SEW MY NAME

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year celebrated by the Chinese all over the world. It starts with the reunion dinner tonight with all shops and shopping centers here close early for the day follow by 2 days of public holidays. Living in a multi-racial country and surrounded by Chinese friends and neighbors, inevitably the spirit of this festival can be felt by the non-Chinese here too.

As a neighborly gesture I made some pineapple tarts for my neighbor and my favorite blogging buddy who wouldn’t mind growing fat because of my yummy tarts. He sometimes serves as my punching bag when things don’t go right, he puts up with my grouses and also backs up as my technical support. Lucky me to have such a wonderful friend.

Pinapple Tarts Recipe
For the jam :
3 pineapple or 2 big pineapples
sugar (depends on how sweet or sour the pineapples are)
For the pastry :
500 gm butter
2 eggs
450 gm flour
1 tbsp sugar
a little salt
vanilla powder (optional)

Method :
Grate the pineapples and use a strainer to strain the juice out. Add sugar and cook on fire until the jam is not wet yet soft.

Put softened butter in a bowl and use a mixing spoon to hand mix the butter with sugar. Add egg, salt and vanilla. Lastly add the flour and knead with hand. Roll a portion of dough on a pastry sheet and use a pineapple cookie cutter to cut the cookies. Finish all the dough and fill the cavities with jam. Arrange on baking sheets and bake for about 25 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius (320 degrees Fahrenheit). You may have to adjust a little to suit your oven and normally at mid-way I will switch the top and bottom tray for more even baking.

To all my Chinese friends and readers, I wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year .