Bake pineapple tarts with Thermomix^®

There’s nothing more fulfilling than making your own pineapple tarts from scratch. You’ll be using fresh sweet pineapples, less sugar if you must, the best French butter, and even add decadent touches like a spritz of gold dust or shape these morsels into cute little bunnies (2023 is the year of the Rabbit).

Here are some of our favourite pineapple tart recipes you can try. Bake some and join our annual Pineapple Tart Challenge and this year, you may be the winner to Elle & Vire’s gift hampers (valued at $100 each with 20 sets to be won)! With the Thermomix^®, it is so easy to make these delicious but tedious-to-make treats using conventional methods. Pineapple tarts, ubiquitous during the Lunar New Year, is an essential auspicious gift for family and friends. Pineapple, an auspicious fruit during the lunar new year seaon, is also known in Hokkien as “ong lai”, meaning “prosperity comes” literally in Hokkien and Mandarin (旺来).

Tips on choosing fresh pineapples to make your own pineapple tart jam

When you cook your own, you know you are custom cooking the pineapple jam to the taste and texture you and your family like.

1. Choose ripe pineapples if you like the wholesome natural sweet taste in your jam, but while you use less sugar to sweeten, riper pineapples are juicier and do yield less jam after cooking. Less ripe pineapples are more sour and require more sugar to sweeten but will give you more volume of jam paste after cooking.
2. Get pineapples that have greener leaves and no soft spots on the skin.
3. A ripe pineapple will have golden yellow colour bottom up. 3/4 ripe pineapples is recommended and you can continue to let it ripen at home on the counter for another 1-2 days prior to cooking.
4. Pineapples with bigger eyes (diamond shaped patterns on the skin) tend to be sweeter than pineapples with smaller eyes.
5. Wider body pineapples have more flesh after cutting than taped body pineapples.
6. A fresh and ripened pineapple should be sweet and fragrant smelling. Avoid pineapples that have no smell or smell fermented (over-ripe)
7. Pick the ones that feel heavier as weight is an indication of fresh and juice content

Other useful tips to note when making pineapple tarts

1. If you are making jams in bulk for storage and larger batch baking, use regular caster sugar to prevent the jam from hardening from longer storage
2. 2g extra pastry dough is the rough guide for wrapping tarts into ball shapes. Extra dough is required if you are shaping into zodiac animals, characters or making other shapes
3. The jam should not be too wet (use a spatula to lift the jam and it should not be dripping downwards). Wet jam causes cracks after baking
4. Tiny cracks after baking is ok as the dough expands during baking and will close back up after they are cooled.
5. Do no apply egg wash if you are making special character tarts; especially if you are using coloured dough
6. Cooked pineapple jams keeps well in the freezer
7. Cooked jam will further dry and harden in the fridge. Do not use same-day cooked jam to wrap as they may still be too soft and wet and result in cracks
8. Baked tarts taste more melt-in-the-mouth after a day or 2. Store in air-tight containers after they are cooled. Finish within a week or keep in the fridge.
9. Darker jams can be achieved by adding cinnamon, or brown sugar or maltose
10. Maltose is usually added to make a sticker jam paste to make rectangular shaped Taiwanese style Pineapple tarts. Taiwanese tarts may be shaped using square/rectangle tart moulds
11. Use a clipper to shape traditional pineapple shaped tarts or the designs on open face tarts (scroll below for Rita Zahara’s zero sugar pineapple tarts tutorial below)

1. Elle & Vire Buttery Cheese Pineapple Tarts for Thermomix^® by Mavis Ong Lai Queen

Pineapple Jam

• 1500 gm fresh pineapple (skin removed and cut)
• 70gm sugar
• 30gm brown sugar
• 1 stick of cinnamon

1. Place cut pineapple into mixing bowl, 5 sec/Speed 5 (check texture, repeat 5 sec/Speed 5 if required)
2. Add 70gm sugar, 30gm brown sugar, 1 stick cinnamon, 30 min/100deg/Speed 2 (place simmering basket on top of mixing bowl lid)
3. Continue to cook 45min/Varoma/Speed 2.
4. To dry up pineapple, 10min/Varoma/Speed 2 (with the MC hole uncovered). Repeat this step if the pineapple jam is still wet.
5. Let it cool down, portion the pineapple and roll into ball of 8 gm.

Tart Pastry

• 250gm salted Elle & Vire Butter
• 50gm Elle & Vire cream cheese
• 50gm icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 380gm Prima Top flour
• 1 whole egg for egg wash

1. Place salted butter, cream cheese and icing sugar into mixing bowl, 3 min/Speed 4.
2. Add egg yolk, 10 sec/Speed 4.
3. Add top flour, 10 sec/Speed 6.
4. Transfer pastry dough into a bowl (if it is too soft to handle, let it rest in the fridge for 10 minutes).
5. Wrap the pineapple ball (8gm) with pastry dough (10gm) and roll into a ball.
6. Brush lightly with egg yolk.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Transfer them out and cool on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container

2. Melt-in-the-mouth Buttery Pineapple Tarts

Pineapple jam

• 1500 g fresh pineapple (approx. 2 pineapples), peeled, eyes and core removed, cut in cubes (2 cm)
• 100 g sugar, adjust to taste
• 1 cinnamon stick

1. Place pineapple in mixing bowl, chop 5 sec/speed 5. Drain blended pineapple using Varoma dish to discard excessive liquid.
2. Place blended pineapples pulp, sugar and cinnamon stick in mixing bowl, cook 40 min/120°C/speed 1 or until it thickens. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool completely. Clean mixing bowl.
3. Scoop 1 teaspoon of pineapple jam (approx. 8 g) and roll into a small ball. Repeat this step until all jam is used.

Tart pastry

• 320 g Prima Hong Kong Flour (or Plain Flour)
• 20 g milk powder
• 30g corn flour
• 50 g caster sugar
• 1 pinch salt (omit if using salted butter)
• 300 g unsalted Elle & Vire butter, cold, cut in cubes (1 cm)
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg, lightly beaten for egg wash

1. Place flour, milk powder, caster sugar and salt in mixing bowl, pulverise Turbo/2 sec/1 time.
2. Add butter, egg yolks, mix Dough knead/20 sec. Transfer dough to a bowl, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Shape the dough into a long log and cut into small pieces (approx. 10 g). Flatten a dough piece, place a reserved jam ball in the centre of each and wrap into a ball. Repeat the steps with remaining dough balls and jam. Preheat oven to 170°C.
3. Using a pastry brush, brush pastry surface with lightly beaten egg. Bake for 20 minutes (170°C) until lightly brown. Allow to cool completely on a cooling rack before serving or storing in an airtight container.
   
   For a slight variation of this recipe in Cookidoo^®, click here

3. Rita Zahara’s Thermomix^® Recipe for Zero Sugar Open face Pineapple Tarts

Pineapple Jam (Zero Sugar)

• 1500g fresh pineapples (peeled, eyes and core removed, cut into cubes)
• 1pc cinnamon about 3cm (optional)
• 1pc clove (optional)
• 0.5 pc star anise (optional)
• 2 knots of pandan leaves
• 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 80g monk fruit
• 1 pinch sea salt

1. Place 1500g pineapple chunks into the mixing bowl and blend 5sec / speed 5.
2. Scrap down the sides and repeat for 3 times. Pour the mixture into the Varoma and drain the juice over the ThermoServer or a large bowl.
3. Scoop out blended pineapples and place back into mixing bowl. Add 1pc cinnamon, 0.5-star anise, 1 pc cloves and 2 knots of pandan leaves and cook for 45mins/120c/sp1. Prolong timing if needed.
4. Cook for another 10 minutes/Varoma/sp1 until the jam mixture thickens.
5. Remove the spices and pandan leaves.
6. Add 1 tsp lemon juice, 80g monk fruit and 1 pinch salt and continue cooking 5min/Varoma/sp1 with measuring cup off. Prolong timing slightly if needed but take care not to overcook.
7. Transfer pineapple jam into a heat-proof container. Once it has cooled to room temperature, store it in the fridge. Keep it overnight before using it. Best used when the jam has hardened slightly. Prepare them in 2.5 cm in diameter balls

Pineapple Tart Pastry

• 450g Plain (all-purpose) flour
• ¼ tsp Baking powder
• 250g Unsalted cold butter and cut into cubes
• 20g monk fruit
• 120g homemade healthy condensed milk (room temperature)
• 1 egg
• ½ tsp sea salt
• ¼ tsp Vanilla extract

1. Get zero-sugar homemade healthy pineapple jam kept at least overnight.
2. Get zero-sugar homemade healthy condensed milk.
3. Place in mixing bowl 450g plain flour and ¼ tsp baking powder. Turbo 1s/2 times or 5sec/speed 10.
4. Add 250g cold unsalted butter cubes and mix and 20g monk fruit. 20s/Sp4. (I am using the icing version but if you are granulated, it is turbo 2 secs and do it twice)
5. Add 120g condensed milk, 1 egg, ½ tsp sea salt, ¼ tsp vanilla essence and mix 20s/sp4.
6. Remove from mixing bowl and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
7. With a rolling pin, roll pastry out to a thickness of about 0.5 cm (1/4 inc).
8. Cut pastry into rounds using a pineapple tart mould and clip edges with a cookie pincher for that homemade look. Arrange on a baking tray.
9. Roll cooled pineapple jam into small ball about 2.5 cm (1-in) in diameter. Flatten them slightly, then place in the centre of shaped pastry. Repeat until ingredients are used up.
10. Preheat oven to 160C (325F). Bake tarts for 20-25 minutes until pastry is slightly browned.
11. Note: The homemade healthy pineapple jam and condensed milk can be made in advance (replace the sugar in the condensed milk recipe with equal amounts of Stevia or Monk fruit).
12. Different ovens may respond to cooking time differently too. Best to test batch with one cookie at 160C to see how long before your pineapple tart turns brown from 15 minutes.

4. Taiwanese Style Pineapple Tarts by MasterChef Nicholas for Thermomix^®

Pineapple Jam (Taiwanese style)

• 120g white maltose
• 150g rock sugar
• 1500g fresh pineapple
• 100g fructose
• 5g citric acid

1. Place pineapples into mixing bowl, blend 5 sec / speed 5 for 3 times.
2. Drain the pineapple in the varoma to drip the juice.
3. Place all the ingredients back into the mixing bowl and cook for 40 mins / 120C / speed 2 and 15 mins / varoma / speed 2. Monitor the jam when the temperature is switched to varoma, Tip : reduce the time if the paste looks dry before the required cooking time.
4. Tip : Extend by 3-5min at varoma each time if the paste is still not dry enough but please monitor.

Tart Pastry (Taiwanese Style)

• 250g butter, cut into cubes
• 40g rock sugar
• 60g beaten egg
• 40g milk powder
• 25g almond powder
• 300g cake flour/low gluten wheat flour
• 25g all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven at 170°C.
2. Place rock sugar into the mixing bowl and turbo / 2 sec.
3. Add milk powder, cake flour, all-purpose flour and almond powder into mixing bowl, turbo / 1 sec twice to sieve the flour and mix the dry ingredients.
4. Add Anchor butter and mix 20 sec / speed 4.
5. Add egg and mix 20 sec / speed 4 or until mixture comes together.
6. Remove the pastry and place it into a cling wrap, keep it inside the fridge for 20 to 30 mins so that the dough is easier to shape when it is not too soft.
7. Tip : Weigh out the required dough into balls and keep aside chilled in the fridge until required so the dough is easier to shape.
8. Bake for 15-20mins at 170°C. Please Monitor the conditions of your tarts while it is baking.

Pineapple Tarts Challenge : Bake, Share & Win Contest (2022-2023)

To participate in our Pineapple Tart Bake, Share & Win Contest, here are the applicable terms and conditions

1. Watch Thermomix Malaysia live Pineapple Tarts tutorials on 14 December 2022.
2. Bake your creative Pineapple Tart & Snap a photo (or a video) of your tarts with your Thermomix^® & Elle & Vire Butter
3. Participate by posting in the comments area of the contest post. Also, post your photos in your own Facebook and/or Instagram pages
4. Add hashtags #ThermomixPineappleTarts
5. Tag @ThermomixMalaysia and @ElleetVireMY
6. Join as many times as you like
7. The most creative, most liked, most frequent sharers win! The more you Bake & Share, the more chances you have to WIN !
8. This contest is open to all Malaysian only around Klang Valley area (we apologise we are unable to ship prizes to overseas contestants as the products in the hampers are perishable and require cold chilling)
9. Winners will be announced by 13 February 2023.
10. Be sure to set your profile to public so that we can find your post(s)

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