Nastar Pineapple Rolls (Pineapple Tarts)



Celebrate CNY with pineapple tarts :)

The quest is over. Loving these buttery melt-in-your-mouth pineapple tarts.  You may also click here to view my other post on Pineapple tarts.

Nastar Pineapple Tarts / Rolls

Ingredients

Pastry:

300g good quality butter, at room temperature

80g icing sugar

3 egg yolks
3 tbsp ghee

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp fine salt

Sift together:

420g plain flour

50g corn flour / custard powder
1 tsp baking powder

Lightly beat together for egg wash:

1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp condensed milk

2 tsp fresh milk/water
Pinch of salt
A drop of yellow food colouring

Filling:

2 medium-sized pineapples (about 1.4kg after peeled and cored), cut into chunks (or 2 cans (about 800g each) pineapple chunks in natural juice, or you can mix both)

300g - 400g sugar, or to taste

2 tsp lemon juice (or depending on how sour/sweet the pineapples are)

1 inch cinnamon stick

4 cloves

1/2 star anise

Method

 

Blend the pineapple chunks with a food processor. Make sure they are fine enough that you can't feel any course chunks when you rub them between your fingers. Pour into a sieve to drain some of the excess juice, but not too dry. Cook pineapple and spices in a wide heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat until it begins to boil. Lower heat to simmer (or use high heat but stir continuously and watch it to make sure it doesn't burn). Add the sugar and stir for about 30-40 minutes or until mixture is dry, thick and amber in colour. Halfway through, check for sweetness and add more sugar if necessary. Add lemon juice to taste. Leave aside to cool, refrigerate for a few hours and roll into small elongated pieces (about half teaspoon of pineapple jam each) to be used as filling.

Line baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Cream butter, ghee and sugar until light. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Then add vanilla and salt and beat until fluffy. Fold in sifted ingredients and mix into a firm dough. Put dough into a nastar mould and press out into a strip of about 2-inch lengths. Place a piece of pineapple jam on one end and roll up pastry to enclose the jam.

Put the rolls on prepared trays. Brush with egg wash (optional), and bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 15-18 minutes or until it starts to turn golden. Do not overbake as it may turn out too hard, and probably burnt too! Remove from oven and leave on tray for about 5 minutes. Then transfer to wire racks to cool. Store in airtight containers.

Rolling out the pastry using a nastar mould
(Background: Pineapple jam rolled into little balls)



Assembling the pineapple rolls



Just need to brush some eggwash on the pastry before popping them into the oven

Ran out of pineapple jam, so I used the extra dough to make butter cookies for the kids

Mmm....pineapple... (just noticed the pineapple slicer though)