Miss CoCo's Closed Pineapple Tarts

After a two year rest, I've decided to rise to the occasion once again to make pineapple tarts. The last time I did it, I was heavily pregnant and it really tire me out! This year, after some research, I decided to do something different. I wanted to make closed ones!



Yes, as you can see, I've stuck to my Bunny theme... Haha...

This recipe is from A Baker's Videoblog, which is very specialize in pineapple tarts. She even teaches them in classes! For more details, videos and useful tips, check out her site. :)

She used her recipe for the typical "open" tarts, but I used it for the closed version. Turned out that the closed version is actually easier to make! Here are the ingredients:

450g of pineapple filling (commercially-bought or homemade)
360g plain flour plus extra for dusting (3 cups minus 2 tbsp)
2 tablespoons caster sugar
280g cold unsalted butter (2 sticks plus 1 tbsp)
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Egg glaze: 1 egg yolk mixed with a few drops of water (to thin it)

1. Sift flour and sugar. Mix well.
2. Cut butter into small cubes and add to flour mixture.
3. Use fingertips to rub the butter into the flour.
4. Lightly beat egg yolks and vanilla essence and add to butter mixture. Combine and knead lightly to form a dough.
5. Wrap the dough in clingwrap and chill it for an hour to firm it up. Chilling the dough makes it easy to handle.
6. Roll doughs and pineapple filling into small balls. To make sure that each tart is evenly sized, measure each piece of dough and filling using measuring spoons. For the dough, use a half tablespoon and a teaspoon for the filling.
7. Flatten the dough slightly using the heel of your palm, wrap the filling up and roll it to round it up. See here for video instructions.
8. To make the bunny design, I just add the bunny ears and poke 2 eyes. :)
   
   
9. Preheat the oven at 190°C (375°F) for 10 minutes. Bake them for 7 minutes, then remove them from the oven, brush the egg glaze, then pop them back to be baked for a further 7 minutes.
10. Using a flat spatula, transfer the tarts to a wire rack. Allow tarts to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

NOTE:

• Careful not to add to much water to the egg glaze. I added too much water, making it too watery.
• I brushed on too much glaze onto the tart, so my tart sort of 'melted' a little in the oven during baking. Just a thin glaze will do.

I love this recipe. It's very light, buttery and melts in your mouth. Hope everybody have a good time making it, and I really look forward to seeing the children enjoy the little bunny tarts too! Here's wishing all a early Happy Lunar New Year! 新年快乐!