Taiwanese Pineapple Shortbreads 鳳梨酥
I love to eat Taiwanese Pineapple Shortbreads. They are quite similar to the Pineapple Tarts of Malaysia or Singapore. The only differences are that they are moulded shortbreads, usually square in shape (see the photo below of my Apple and Strawberry Shortbreads I baked last year for Mid-Autumn Festival), and their pineapple filling tastes milder and not as sharp because it includes winter melon. Some commercial fillings from Taiwan do not even contain pineapple, just winter melon flesh with pineapple essence!
I first learnt about making Taiwanese Pineapple Shortbreads from the Taiwanese website, 克萊兒的點心小棧, ooh about 4 or 5 years ago. The one recipe for the pastry that I used ever since to make them is posted there together with a very delicious pineapple filling also on that website. It is very short-textured and crumbles easily as soon as you bite into it, and the best shortbreads I have ever tasted. However the one shortcoming of that recipe is you must use the square moulds to bake them, or else the shortbreads will flop out of shape in the oven. And where can you buy the moulds? Only in Taiwan (maybe also in Hong Kong), I'm afraid. In the beginning, I even tried to make my own moulds using thick layers of aluminium foil… Then I was lucky a very kind boardmate there gave me a set of moulds as present all the way from Taiwan, so I can bake them whenever I wanted without having to resort to making the moulds as well. Another way to overcome the lack of moulds is to use tall-ish straight-edge metal cookie cutters to bake them. However you need one cutter for each shortbread you want to bake, so that means you need to not only be able to find the metal cookie cutters (which is hard in itself as most cookie cutters are made in plastic nowadays), but to get at least 20 of them for a comfortable bake.
Well, I was mucking around with baking these shortbreads a few days ago and came up with this recipe that you can shape using one cookie cutter and bake without the mould. Actually I made the pineapple filling a couple of months ago when I had an excess of winter melon, thinking that I was going to make these shortbreads for the Mid-Autumn festival a few weeks back as they were also one type of mooncakes served in Taiwan. However I ended up not making them for the festival and the filling is taking up spaces in my refrigerator. So I decided to make them now and did a bit of experimenting at the same time. I took my pastry recipe for making my Mango Tarts and adjusted it as I was very happy with the texture of those miniature tarts last time I made them. I crossed my fingers and baked them. I was prepared for the shortbreads to flop somewhat out of shape as they were quite 'tall'. Well, what do you know, they actually stood their ground in the oven and came out looking quite respectable indeed. OK, without the assistance of the moulds, they don't have sharp edges but at least they retained the shapes of the mould I used to shape them.
So for all of you who want to try baking these delicious Taiwanese Pineapple Shortbreads but without access to the moulds, here's my recipe for baking them using just one cookie cutter instead. Here I have used the flower shape cookie cutter of about 4.5cm across and 1.5cm tall to make them, so the amount indicated for each shortbread is based on this size. You can use whatever shapes of cookie cutters you desired, eg. heart-shaped, round-shaped, square-shaped, just don't try to use cutters with complicated shapes which will make it too difficult to shape the shortbreads.
Makes approx. 30 - 32 shortbreads.
[Ingredients]
Pastry:
240g plain flour, sifted
60g vanilla custard powder, sifted
pinch salt
50g icing sugar, sifted
180g ghee
1 egg yolk
Pineapple Filling:
1 x 440g-can sliced pineapple in natural juice
500g grated winter melon 冬瓜 or spaghetti melon 魚翅瓜
200g white sugar
200g maltose
pinch salt
1 - 2 clove 丁香 (optional)
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Pineapple Filling:
1. Drain the sliced pineapple and reserve the natural juice. Grate the sliced pineapple.
2. Put the grated pineapple, juice, grated winter melon and clove in a saucepan and cook over medium to high heat to reduce the juice. When the mixture is quite dry, add the sugar, maltose and salt, and cook over low heat until the mixture is sticky and leave the side of the pan when you give it a stir. You must try to give the mixture a stir intermittently during the cooking period to prevent mixture burning on the bottom of the pan. Remove clove and cool. The mixture can be chilled in an airtight container for at least a couple of months in the refrigerator, or frozen for even longer period. Just remove however much you need to make the pineapple shortbreads, and store the rest back into the refrigerator for next time.
Pastry:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Cream ghee and egg yolk briefly. Add sifted flour, salt, custard powder and icing sugar. Knead into a soft and pliable dough.
2. Divide dough into approximately 15 to 20g pieces and divide the Pineapple Filling into approximately 15g pieces, or adjust according to the size of your cookie cutter. Wrap each portion of the filling inside each piece of dough. Round into a ball shape. Repeat with the rest of the dough pieces and filling portions.
3. Use your cookie cutter to shape the wrapped dough pieces. Place the round dough inside the cookie cutter on an ungreased baking sheet. Press down with the heel of your palm to make the dough fit into the cookie cutter shape. Carefully remove the cookie cutter. Finish moulding the rest of the wrapped dough pieces.
4. Bake for about 18 minutes (also depending on the size of your shortbreads), or until the shortbreads are light golden brown. Cool on the tray for about 10 minutes as the shortbreads are very fragile at this stage. Then use a flat spatula to remove the shortbreads to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in airtight container.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
I first learnt about making Taiwanese Pineapple Shortbreads from the Taiwanese website, 克萊兒的點心小棧, ooh about 4 or 5 years ago. The one recipe for the pastry that I used ever since to make them is posted there together with a very delicious pineapple filling also on that website. It is very short-textured and crumbles easily as soon as you bite into it, and the best shortbreads I have ever tasted. However the one shortcoming of that recipe is you must use the square moulds to bake them, or else the shortbreads will flop out of shape in the oven. And where can you buy the moulds? Only in Taiwan (maybe also in Hong Kong), I'm afraid. In the beginning, I even tried to make my own moulds using thick layers of aluminium foil… Then I was lucky a very kind boardmate there gave me a set of moulds as present all the way from Taiwan, so I can bake them whenever I wanted without having to resort to making the moulds as well. Another way to overcome the lack of moulds is to use tall-ish straight-edge metal cookie cutters to bake them. However you need one cutter for each shortbread you want to bake, so that means you need to not only be able to find the metal cookie cutters (which is hard in itself as most cookie cutters are made in plastic nowadays), but to get at least 20 of them for a comfortable bake.
Well, I was mucking around with baking these shortbreads a few days ago and came up with this recipe that you can shape using one cookie cutter and bake without the mould. Actually I made the pineapple filling a couple of months ago when I had an excess of winter melon, thinking that I was going to make these shortbreads for the Mid-Autumn festival a few weeks back as they were also one type of mooncakes served in Taiwan. However I ended up not making them for the festival and the filling is taking up spaces in my refrigerator. So I decided to make them now and did a bit of experimenting at the same time. I took my pastry recipe for making my Mango Tarts and adjusted it as I was very happy with the texture of those miniature tarts last time I made them. I crossed my fingers and baked them. I was prepared for the shortbreads to flop somewhat out of shape as they were quite 'tall'. Well, what do you know, they actually stood their ground in the oven and came out looking quite respectable indeed. OK, without the assistance of the moulds, they don't have sharp edges but at least they retained the shapes of the mould I used to shape them.
So for all of you who want to try baking these delicious Taiwanese Pineapple Shortbreads but without access to the moulds, here's my recipe for baking them using just one cookie cutter instead. Here I have used the flower shape cookie cutter of about 4.5cm across and 1.5cm tall to make them, so the amount indicated for each shortbread is based on this size. You can use whatever shapes of cookie cutters you desired, eg. heart-shaped, round-shaped, square-shaped, just don't try to use cutters with complicated shapes which will make it too difficult to shape the shortbreads.
Makes approx. 30 - 32 shortbreads.
[Ingredients]
Pastry:
240g plain flour, sifted
60g vanilla custard powder, sifted
pinch salt
50g icing sugar, sifted
180g ghee
1 egg yolk
Pineapple Filling:
1 x 440g-can sliced pineapple in natural juice
500g grated winter melon 冬瓜 or spaghetti melon 魚翅瓜
200g white sugar
200g maltose
pinch salt
1 - 2 clove 丁香 (optional)
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Pineapple Filling:
1. Drain the sliced pineapple and reserve the natural juice. Grate the sliced pineapple.
2. Put the grated pineapple, juice, grated winter melon and clove in a saucepan and cook over medium to high heat to reduce the juice. When the mixture is quite dry, add the sugar, maltose and salt, and cook over low heat until the mixture is sticky and leave the side of the pan when you give it a stir. You must try to give the mixture a stir intermittently during the cooking period to prevent mixture burning on the bottom of the pan. Remove clove and cool. The mixture can be chilled in an airtight container for at least a couple of months in the refrigerator, or frozen for even longer period. Just remove however much you need to make the pineapple shortbreads, and store the rest back into the refrigerator for next time.
Pastry:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Cream ghee and egg yolk briefly. Add sifted flour, salt, custard powder and icing sugar. Knead into a soft and pliable dough.
2. Divide dough into approximately 15 to 20g pieces and divide the Pineapple Filling into approximately 15g pieces, or adjust according to the size of your cookie cutter. Wrap each portion of the filling inside each piece of dough. Round into a ball shape. Repeat with the rest of the dough pieces and filling portions.
3. Use your cookie cutter to shape the wrapped dough pieces. Place the round dough inside the cookie cutter on an ungreased baking sheet. Press down with the heel of your palm to make the dough fit into the cookie cutter shape. Carefully remove the cookie cutter. Finish moulding the rest of the wrapped dough pieces.
4. Bake for about 18 minutes (also depending on the size of your shortbreads), or until the shortbreads are light golden brown. Cool on the tray for about 10 minutes as the shortbreads are very fragile at this stage. Then use a flat spatula to remove the shortbreads to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in airtight container.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
Labels: Asian Pastries, Mooncakes
posted by SeaDragon @ 7.10.05
36 Comments:
Those look delicious! I've never had homemade pineapple cakes before.
SD, i couldn't quite understand. Why do we need 20 cutters?
Hi Robyn,
Homemade ones definitely worth a try :) Can always make extra filling and keep in the fridge, then very easy to just make the dough, wrap filling and bake.
Hi Edith,
The need for at least 20 cookie cutters is if you're going to make the original recipe on that Taiwanese website. That is because those shortbreads need to be baked inside the moulds (or cutters in this case if you don't have the proper moulds).
So you can at least bake 20 at one go if your oven is large enough. Or at least 10 at one go if the oven is smaller, then straight in with the second lot of 10 as soon as the first 10 are baked - then no need to wait for the first 10 to cool down, wash the moulds and use again...
Hi SeaDragon,
I love Taiwanese tarts too, I know they come in many kind of fruit flavors like honey dew, plum etc... Do you have any recipes I can make them in other fruit flavors other than pineapple with winter melon?
YUM YUM YUM...another beautiful finished product! Can I use butter instead of ghee and plain custard powder?
Hi Jas,
Just replace the pineapple with about 500g of the fruit you want to use. Just be aware that some fruit looses its fragrance after cooking, so the aroma of the fruit may be very faint as filling. Oh and remember to adjust sweetness depending on the fruit used and omit the spice or use appropriate spice to compliment the fruit used, eg, can use cinnamon or nutmeg with apple...
I think those commercial ones with different fruit flavours, they are most probably winter melon filling with fruit essence added to make the different flavours... That's why they always have a good aroma. HTH.
Hi Little Corner of Mine,
Thanks :)
I usually use ghee as an substitute for shortening or lard as all of them don't contain moisture, so the end product have a very short (酥) texture. I am afraid if you replace ghee totally with butter (butter contains at least 10% moisture), the end product may not be as short-textured - but you can always try if you are in the mood for experimenting :) Also as I haven't try it myself, don't know if there are other effects to the end product.
I would recommend using shortening in place of ghee if you don't want to use ghee. Or if you can get or make clarified butter, that should work as well (since ghee is a type of clarified butter).
Yes, plain custard powder can be substituted for vanilla custard powder, the only difference is the vanilla flavour only. HTH
Thanks SD! :) Will replace it with shortening then since I have no idea what is clarified butter. >o< and add 1 tsp. of vanilla extract. Won't be trying it out soon but will copy your recipe since I LOVE this Taiwanese Pineapple Shortbread. :)
SeaDragon,
I see I’ll definitely goes for the essence. *LOL* And what I need is Grated Winter Melon, Sugar and Maltose? Do I need to drain and squeeze out the water from winter melon? Sorry for asking so much questions.
Hi Seadragon,
The wintermelon - is it the fresh wintermelon or the candied kind (the sugared preserved kind)?
Thank you,
jcheng
Little Corner of Mine,
No worries, good luck when you do make them...
Jas,
I have never made them this way before... But yes, just use winter melon + sugar and maltose. You can squeeze out the juice for quicker cooking in this case.
jcheng,
Hi, long time no 'see' :) It's the fresh winter melon.
Hmmm, interesting question, now that you mentioned it, I've never thought of it before, but mashed up candied winter melon with a little fruit essence added could be a shortcut to making the filling if you don't want the trouble of cooking the filling, wonder how that will taste in comparison...
Thanks SeaDragon. ^^
Seadragon, do you have a picture of the wintermelon that you use? I have never used wintermelon for cooking before. Do you remove the seeds and the skin like melon? and then do you grate it up? I just got the mould from my taiwanese friend and have been dying to try out the recipe...
Sally.
Sally,
I've posted two pictures under the 'Ingredients by Pictures: Fruits, Nuts & Seeds' post. The wintermelon looks exactly like a watermelon on the outside except the flesh is white inside and not as juicy. You just cut off the seeds part in the middle and peel off the skin, then just grate the white flesh for use.
Congrats on getting the moulds, you'll have fun making them :) As you are using proper moulds to make this, I would recommend you use the original recipe for the pastry I gave the link to at that Chinese site (hope you read Chinese?), as that recipe give you a really very 'short' texture! This recipe I posted is for those not able to get their hands on the proper moulds.
Oh, and if you can't read Chinese, I can do a quick translation if you want. That recipe is really worth trying since you've got the moulds.
Ah Seadragon, you are so kind. Please translate for me?? I took 4 years of Chinese in secondary school in singapore but I have very limited Chinese (I am Indonesian Chinese).
Another question, does the weight (in the recipe) of the pineapple and wintermelon include the liquid that comes out of the fruit or just the pulp? I am thinking of using canned pineapples because it's hard to get ripe pineapple here.
Thank You so much for helping!!!
Sally,
The weight includes juice. I prefer to use all the juice from the fruit as the flavour are all in the juice. Usually I put the fruit together with all the juices and let it simmer away, without cover over medium-low heat, for about an hour or so until it is reduced down before adding sugar and maltose. During this reduction, only need to stir once in a while. But once the sugar is added need to stir more often and the last 1/2 hour of cooking need to stir continuously until done (takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours in total). I usually make about 1.5 kg of filling at a time for keeping so can make the fenglisu whenever needed.
No worries, good recipe should be shared, I will translate that recipe later tonight or tomorrow :)
Oh, another thing, I actually prefer to use fresh pineapple that is just under ripe to make the filling as it is not too sweet.
sally,
Here's the adjusted halved recipe from 克萊兒的點心小棧 that I used (more convenient for me):
Makes abt 25+
Ingredients:
125g butter
125g shortening or ghee
50g icing sugar
1/2 egg (abt 25g), lightly beaten
275g plain flour
50g wheat starch or corn starch
50g milk powder
pinch salt
Method:
1. Cream softened butter & shortening until creamy. Add icing sugar and beat in well. Beat in egg. Sift dry ingredients together and fold into the butter mixture to form a soft dough.
2. Divide dough into approx. 25-30g each. Divide filling into approx. 25g each and roll into a ball. Wrap filling inside dough piece.
3. On a greased (or lined) baking sheet. Place the wrapped dough inside the mould and press down with the heel of your palm. The dough should fit inside the mould just slightly below the top of mould. Do not remove the mould, shortbread should be baked inside the mould.
4. Bake in preheated 190C (375F) oven for about 8-10 minutes, or until the top is beginning to brown. Remove from oven, use a pair of tongs to carefully loosen the shortbreads from the baking sheet (no need to loosen if lined with baking paper). Now you must turn all the shortbreads upside down to bake the other side. The best way to do this is to place another baking sheet (also greased or lined) on top and carefully flip the whole thing over so now all the shortbreads are sitting upside down on the new baking sheet. Now bake this for another 8-10 minutes or so, or until the shortbreads are light golden brown in colour. Remove from oven and cool for 5-10 minutes still on the baking sheet, then remove moulds from the shorbreads. Carefully transfer shortbreads to wire rack (lined with baking paper to soak up excess oil) to finish cooling.
For your reference, the original ingredients list in the Fenglisu recipe from 克萊兒的點心小棧 (recipe originally posted by PeggyCat) is as followed:
Makes about 50
225g butter, 225g shortening, 100g icing sugar, 1 egg, 600g cake flour, 80g milk powder, 50g parmesan cheese powder, 1/2 tsp milk aroma powder
Thank You so much seadragon. I will make this fenglishu soon and update you on the result. Which one gives better result: ghee or shortening? And why did you change the cake flour to plain flour + corn starch? Is it because it will give better result? or should I just use cake flour if I have it? Sorry I keep bombarding you with many questions...
Sally,
I've always used ghee as a substitute for shortening because Crisco shortening is not available in Australia. So I can't really give you an answer on that since I've never used shortening myself.
As for using plain flour + corn starch, again it's my way of substitution, since I always have these two ingredients at home, so I don't have to buy cake flour especially :) So it's up to you but definitely use cake flour if you have that.
Have fun making them!
Hi Seadragon
May I know what is the dimension of your square moulds. I saw some in the bakeshop but they comes in various sizes.
For the size of mould that you use, how many grams of dough and how many grams of fillings did you use.
Thanks for your answer as I have already prepared the fillings and now I just need to get the moulds.
Crumbs
Crumbs,
The square mould I use is 4.5cm x 4.5cm x 2.25cm. For this size the dough I use is about 25-30g each and filling is about 25g. Usually the recommendation is to use proportion of 1 : 1 for dough and filling, but sometimes I find it hard to wrap with this proportion, so I usually use a bit more dough and a little less filling to wrap mine. HTH :)
SD, I like you blog and your TW pineapple shortbread, I always shy away from making them; I thought it would be very difficult and due to lack of cookie molds, but I'll try your method of using just one mold and see how they come out.
BTW I tried to link to Claire's site without success, do you know whether she took the blog off the web or she has another new home?
Thanks for sharing your recipes and notes.
Hi Wanderer,
Thanks for the kind words :)
Claire's site is still there, although it is sometimes down and difficult to access. Try again another day and hopefully you can access without any problems.
what is ghee? my family loves pineapple cakes!
BuddingCook,
Ghee is the Indian-style clarified butter, ie, unsalted butter that has been melted and the butterfat is strained removing all impurities and milk solids. You can use clarified butter if you can buy that. Or if you can get hold of Crisco shortening, it can be used in place of ghee too.
Would it be ok to use butter only since I don't have clarified butter or shortening
a,
Yes, you can use (unsalted) butter if you can't get hold of ghee or shortening, however the texture will be slightly different.
Hi,
Did you find the pineapple filling too sweet or just right? (because 200g maltose + 200g sugar + pineapple juice from a 440g can sounds really sweet) I'm too lazy to adjust, haha so I think I will just follow your recipe exactly and hope it's not sickly sweet.
I can't wait to cook it up.
Amy,
It is on the sweet side. But I love it that way. You can adjust very easily, just taste as you cook and add the sugar accordingly to your taste. The reason so much sugar is used is that the shortbreads can be kept for quite a long time as sugar acts as a preservative.
Ooops, I mean the pineapple filling can be kept for quite a long time without it going mouldy or bad because of the sugar. So you can make a large batch at a time and keep them for future use of making the shortbreads without having to cook the filling everytime.
Thank you so much for your reply SeaDragon! I guess I'll just have to adjust the sweetness as you suggested.
I left a comment in your matcha puffs post asking the same question yesterday, I am so sorry, please disregard that repeat question! Sorry, and thanks again!
Hi SeaDragon,
thank you for the recipe. I love eating these cakes! Especially the ones from Chia Te because they are the best.
I happened to be browsing Amazon today b/c I live in the states and I found a few molds that might be helpful.
http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Daddios-12-Cup-Square-Muffin/dp/B001IZZGMS/ref=pd_sbs_k_6
http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Metallic-12-Cup-Single-Squares/dp/B001332WBI/ref=pd_sim_k_5
I am so glad to find your posting. What is the conversion of this recipe in terms of cup measurement?
How many cups of flour, custard powder and ghee?
Thanks.
Sorry, I don't have cup measurement for this recipe. However you should be able to find conversion easily by googling.
I previously tried pineapple cakes from this recipe http://www.zesterdaily.com/baking/378-taiwanese-pineapple-cakes but had a hard time wrapping the dough, it kept cracking :(
I froze the rest of the filling and now tried your dough recipe with it - I found this dough easier to wrap, and really 'short' and delicious to eat!
But I was wondering if you could help with 2 things for my next attempt with pineapple cakes:
1) Although your dough was easier to wrap, are there any tips you can give to get it evenly wrapped and without having to patch holes?
2) I had to cook the filling (from previous recipe) much longer than the recipe said, and it was still too soft. I will try your filling recipe next time, but how do I make sure I get the correct texture?
Thank you for your wonderful, detailed recipes and for your new Corner Cafe blog!
Hanna,
Sorry for the late reply, have been very busy with work lately.
To answer your questions:
1) Although your dough was easier to wrap, are there any tips you can give to get it evenly wrapped and without having to patch holes?
If you are not too experienced in wrapping, I would suggest you use more pastry to wrap in the beginning, then you don't have to keep doing patching work. The trick is to lightly knead the dough each time between your palms to warm the dough slightly before flattening it for wrapping, this will keep the dough malleable and less chance of cracking.
2) I had to cook the filling (from previous recipe) much longer than the recipe said, and it was still too soft. I will try your filling recipe next time, but how do I make sure I get the correct texture?
Have a look at the "Microwaved Pineapple Filling" in my Corner Cafe blog, you can refer to the pictures there as a guide.
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