Ingredients
- Pineapple Jam:
- 250 gm butter (salted), please don't use Buttercup, Butterblend or Farmcows, it's not real butter
- 75 gm caster sugar
- 170 gm cream (I used whipping cream, dairy of course!)
- 50 gm cream cheese
- 3 egg yolks
- 400 gm cake flour
- 30 gm corn starch
- One more yolk for glazing
- Homemade pineapple jam from 2 large Morris pineapples
- 2 Morris pineapples (about 1.6kg each fruit before peeling, after peeling it’s about 900gm each)
- 2 cups sugar (400gm)
- 1 smallish cinnamon stick
Preparation
Step 1
1. Cream butter, sugar and cream cheese together.
2. When it comes together, pour in cream and whip on medium speed (I used speed 2 on my hand mixer) for 10 minutes. Scrape the sides from time to time. It may look lumpy, don’t worry, later it’ll turn all creamy.
3. Beat in egg yolks for 1 minute.
4. Sift both flours and pour half of it into buttery mixture. Mix on low speed until it comes together and pour in the remaining flour and beat until it comes together. Do not over mix.
5. Let dough sit for 10 minutes minimum before you start wrapping your jam with it. Method, please scroll up :p
Jam Method:
1. Peel the pineapples. Method found in this post
2. Cut pineapples into chunks. DO NOT DISCARD THE CORE. That part has the most of the precious fibre.
3. Put half the pineapple chunks into a blender, add 1/3 cup of water and blitz away. Pour 80% of the blended stuff into a pan or wok (please, no pot, you need a large evaporation surface)
4. With the remaining blended pineapple in the blender, repeat blending process with the rest of the pineapples, always leaving some blended stuff in the blender if you need to blend more chunks and you won't need more water.
Verdict:
Gosh, this got to be the best enclosed tart ever. This is my maiden attempt in making enclosed tarts, but I've eaten lots of enclosed tarts and handled lots of different doughs before. Compared to cornstarch laden enclosed tarts, this is a clear winner. It’s not very fragile. It doesn’t crumble in your hands that easily compared to cornstarch or custard powder ones, but the way it melts in your mouth and not in your hands is truly delicious. I’ve eaten tarts fresh from the oven, and usually they are slightly crispy, and one needs to wait one or 2 days for it to turn soft and crumbly. Not this one. It’s melty the moment it’s out from the oven, melty but not fragile. I could just easily arrange them in the containers. It's due to the liquid cream added, the "fat" emulsion helped the dough to be more sturdy but yet remain soft and flaky. Better in terms of handling (very slightly elastic when raw, this helps with the wrapping and sturdy when baked) compared to recipes that uses loads and loads of butter. And the cream cheese added a beautiful dimension to the taste and texture. Lyanne even shook one container but they stayed complete, not broken nor shattered. Just bits of crumbs stuck to the side of the container, but remained whole and no one will notice if you clean the container later. My mom after tasting one piece demanded that I make more of this. Hahahaha. That is a command from Mommy dearest, my biggest fan.