Happy Chinese New Year, Year of the Sheep Pineapple tarts

I love the vibrant red and celebrations that go hand in hand with Chinese New Year. I thought I'd partake in the festivities and make pineapple tarts. The pastry crumb on these tarts are divine, and the pineapple jam is sweet but not too sweet. I couldn't stop myself and bought not one but two pineapples as they smelt so good. I have been wondering how to make these tarts look like sheep, as it is the Year of the Sheep and I think they turned out ok.

Hoping my bestie is impressed with these tasty pineapple treats. Will have to let you know how these compare to the sweet pineapple treats we try in Taiwan in the not to distant future.

 

Pineapple Filling Ingredients:

2 ripe pineapples
250g sugar

Muslin square to contain the following
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise

Method

1. Remove the tops and bottoms of the pineapple then cut off the peel around the pineapple
2. Use a food processor to blend for a minute or two.
3. Wrap cloves, cinnamon and star anise into the muslin and tie with cotton twine.
4.Throw muslin into a saucepan with blended pineapple and cook at medium high.
5. Stir every couple of minutes until the pineapple juice has reduced and thickened to a jam consistency (this took just under an hour for me)
6. It's ready when it turns a nice golden in colour, spread out onto a dinner plate to cool.
7. Once cool and roll the pineapple jam into a cylindrical shapes or a fat caterpillar. (You will need to do this first before attempting the pastry).

Pastry Ingredients

Pastry
250g butter
50g icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt

For glazing
Keep the egg white and add a dash of milk and lightly beat til required

Dry ingredients
350g plain flour (all purpose flour)
50g corn flour
25g rice flour (optional, if you have it)

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar together using an electric mixer until light in colour.


2. Place egg yolks one at a time, beating the mixture until well combined.

3. Add vanilla essence and salt and whisk until fluffy.

4. Fold in dry ingredients (plain flour, cornflour and rice flour) and mix to form a dough. It should be a light crumbly shortbread texture.


5. Roll a tablespoonful of dough into a 5cm long tube in your palm, then gently press down with index finger to flatten the dough into a rectangle shape, around 0.5cm thick and 4cm wide.

6. Place the rolled out pineapple jam on the edge of the rectangle shape and roll the dough to wrap around it to form a small elongated roll. Pinch the edges to close in the pineapple jam. Roll between your palms a couple of times to secure the edges.

7. Place the roll on a baking tray lined with greaseproof baking paper. Repeat until all dough mixture and jam filling used up.

8. Preheat oven at 180°C.

9. Use a fork and draw lines on top of the tarts or perhaps attempt to make a sheep, since it is the Year of the Sheep.

10. Brush the rolls with glaze mix.

11. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

12. Cool on wire racks before storing in an airtight jar.

Crunchy top berry muffins

I've been looking for a crunchy top mixed berry muffins recipe so after having had a few attempts and I'm onto a winner. Don't forget the baking powder or else you end up with hard little rocks from experience.

 

 

Ingredients

 

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup wholemeal flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup plain yoghurt
1/2 cup grapeseed or olive oil
1/2 cup heaped with mixed berries (frozen or fresh works fine)

Topping
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flaked almonds, finely chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180° and line a 12 hole muffin tin.
2. Place plain and wholemeal flours, baking powder, cinnamon, oats,1/2 cup of brown sugar into a large bowl and stir together.
3. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, yoghurt, oil.
4. Whisk the eggs, yoghurt and oil for a couple of seconds in the well that you have created before adding the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Fold through mixed berries, don’t overmix or else your muffins will end up tough.
6. Spoon into muffin tin.
7. To make crumble topping Mix flaked almonds with brown sugar and sprinkle over muffins.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.

 

My favourite all time banana bread

Taking part of Frugal February means reassessing your needs and habits to see where you can cut back on spending. A time to spring clean and de-clutter, I know I've been meaning to but keep putting it off.

Such a great initiative. So far, I've sorted out the kids' room, donated toys, sold a few things online and taking stock of the pantry and food in the fridge to create fun meals for the kids.

With a few weary looking fruit in the fruit bowl, I thought it was the perfect excuse to whip up a simple banana bread to use up the over ripe bananas and sweet pears. Perfect for a mid morning play date snack.

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

Dry ingredients
1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of wholemeal flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp of freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp of ground cloves
1/2 tsp of salt

250g (1 stick) of unsalted butter
1 cup of brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup of milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract

2-3 very ripe mashed bananas
1 pear cut up finely (I keep the skin on as I rather like it)

One banana bread coming up

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees
2. Line the loaf pan with baking paper
3. Place all the dry ingredients into a bowl, mix and leave until needed.
3. Use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
4. Add 1 egg at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl for even mixing.
5. Add the milk and vanilla extract and continue mixing
6. Add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and mix until a smooth creamy consistency
7. Add in the mashed bananas into the mixture
8. Stir in the cut pear
9. Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake for 60-70mins or until a wooden skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
10. Let it cool for 20mins before unmoulding
11. Serve slight warm with a dollop of butter, or at room temperature.

My official taste tester

Handy hints

*This banana bread keeps well wrapped in plastic for up to 3 days at room temperature.
*For longer storage, slice the banana bread to your preferred thickness and wrap in plastic wrap and keep in the freezer for 2 months. I also individually wrap slices rather than to defrost the whole loaf.

*Defrost in plastic wrap at room temperature.
*Or place the frozen banana bread slices into the toasted sandwich maker to give that crisp crunch
*I have also replaced the pears with apples and that works out a treat as well.

Deliciously moist banana bread

Best Strawberry Muffins Ever

Looking for a moist cupcake recipe then look no further.

Getting two punnets of strawberries for the bargain price of $5, I thought it was would be a nice weekend surprise to make strawberry muffins for breakfast. I love the smell of sweet strawberries and it was a treat to have these straight out of the oven. The texture and taste of these moist muffins is worth every minute when I can enjoy a cup of coffee momentarily whilst my family demolishes them.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of almond meal
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1/4 cup of melted coconut oil
Juice and zest from 1/2 lemon 
1 tsp of vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup of diced strawberries and a little extra to place on top

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees
2. Mix dry ingredients together and then add wet ingredients.  Mix well until everything is completely blended together. 
3. Place baking cups into muffin tray. Scoop enough muffin batter to fill each muffin tin about 3/4 of the way full.  Add a few more diced strawberries on top if you wish. 
4. Bake for 20-22 minutes

 

Handy tips 

 

If you overfill your muffin tray with batter, your muffins will puff up and spill over, so it's best to under fill rather than overfill with this recipe.