Preparation: 30 min Cooking time: 45 min Waiting time: 30-45 min Portion: 10 cookies Difficulty: 3/5
Ingredient
Pineapple filling -Pineapple: 500-550 gr -Granulated sugar: 50 gr -Brown sugar: 50 gr – divide into 2 parts: 30 gr and 20 gr -Lime/ Lemon juice: 5-10 ml
Cookie dough -All purpose flour: 125 gr -Unsalted butter: 60 gr – at room temperature -Powdered sugar: 45 gr -Egg yolk: 1- at room temperature -Matcha powder: 3-5 gr -Vanilla extract: ½ tsp (~ 2.5 ml) -Salt: a pinch
Kitchen utensil -Set of pineapple cutter or you can use any kind of pineapple cutter that you currently have -Saucepan
Instruction
1. Pineapple filling
Remove pineapple core, cut into small slices and finely chop.
The reason why I only smash the pineapples instead of using a blender as recipes on other websites because the flavor and texture of blended pineapple jam is not suitable to make filling for Taiwanese Pineapple Cookies, in my opinion. Blended-pineapple jam is more suitable with toast and other pastries, instead of pineapple cookies.
Transfer the smashed pineapple into saucepan with 50 gr sugar and 30 gr brown sugar. Stir slightly with wooden spoon.
Turn on the stove at medium heat and cook the pineapple in 10-15 min for dissolving sugar.
After 10-15 minutes, the pineapple become thicker and clearer. Add lime/ lemon juice into saucepan, stir well and continue to cook in 5-10 minutes.
When the pineapple start to turn from yellow to orange colors and become more condense, turn the stove at low heat and stir continuously to prevent it from being burnt. You can add 10-20 gr sugar as your favor.
After 10-15 minutes, the pineapple is dehydrated, condensed, has dark orange color and become really sticky (as jam). Turn off the heat, transfer into a cleaned bowl and let it cool completely
Shape pineapple jam into small balls (15 gr/ each).
2. Cookie dough
Whisk 60 gr soft butter with 45 gr powdered sugar until creamy
Add egg yolk and vanilla extract in butter bowl, mix well
Sieve all purpose flour with a pinch of salt in wet ingredient, mix until they’re all combine to biscuit dough
Divide biscuit dough into 2 parts: 200 gr and 50 gr
Knead 50 gr biscuit dough with 3-5 gr matcha powder for green tea dough
Please note that you should add too much matcha powder to prevent the dough from being too dry and crumble
3. Shaping and Baking
Take 20 gr biscuit dough and 5 gr matcha dough and stick them together.
Flatten the dough and place pineapple filling in the center. Wrap it up and seal edges tightly.
Note: Dough edges should be flattened thinner than the center
Place pineapple mold on baking tray that lined parchment paper, then put pineapple dough into (green part should be placed upward to make pineapple leaves)
Place the pineapple stamp on biscuit dough and press tightly, then gradually remove the mold. Repeat with other biscuit doughs
In case if you don’t have set of stamp and mold as video, you can use any kind of pineapple mold that you currently have with no problem 😀
Place pineapple shaped biscuit doughs in fridge and refrigerate in 10-20 minutes before baking (to prevent them from cracking). Preheat oven at 170 Celsius degree in 15 minutes
Bake pineapple biscuit at 170 Celsius degree in 25-30 minutes. Keep the baked biscuit in oven for 5 minutes then take it out
Let the biscuits chill on tray in 5-10 minutes before let them cool completely on rack. Removing biscuits from tray when it’s still hot may break them
Its flavour will be enhanced after a day. Store in closed bag or jar in maximum 3-5 days.
ATTENTION!
Pineapple filling should be dehydrated as much as possible (but not too dry) so that it’ll be easier to wrap with biscuit dough. Moreover, it also prevent the biscuits from being cracked in oven (because of evaporation)
Another solutions to prevent the crack is refrigerating shaped biscuit dough in fridge for 10-20 minutes before baking. In case if there’re still cracks, they’ll almost disappear after a day so you don’t have to worry 😀