Cream Cheese Pineapple Tarts For The Chinese New Year

Is it coincidence or what?  When my daughter, Sharon asked me to have a look at the pineapple tarts she just made, i could not believe my eyes, the both of us used the same pineapple tart mold!!!!  We had a good laugh.

When i was asked what i am grateful for, i will not hesitate and mentioned that the internet is what i am most grateful for.  It has given me a chance to posts my tested recipes on this blog and share with friends and strangers(who will and have become friends) to try out these recipes.  I  do not have to carry hard copies of recipes whenever i wish to bake or cook - google is my best friend.  The next grateful aspect is skype, i am now able to teach or discuss on video chat with friends and family , especially with Sharon who is into baking and i am most proud of her.  Keep up the good work, dear Sharon.

  I have been baking pineapple tarts with all these 3 pastries that i have posted -
Pineapple Tarts , Pineapple "Open" Tarts and Pineapple Roll and it is about time to post another pineapple tart pastry for all of you to try.  This pastry is very light because i did not use any liquid.  I hope that sour cream is not hard to come by in Malaysia or other parts of the world, if so, Sour Cream substitute link is HERE

Mini Shanghai Mooncakes

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar,  and it falls on September 30th this year (2012).  Although it is still about 1 1/2 months away, preparation for the making the mooncakes has to begin now especially if you are to make the Traditional Mooncakes - the syrup has to be cooked and kept until needed, in fact the longer it is allowed to settle, the better it is.  Most mooncakes bakers will cook the syrup last year for this year's baking.  If this syrup cooking is too tedious and intimidating, i am sharing this recipe which s full of the fragrance of butter and pure lotus paste/red bean paste and the best part, you don't need any mooncake molds.

I make mooncakes every year and somehow could never find time to post it in time for my readers who would like to try and have a hand in making some for the festival.  This year, i make sure that i will post first before i start getting into the actual baking and forget to post.  Sorry.................

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

It has been a busy summer for me so far, a wedding and several birthdays after, baking cakes after cakes, i am all caked out, i had to make something different when Renee, a Girl Scout had a potluck.  So my daughter suggested that i baked a giant chocolate cookie, which was an excellent idea. The cookie was such a great hit with the girls and Renee said that she did not have a chance to taste it, not a crumb left on the cake carrier, they licked the platter clean.  If the cake carrier was silver, i could use it as a mirror.

Seaweed Crispies

GONG XI FA CAI

This is a spin-off from Nori Crisps.  These seaweed /nori crispies are so addictive and flavorful that they have to be fried and served for The Chinese New Year.  They are so easy, just 3 ingredients and oil for deep frying.  This year, instead of rolling them up or plain flat, i have twisted them into ribbons following Sesame Ribbon Crisp but do not double up the prepared pastry.  For this recipe i have tweaked and used egg whites instead of the whole egg and found that the crispies remained crispier.

Kuih Bangkit Gula Melaka Flavored

Gula melaka a.k.a. Palm Sugar or 'Malacca Sugar'.  Why Melaka/Malacca,?  I have no idea and hope that you readers can enlighten me.  Gula melaka is made by first extracting the sap from the flower bud of a coconut tree. Several slits are cut into the bud and a pot is tied underneath the bud to collect the sap. Then, the sap is boiled until it thickens after which, in the traditional way, it is poured into bamboo tubes between 3-5 inches in length, and left to solidify to form cylindrical cake blocks.

 Coconut palm sugar is being advertised as a healthy sugar; low in the glycemic index and full of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. It apparently tastes great with amazing caramel and butterscotch taste and it's gaining popularity rapidly until most coconut farmers are cashing in to this new high demand of palm sugar as  "healthier sugar", by converting their coconut trees into coconut sugar production.  No wonder, the price for a can of coconut milk/cream has triple the price lately.


I do not use gula melaka/palm sugar for any other reasons except to flavor these few desserts like
Onde Onde,
Kuih Dadar,
Kuih Koci,
Kuih Koci Pulut Hitam,
Kuih Talam Ubi Kayu,
Lepat Ubi Kayu/Casava Wrap,
Kuih Kosui


and now am using it to flavor my Kuih Bangkit, and can you tell me the characters of these cookies?  They are pressed from the same mould.

Sesame Ribbon Crisp

When i was making the Crispy Crackers for Yee Sang, i decided to make this Sesame Ribbon Crisp as it is the same recipe only it is formed into ribbons.  These ribbons do not need any introduction, one bit into one and before you can chew on it, your hand will be reaching out for another.  That's how good they are.

Pineapple Tart Filling

Ever since i owned a microwave oven in 1986, i have been using it alot to aid my cooking and it is the most used appliance in my kitchen.  I would not have made or cooked so often if i have to slave on a stovetop for hours on end.  The microwave has allowed me to cook faster without having to attend to the cooking and allowing me time to fulfil other tasks and the best part is that i do not have extra pots and pans for cleaning.  This time of the year is always busy, busy, especially when the Chinese New Year is just 2 weeks away and it means that it is time to bake Pineapple Tarts which is a must for this celebration.  Why Pineapple Tarts??? Chinese is a tonal language and punning based on tones is very common. The word for 'pineapple' in Hokkien dialect 'ong la i' is also a pun for the "king" (ong ) or "prosperity"(ong) and "comes" (la i) i.e. hopes for royally rich or a prosperity year to come!  Before the pineapple tarts can be made, the filling has to be cooked first and i am sharing How to cook it in the Microwave.

I use crushed pineapple for the pineapple tart filling

Drain juice from crushed pineapple and process until fine

I use a bowl but a cup or whatever is ok, to measure the amount of processed pineapple -1 bowl/cup pinneapple pulp to 1 bowl/cup sugar, 3/4 bowl/cup will be acceptable as canned pineapple tend to be sweeter than fresh ones

Put the processed pineapple into a large microwave-safe bowl

Measure the amount of sugar with the same bowl/cup used to measure the processed pineapple

Add cinnamon sticks and cloves to the sugar and pineapple mixture and cook in the microwave.  Cook it for a longer period if you have a large amount

With this amount of sugar and processed pineapple, i cook for 10 minutes, stir after every cycle and continue another two more 10 minutes and stir.  I have a 900 watts microwave oven and if your microwave has a higher wattage, use shorter time and also it depends on how dry the processed pineapple is drained.  I do not drained until too dry cos i like the flavor of the pineapple in the juice.  When the mixture begins to thicken, reduce the time to 5 minutes and so forth, until filling thick and caramelized.

After every cycle of cooking, remove from the microwave oven and stir well to distribute the heat

After stirring, continue to cook in the microwave until filling has thicked and caramelized

Pineapple filling has thickened and caramelized.  It will be more dry when it hs been cooled, so do not cook until too dry otherwise the filling will be too hard after the tarts are baked.  If you have gone too dry when cooking, just add in a little water and give it a buzz or two to heat the water

Allow the cooked pineapple filling to cool before removing the cloves and cinnamon sticks.  Caution:  cooked pineapple filling is very hot, handle with extreme care.  When cooled, store in air-tight container.  This filling can be prepared ahead and can be frozen until needed.

Tip:  When the filling cooled, adjust the taste with lime/lemon juice and some salt will bring out the flavor of the pineapple

Financiers

Financiers, a small French cake, are as rich as the bankers they were named for. The financier is a light, moist teacake, sweet, tender and beautiful in their simplicity.  They are made from ground almonds, sugar, unwhipped egg whites, flour and an enormous quantity of melted butter, which is cooked until it is golden brown, imparting perfect nutty flavor. And, since the Chinese New Year is around the corner, these Financiers will be very auspicious to be served as they resemble ingots/gold bars.

Ladyfingers

According to Wikipedia, Ladyfingers, are light and sweet sponge cakes roughly shaped like a large finger. They are called savoiardi in Italian (meaning "from Savoy"), or in French biscuits à la cuillère or boudoirs. In the UK they may be called sponge-fingers, trifle sponges or boudoir biscuits. In Dutch, they are called lange vingers, literally translating to "long fingers". In Germany they are called Löffelbiskuit, which translates to "spoon biscuit".

Madeleines - Chef Daniel Boulud

This has been my 6th times that i have been on this page.  Have been trying to post this but has always been interrupted by calls or whatever??  I hope i made it this time in posting this recipe. This following recipe was originally published in the cookbook “Chef Daniel Boulud – Cooking in New York City.”   I knew this recipe would produce good Madeleines, as i have good faith in Chef Daniel Boulud to publish a reliable recipe.  He did and this recipe is easy and a keeper.  I have changed the method and instead of dusting with confectioner's sugar as suggested, i hae coated one end with melted chocolate to enhance the appearance as well as improving the flavor.