Indonesian Pineapple Tart

Pineapple tarts, small bite-size pastries filled with pineapple jam and shiny finishing top. They are very popular in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, and are usually consumed during the Chinese New Year season.

I grew up eating this buttery tarts and was once involved in the process of baking these with my 'pastry chef' aunt. They are not on my 'must have' hometown food list, but occasionally I do crave it. My beloved mum is here visiting me and she brought some pineapple tarts along with other goodies!

There are a lot of recipes on the net and different variation according to the country of origin. However the main ingredients for the pastry are butter, egg yolk and cornstarch. The pineapple jam filling is usually made by slowly reducing and caramelizing grated fresh pineapple that has been mixed with sugar and spices.

Warning: These rich, tender, melt-in-the-mouth and not overly sweet tarts are so addictive. The tiny bite-size does not help either as I can easily eat five(5) tarts without feeling guilty.

A Weekend of Self-pampering

Every now and then we deserve to pamper ourselves, give our mind and body a relaxing treatment. Last week I received a gift voucher, free footbath and facial at Endota Spa. I decided to use it on the weekend and treat myself to an hour of pampering. It was a really nice and relaxing treatment, so much so that I fell asleep towards the end.

As a dessert lover, self-pampering also means an afternoon of cake indulgence. I went to La Renaissance for lunch, sat at the backyard and enjoyed the warm and sunny day. I ordered the Baguette Saucisson et Crudités and Lemon Tart.

I really love the Baguette, fresh and crunchy. The salami was not too spicy and it was complimented with fresh mixed salad, a light and refreshing meal.

Hungarian salami with mixed salad and cornichon mayonnaise $9

The lemon tart was a real delight for me, it was the perfect dessert to complete my meal. The tart was of the right texture, almost crumbly when you bite it. The lemon custard is probably not for everyone's tastebud, but if you love lemon or sour flavour then you will love this. It was soft and creamy, I just kept wanting more and more. The only complain I have about the cake is the size, it was way too small for me!

Lemon Tart $6

Now it's your turn to pamper yourself!

Poh's Orange Chiffon Cake

One of my all-time favourite childhood cake is the Pandan Chiffon Cake. At my hometown, this cake can easily be found from any of the local pâtisserie and it is so cheap that my mom usually buys the whole cake. I believe it is the soft, light and spongy texture which makes it so addictive.

To relive my childhood memory, my friend recommended me to use Poh's Orange Chiffon Cake recipe. It is relatively easy to follow and I managed to bake both the original (orange flavour) and improvised (pandan flavour) version. If you want to bake the Pandan Chiffon Cake, follow the recipe below and replace the orange juice & orange zest with 1/4 tsp of pandan paste or pandan essence and 1/2 cup of pandan juice (extract from pandan leaves).

Ingredients
5 egg whites (at room temperature is best)
1/2 tsp of cream of tartar
75g caster sugar (I reduced it to 50g)
5 egg yolks
7 tbs of coconut milk
5 tbs of vegetable oil
75g caster sugar (I reduced it to 50g)
5 tbs of orange juice
1 tbs of orange zest
150g self raising flour, sifted

Method
1. Preheat oven at 180 C.
2. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer till soft peaks. Add sugar one tablespoon at a time a beat thoroughly after each addition till you achieve stiff peaks. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl whisk egg yolks with caster sugar till fluffy. Add coconut milk, vegetable oil, orange zest and self raising flour and whisk until combined. Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture 3 batches.
4. Pour into a 22cm baba cake tin (do not use non-stick and do not grease). Bake 30 mins at 180 C, or till skewer comes out clean.
5. When cake is out of the oven, immediately invert the cake still in the tin, and place on a cooling rack and leave to cool completely (about 1 1/2 hours).

La Renaissance Journey Continues

For the past few weeks I have been planning for my Europe trip next year, deciding on which countries and cities to visit. Choosing the countries/cities is probably one of the hardest task of my planning process as there are so many beautiful places all around Europe. Paris is definitely on my travel list! How can one resist the temptation of French butter, wine, baguette, cakes and macarons?

Unable to contain my excitement further, I visited the local French pâtisserie La Renaissance. I went during office lunch break and there was a long queue. While I queued impatiently, I kept hoping and wishing that they still have a good selection of cakes and macarons. To my surprise and excitement, there were quite a number of cakes for me to choose from.

I happily chose the Goya and Fleur De Lys, both have the same round shape and shiny, smooth surface.

Goya $8

The Goya was filled with light creamy mixed berry and passionfruit mousse. Topped with a slice of passionfruit, blueberry, raspberry, and 2 half of macaron shell on each side. The taste was not overly sweet due to the slightly sour and refreshing passionfruit flavour.

Fleur de Lys $8

If you are on the hunt for a really sinful, thick and dark chocolate cake then you definitely have to try the Fleur De Lys. Filled with Valrhona "Guanaja" 70% chocolate mousse with a creamy "Guanaja" centre, crunchy praline and chocolate biscuit base.

 Coffee & Honey and Dark Chocolate Macarons $2.50 each

My last treat of the night was the Coffee & Honey and Dark Chocolate macarons, the only available flavours at the store as they have sold out. Both macarons have the same shell consistency; crispy, soft and chewy on the inside. Surprisingly I enjoyed the Coffee & Honey more than the Dark Chocolate due to its intense coffee flavour. The Dark Chocolate macaron was still too sweet for my liking.

 

Pecan & Chocolate Tart

I finally had the courage to invite two of our closest friends over to our place for dinner. For most natural cooks, having two guests is hardly a challenge but for me it's like cooking for a major event. My cooking style is very simple or in my own definition 'lazy'. I use condiments to a bare minimum and prefer to throw everything in the oven.

Knowing the fact that I can never prepare a feast as good as my guest(mydatewithfood.blogspot.com) and her husband, I kept my menu to a simple 3-course meal. However, I promised myself to put a lot more effort in making the desserts. Mixing the known with the unknown, I made Passionfruit Crème Brûlée (you can get the recipe here) and Pecan & Chocolate Tart.

So here comes my real challenge, baking the perfect Pecan & Chocolate Tart.

To bake the perfect tart is to get the right texture in the pastry. Too hard and you are left with a chipped tooth or flying pastry like what our guests and myself experienced that night. Or if it's too soft, you are basically eating uncooked pastry. A perfect pastry should be crumbly enough to hold its shape when you cut through it without making a mess.

Unfortunately my pastry was almost as solid as a rock. It would have been a disastrous dessert if not for the perfect combination of the pecan & chocolate filling and the crème fraîche. 

Recipe adopted from Delicious Sweet edition.

Serves 8

50g unsalted butter, softened
125g light brown sugar (I reduced it to 100g)
150ml golden syrup (I replaced it with maple syrup)
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g milk chocolate, melted
200 pecan nuts, chopped, plus extra chopped pecans to serve (optional)
Icing sugar, to dust
Thick cream or ice cream, to serve (I used crème fraîche)

Pastry
1 2/3 cups (250g) plain flour
110 icing sugar, sifted
110g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
1 egg

For the pastry, place flour and icing sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add butter and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg and process until mixture comes together and form a ball. Enclose in plastic wrap, then chill for 30 minutes.
Roll pastry out on a lightly floured workbench and use to line a 23cm loose-bottomed tart pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to chill.
Preheat oven to 180C. Line tart with baking paper, then fill with pastry weights or uncooked rice and blind-bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and weights, then return the tart to the oven for a further 5 minutes until golden and dry.
Meanwhile, place butter, sugar and golden syrup in a bowl and beat until smooth. Add egg, vanilla, chocolate and nuts. Pour into tart case and bake for 30 minutes or until set. Set aside to cool.
Dust with icing sugar and serve at room temperature with cream or ice cream. Garnish with extra nuts, if desired.