of my tarts - colour too ‘whitish’ to be appetising, pineapple jam too dry, pastry doesn’t melt in the mouth etc.
This year, I decided to brush up on my skills. I strive to bake pineapple tarts that are not just edible; they have to be good… so good that my relatives cannot stop eating till they are all gone. If that is achieved, I have 2 persons to thank - my dearest Ah Kim and Valerie.
My project is almost complete; the pastry left in the freezer for the past 2 days and the pineapple jam left in the fridge since last night.
Tonight is the night when I’ll bake the pineapple tarts and find out if they taste as heavenly as I wish them to be. Tonight is the night when I’ll decide whether to give up baking pineapple tarts for good.
Tonight is the night…
