Nastar / Pineapple Tart

during the time that i didn't blog, i still frequently bake a lot of good things and with the existence of instagram, i somehow become a bragger who almost always post my homemade creation there. though the picture might not be as pretty as the standard of professional food blog photos, it still looks decent on instagram. this one was taken last year, exactly last year. i was experiencing a sudden craving for my pastry teacher's pineapple tarts, thank God she gave me her recipe when i was her student.

pineapple tarts was not my favorite cookies back when i was a child, i didn't like the acidity of the pineapple and also the fragrant of caramelized pineapple kinda made me sick. but now.. i love it, i love pineapple tart more than i could imagine. i realize that somehow my palate of taste has changed not only because of my sudden change of heart in this pineapple tarts but also because when i first wrote this blog i really really hate any lemon flavor in any sort of things, i personally felt like i was eating a car perfume, but lately i am completely in love with lemon. nowadays, everytime i have this tarts around i just couldn't stop munching it, especially with this recipe that is sort of sweeter and crumbly and melt in your mouth. 

Nastar / Pineapple Tarts

original recipe from Ms. Aing Djap

tart dough

300 gr cake flour

250 gr unsalted australian butter

50 gr milk powder

50 gr cornflour

50 gr icing sugar

1 egg yolk

pinch of salt

pineapple jam

3 bunch of finely grated sweet small pineapple (nanas madu in Indonesian) 

100 gr sugar

50 gr glucose

2 whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

pinch of salt

** the pineapple jam best made a day before so the caramelization process could be done longer which will turn the jam to be more pliable and easier to shape.

egg wash

3 egg yolk

1/2 tsp melted butter

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

directions:

1. pineapple jam: grate the pineapple with the smallest setting available on your grater (preferably nutmeg grater) into a heavy bottomed saucepan. add in the remaining ingredients. let it simmer for hours until the mixture turns golden brown and left with no more juice or water. remove from heat, spread onto baking tray and let cool overnight. shape into a ball no bigger than small pearl the next day and let it sit in refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
2. dough: cream butter and icing sugar until evenly incorporated, do not overbeat. add in egg yolks, beat until incorporated. sift all the dry ingredients into the mixture. knead just until the dough comes together and even. chill for 30 minutes in refrigerator.
3. preheat the oven to 160*C. take out dough and shaped pineapple jam from the fridge. shape the dough a pinch at a time, roll it into a ball and flatten it with hands, put the pineapple jam in the center of the flat round dough and cover the jam completely, place about 1 inch apart on cookie sheets. repeat this process until you left with no more jams and dough (you may have left over dough as your jam will run out first).
4. egg wash: beat all the ingredients together loosely. with small pastry brush, glaze it over the arranged cookies.
5. bake the cookies for about 15-20 minutes or until the egg wash turns light golden brown. let cool completely on tray then remove.