Making pineapple tarts during the festive Chinese New Year is a must to welcome a prosperous year. However, I have always find it daunting to do so myself for years and today, I finally dared to step out of my comfort zone. If you can relate to me on how you may find it difficult, I invite you to join me in making these Easy Pineapple Tarts! Designed specially to make it so easy, its as though you are making a cake!
It would also be really rewarding for me to tell you that these easy pineapple tarts are melt-in-your-mouth, crumbly and not too sweet! This is exactly how I like my pineapple tarts though you can definitely feel free to tweak it. These melt-in-your-mouth pineapple tarts come with a delectable fragrance too!
Some must-have tools that I would like to mention would definitely be a weighing scale. This is to allow you to make consistent pineapple tarts by having the same weigh of the dough and the pineapple jam! Also, this will allow you to bake them all together perfectly well since they are of the same shape!
However, do take note that I am not sharing the making of the pineapple jam. Currently, I am using store-bought pineapple jam as it is more convenient for me and as I could not be home to attend to the jam. Nonetheless, if you face any issues you can definitely contact me.
Apart from which, do alter the ratio of the dough and filling of these easy pineapple tarts to your liking. Personally, I like a thin layer of dough with a generous serving of pineapple but I can definitely understand why not everyone like that!
With that, I am hoping everyone have an amazing Chinese New Year and that you will now be able to make these with this Easy Pineapple Tart Recipe!
Easy Pineapple Tarts Recipe
by Javier Tan January-05-2020
Melt-in-your-mouth and fragrant, these Easy Pineapple Tarts will not disappoint. The buttery and not-so-sweet pastry will be sure to match well with the pineapple jam of your choice!
Ingredients
For Tarts:
- 1 Cup or 225g of Unsalted Butter, Softened at Room Temperature
- 2 and 3/4 Cup or 320g of All-Purpose / Plain Flour
- 2 Tablespoon or 20g of Cornstarch / Cornflour
- 1/3 Cup or 65g of Granulated White Sugar
- 1/3 Cup or 40g of Milk Powder (Strongly recommended to have)
- 1 Large Egg, weighing approx 60g (Can substitute with 2 egg yolks)
- 1/4 Tsp or 1.4g of Table Salt
- Approx 400g – 500g of Pineapple Paste Filling
For Egg Wash:
- 2-3 Egg Yolks
Instructions
- Cream together softened butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Then, add in salt and egg and mix well.
- Sift the flour, milk powder and cornstarch.
- Next, fold in the dry ingredients into the mixture containing the well-mixed butter, sugar and egg.
- Once completed, refrigerate the batter for 25 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (or 350F) and roll the pineapple paste into 8-9g balls for filling.
- Then, stretch 10g of dough until its thin and wrap around the pineapple paste ball. Roll it well into a ball or shape it according to your liking.
- Next, apply the egg wash using a pastry brush or clean fingers. Be sure not to only apply to the top and do not let it drip or the base will be sticky after baking.
- Bake for about 12min 45s to 13min 30s on baking paper. Timing is for 16 pineapple tarts and will take longer / shorter depending on the quantity used.
- Serve and enjoy!
Details
- Prep time: 60
- Cook time: 20
- Total time: 1
- Yield: Approx 55-65 fragrant Pineapple Tarts! Recipe can be halved.
Notes:
- If you would like to be updated for more recipes which I strive to create to perfection for sharing and for free, do check out my Instagram, Facebook Page, or YouTube 🙂 Thank you so much for all of your support! Feel free to tag me or link back here!
- Best eaten within 3 weeks!
- Feel free to ask if you need help!
Enjoy!
– Bakeomaniac, Javier Tan
Hi Javier,
2nd year doing this. This time the dough turned out crumbly, wasn’t sure how to salvage so I added some full cream (liquid) milk till I had the consistency. Would you know if the shelf life remains the same (ie 3 weeks in airtight container)? Worried the tart might spoil more easily due to the liquid milk Any advice is much appreciated!
Hi CS! First of really glad ot hear that you like the tarts and you’re making it a second year. The crumbly part is odd, I am guessing perhaps it could be a difference in the size of the egg.
It is fine to add some full cream milk as they will dry out over the baking process, it should be fine for at least 2 – 3 weeks in an airtight container. Suggest that if you’re able to find those drying packets from eating snacks to add it into the bottle to absorb excess moisture / air! Hope that helps 🙂
Hi Javier, I personally like my pineapple tarts with more crust (I like to taste the buttery crust) but still want to have some pineapple paste – need your advice on how I should proportion the tart size! 😛
Do you recommend to:
1) Increase the size of the dough only (i.e.: 8g of pineapple paste with 12g(?)* of dough) or
2) Decrease the size of the pineapple paste only (i.e.: 6g of pineapple or
3) Adjust the size of both dough and pineapple paste (i.e.: 6g of pineapple paste with 12g(?)* of dough)
Can you also advice me on the change in baking time if I were to adjust the size of dough and/or pineapple paste as well?
Thanks in advance! (:
*Put a (?) as I am unsure of how much dough I should put accordingly (i tried to use 18g for the total weight as a guideline) – not sure if changing the size randomly will affect baking time/taste, not an expert! hahaha
Apologies for the late reply, I feel bad that I just saw this and I can absolutely relate to being a crust lover especially when it’s really buttery 🙂
I would recommend reducing the size of the pineapple paste, in this case, you will not need to adjust the baking time at all. You’re right to use the total 18g as a guideline! If you were to increase the size of the dough or both dough and pineapple tarts, you’re likely to need about 3 – 5 more minutes. Hope that helps!
Hi Javier, can i check.. if butter that has expired for two months can i still use??
Hi Riesling, thanks for reaching out and hope I got back on time!
As butter is a dairy product, it could be sensitive and might have spoilt. However, I will always check for smell, and visible signs of mouldy growth. If it smells fine, doesn’t taste sour or look moudly, it should be good to use since its just 2 months past the expiry date (also providing it has been unopened and stored in the refrigerator).
Whenever in doubt, use a new package 🙂 Hope that helps!
Javier, can I use milk because I don,t have milk powder
Hey Sarah! Thanks for dropping by my blog and for the question. I hope I got back to you on time!
I would recommend to omit the milk powder without any replacement because liquid milk will make the batter too wet, and the pineapple tarts won’t be able to retain its shape as it bakes. Hope that helps and feel free to let me know if you’ve more questions :-).
Gave this a try, not expecting much, and I really liked it! Not too sweet, the dough goes really well with the premium pineapple paste from Phoon Huat/Redman. Have to adjust the baking time though. And OMG, the weighing 😂😂😂. Totally worth it. Thanks for the recipe. Will be making a second batch.
Thanks for dropping by my blog and trying out the recipe :p I am so glad to hear that and you like these too!
I couldn’t agree more that the weighing takes the loooooongest time. I am actually making pineapple tarts as I am typing this, but I am taking a break!! Not easy to mass produce, so making just a couple of jars this year :p
Hi Javier,
Your pineapple tarts looks good. Will definitely try out your recipe. Thanks for sharing your recipe! May I know the brand of the pineapple fillings that you using?
Thanks for the kind praise Marilyn, and I hope you will like them as much as I do, if not even more! Currently I am using more premium varities such as AAA from Phoon Huat, or Sarawak pineapple pastes (of various brands) from bakery stores 🙂
Hi Javier,
Which brand of butter is good for pineapple tarts?
Hey Arey! I am currently using SCS / Redman / Lurpak. However, if you like a stronger, more buttery taste, you can consider using Golden Churn as well. Hope that helps!
Hi Javier,
I would like to try your pineapple tarts recipe, I hv bought all the ingredients but for the milk powder I bght full cream milk powder instead of skimmed milk powder will that affect the results of the tarts. Another question will this tarts taste very buttery because my daughter love pineapple tarts but not too buttery . Appreciate your reply.
Hey Sheena! Thanks for dropping by my blog and for the question!
Yup it’s perfectly all right to use full cream milk powder, the difference is subtle 🙂 The pineapple tarts are buttery but not greasy / overly buttery. It has a richness in the pastry. If you want to control the “strongness” of the butter, avoid the richer butter brands like golden churn will help too!
Feel free to let me know if you’ve any questions :-)!
Hi Javier. Just wondering have you tried using icing sugar? Like other recipes. If want to use icing sugar, is it the same amount as in the recipe? 65g? Also what butter do you use? As mine doesn’t taste like “melt in the butter”.
Hey Michelle! I haven’t tried using icing sugar but for this particular recipe it should work with a 1:1 substitution. Just be careful if it becomes overly crumbly. For a start, it might be safer to do a 1/2 substitution first if you happen to have both sugars on hand (meaning 1/2 sugar and 1/2 icing sugar).
For butters, you can consider SCS, Lurpak, Redman and Golden Churn 🙂 Hope that helps!
Hello there,
Is there a substitute for the milk powder? Thank you!
Hey Hershey, usually for Milk Powder substituition, I will recommend to just avoid it totally if you do not have it. It adds only a very subtle flavour difference 🙂 However, a small 1/4 teaspoon addition of vanilla essence might help make up for it!
Hi Javier, I tried your recipe and the balls came out like a dream. Melt in your mouth and crumbly with a buttery aroma. Thank you so much for your recipe!
Hey applegal, am really happy that you like the recipe too and thank you for your kindest appreciation :D!
Hi there, just wanted to say that I tried the recipe today and turned out well! Dough was easy to make. Thanks for the recipe!
Hey Sierra,
Thank you for dropping by my blog and trying your hand out at my recipe! I am so so happy and glad that you like the recipe 😀
Can I just plain flour ?
Hi Jane! Thanks for dropping by my blog and trying your hands out at my recipe. You can just use plain flour 🙂
Hi Javier
Thanks for sharing the recipe. Tried Saturday and it came out well. Used 9g pineapple jam and 11g dough and yielded around 66 pieces. Forgot to tag you in my instagram.
Hey Pauline,
No worries at all about the tagging. Am very happy most importantly that you like the recipe and thank you for sharing your ratio too! I bet your love ones and friends are looking forward to try them 😀
Hi Javier
Thanks for sharing the recipe. May I know the proportion of Pineapple fillings and the dough for a smaller version of the tart? 8-9g of Pineapple fillings to 10g of the dough seems like too big a tart! Lol!
Hey Christina!! Thank you for the kind appreciation too.
Regarding the size, feel free to scale down / up accordingly. For example, 7g of pineapple filling with 9g of dough. The current numbers I give is a guideline due to the different preferences people have for the size and ratio :p Just becareful not too have too little dough (if not it will crack). Hope that helps!
Hi Javier,
Thanks for the recipe. I tried the recipe today, the taste is fantastic but the pastry cracked. I don’t know what went wrong, the texture also quite crumbly.
Thanks 🙂
Hey Chloe!
Thank you for dropping by and trying out my recipe! It is correct that the texture is crumbly! For the pastry cracking, its likely because the amount of pastry is too little as compared to the pineapple jam, so during the baking process, the pastry expand and is unable to contain the pineapple hence cracking.
You might need to either reduce the amount of jam or increase the amount of pastry! Hope that helps 🙂
Hi Javier,
Can’t wait to try out the recipe! It looks simple enough for a newbie baker. Just one question though. I’m one of those weirdos that enjoys pineapple tarts but dislike the pineapple in it 😅
Do you have any advice on how to make pineapple glaze so that I can brush the top of the tart?
Hey Lynn! I am very glad to hear that it looks attempt-able! And no worries, not weird at all, I used to not like pineapple in pineapple tarts too!
Unfortunately I can’t really guide you on that! I do find pineapple glazes quite tricky to work with, but its possible to produce it from the pineapple jam. Perhaps diluting it?
Hope that gives you a starting idea
Cool! Thank you for the advice… I shall try that 😬 hopefully it’ll work out!
Looking forward to see your bake! Feel free to ask if you still have anymore questions 😀
Sadly it didn’t work 🤣 In the end, I just diluted some of the jam and put it on the tart. I tried the open faced tart instead and it needed the jam on top as the tart alone wasn’t sweet. Tasted great even with some watered down jam 😬
Thank you for getting back to me regarding it, it was interesting for me too! I think it could be that the sugars just lose their taste after baking in the pineapple glaze. I am glad the watered down jam worked out for you however :p
Hi Javier, thanks for the recipe! I just tried making half the dough (no paste) as a test and while i love the taste, the dough itself seems a bit crumbly and dry, even after being placed in the fridge? I halved all the quantities according to the recipe and used 1/2 a full egg rather than 1 egg yolk. Is this because there’s too much flour or dry ingredients? should i cut back on them?
thank you so much 🙂
Hey Aly! Thanks for dropping by my blog and for the interest in my recipe :)!
For troubleshooting:
Yes likely that its dry and perhaps there’s too much flour. Alternatively, it could be because the fridge was dry or it dried up in the fridge. Sometimes it depends too as not every recipe can be halved. I have doubled this before but have yet to halved it. Halving for some recipes do affect the chemistry of the ingredients and the outcome at times!
Hi Javier
Thanks for the recipe! A few questions: do you bake in convection oven with fan? And is this placed at the top rack or middle rack?
Also, for the vanilla essence, when and how much should we add?
Thanks again,
C L
Hey C L! Thank you for dropping by my blog and for the interest in my recipe!
I bake in a convection oven with no fan, and placed at the middle rack. These are very good questions! I did not use vanilla essence for mine but if you are using, I would suggest right after mixing the egg and perhaps 1/2 – 1 teaspoon 🙂 Hope that helps!
Hi Javier
Can I substitute plain flour with cake flour?
Thanks for sharing the recipe
Hey EC, thank you for dropping by my blog!
Yup you can substitue plain flour with cake flour for a finer finish 🙂
This is an awesome recipe!!! Simple to do, delicious and even better than whatever one buys from outside. Thank you for this! 5 stars!
Thank you for dropping an awesome review for my blog and recipe too 😀 Have an awesome Chinese New Year baking!
Hi Javier, can I check if I could add cream cheese into this recipe, & how much should I add? Many thanks!
Hey Adeline! I haven’t tried working with cream cheese pineapple tarts before and am unable to advice!
The closest I have worked with is a cheesy pineapple tart base but I don’t remember exactly how much did I add. Perhaps you can try 80 – 100g shredded cheese for a start! Hope that helps 🙂
Hi Javier , can I check where you get the dehydrated milk powder from?
Thanks in advance.
Hey Kylie! Most supermarkets, small stores and baking supplies store should have them! They are called “Skimmed Milk Powder” too 🙂 Hope that helps!
Thanks a lot, Javier.
I will check it out. 😊😊
Hi Javier, thanks for the recipe. You mentioned you are using ready made pineapple filling, may I know where did u get from like which store? As it makes a difference to get a good filing. I will like to try your recommendation as there are a lot of different brands in the market. Thanks
Hey Lilian! Thank you for dropping by my blog and trying my recipe!
I usually go for Phoon Huat / Redman range thats the most readily available. However, sometimes I will buy from bakery shops too but those are rarer / harder to come by 🙂 Hope that helps!
Hi, thanks for the recipe! May i know the different between with 1 large egg or substitute with 2 egg yolk recipe. Taste wise whether which one is better and advisable to use.Thanks
Hey Ken! I would say theyre both about the same! But if I have a slightl preference, it would be the 2 egg yolks because its slightly richer! Hope that helps 🙂
Hi，may i know when to get the pineapple filling? Or any recipe for the pineapple filling? 🙂
Hey Val, thank you for dropping by! I am using ready made pineapple filling and do not have a recipe for pineapple filling as of yet D:
Nice idea about the tart dough. it’s like cream puff already😀 so brilliant. Thank you for recipes 😊
Thank you for the kind encouragement and appreciation too 😀 I hope to create more amazing recipes like these!
Hi Javier, please advise what kind of milk powder did you use? 😊
Hey Riesling! I prefer skimmed milk powder (and brandless or from baking supplies store straight) that is more affordable and still gives the subtle milk flavour. Being transparent here that if you’re from Singapore, currently I am using Skimmed Milk Powder from Redman / Phoon Huat brand 🙂 It costs not more than $5 for a decent sized bottle
Thank you so much for sharing. I bought full cream milk powder from Redman.
No problem. That will work out well :-)!
Hi thanks for the recipe. Wondering have u consider vanilla essence inside??
Hey Jade! Thank you for the suggestion!
Occasionally I do include vanilla essence. However, I omitted it from the recipe as it is tastes almost similar with or without though it definitely has a slightly richer flavour. I will include it under the recipe as optional as a recommendation.
You are definitely an observant person to have observed that!
Is it possible to double the recipe? And can leftover dough be left in the fridge ?
Hey Caroline! Thank you for dropping by my blog. Yup you can double the recipe and the leftover dough can be kept in the fridge for at least a week 🙂
Thank you.
No problem 🙂
Hi Javier tan can you please forward your recipe to the pineapple tart as that is the most important ingrident
Hey Maureen! Thank you for leaving a comment.
Currently I dont have a pineapple paste recipe and am only working on the tart recipe. I think I would have a pineapple paste recipe next year however, stay tuned!
Hello. I am from the States. Can you tell me what brand of milk powder you use? I’m a little unclear as to what milk powder is. Like Nestle Milk powder? Also is corn flour akin to corn meal? Thank you.
Hey Lisa, apologies for the late reply.
I am using dehydrated milk powder from a baking supply store. I do believe Nestle Milk Powder can be used! As for corn flour, it is quite different from corn meal in the sense that it is very finely grounded and some times, not even made frofm corn at all!
I hope that helps and feel free to clarify if you have any more doubts :)!
Hi, is it possible to omit the milk powder? What can I substitute it with?
Hey Jeannette! Thank you for dropping by and that’s a good question.
If you do not have milk powder, omit it completely. However, it does add a slight flavour to the dough. There isn’t any substitutes for it as milk can cause the dough to be too watery! Hope that helps 🙂
Hi Javier, thanks for the recipe. Can I make open tart with this recipe?
Hey Daisy! Thank you for leaving a comment. I think I have seen people make the open tart with a similar recipe too so it should be possible 🙂
Hi Javier thank u for sharing this recipe.may I know these tarts better to store in refrigerator if keeping for 3 weeks?
Hey Carol! Thank you for dropping by my blog. They can store well at room temperature for 3 weeks. It’s okay to store in the refrigerator too but they might spoil if stored and then taken out thereafter because the water will condense and make the tarts a good place for bacteria growth.
Hope that helps :-)!
Hi, can I replace milk powder woth oat milk?
Hi Belle, thanks for dropping by my blog and apologies for the late reply! I will suggest to omit the milk powder completely unless it’s dried oat milk powder as liquid milk will create a different texture. Hope that helps and feel free to let me know anytime you have more questions!
Hi Javier,
Can I use full cream milk powder instead of skimmed milk powder. Will that affect the texture or taste.
Hi Javier, can the tart pastry dough be frozen or kept in the fridge if I’m doing it in advance? If yes, how long can I store it for?
Thank you.
Hey CT! Thanks for dropping by my blog and checking the recipe out! It can be frozen up to a month, and refrigerated up to a week or two. For frozen, make sure to dethaw it overnight in the fridge first, and then to transfer from fridge to room temperature the next day 🙂 Else, it might take really long.
Hope that helps!
Hi Javier, many thanks for sharing the recipe. Can I ask, I put 38 balls on a tray into the oven, how late ng should I bake the tray? I baked for 16min is it ok?? Please advise. ☺️☺️
Hey Riesling! I hope I got back on time! I would suggest baking it slightly longer, perhaps 20 – 22 minutes but to start observing from 16 minutes. Make sure ultimately, that the egg wash and top of the pineapple tarts are baked to golden brown and be careful not to burnt it :-)!
Hope that helps!