Salted egg yolk pineapple tarts that are made with salted egg yolk pastry? Some of you might say... Huh? Or why???
Since the day I tried my first Taiwanese style salted egg pineapple shortcake (the square enclosed type of pineapple tarts) that has both pineapple jam and salted egg filling from one of the BreadTalk bakeries in Singapore, I had this idea of baking my own salted egg yolk pineapple tarts. Instead of baking the tarts with salted egg filling, I want to bake mine with salted egg butter pastry. You know... pastry that is melt-in-the-mouth and extra fragrant with BAKED salted egg yolk taste. Oh! I would say that this is one of my dreamiest pineapple pastry that I can imagine!!! LOL!
Unfortunately, my salted egg pineapple tarts dream didn't happen for the past months and up to years as I didn't manage to bake any decent salted egg pastry tarts even after several trials and errors! It failed all the time because the salted egg pastry turn out to be too soft and often too fragile to handle. Why???
All because the ambitious me was trying to incorporate the maximum amount of salted egg yolk and the minimal amount of flour to create the most melty salted egg pastry. And obviously, pastries like these are most likely to melt in the oven before they melt in my mouth!!! LOL! Hmmm... unfortunately!
I have not given up yet...
Then finally!!! I have managed to bake these...
Ultimate Melt-in-the-mouth Salted Egg Yolk Pineapple Tarts 咸蛋黄凤梨酥
that are baked with Salted Egg Yolk Butter Pastry
If you examine my ultimate melty enclosed salted egg yolk pineapple tarts very closely, you will see that they are actually dome shaped, NOT perfectly rounded like balls. This is because this fully loaded salted egg pastry has lost its shape slightly after baking. And it was worse when I tried to incorporate more salted egg yolk in it.
Nevertheless, the good things about this ultimate melty pastry are 1) it is actually soft and pliable for easy shaping before baking and 2) it is actually delicately stable enough to handle even after baking. Thus, I can safely conclude that this is the maximum amount of salted egg yolk that I can incorporate into the salted egg yolk pastry.
Then, I asked myself... Should I make this pastry a little firmer? Definitely a firm NO!!! After several trial bakes and many considerations, I have decided not to make pastry with 1) less salted egg yolks or 2) more flour or 3) lower cornflour : flour ratio. Simply because these alterations will make the firmer pastry, less tasty with less salted egg yolk taste and sadly, less melty. This eventually means that the firmer tarts won't be not dreamy any more!!! See what I mean?
Can you see?
These tarts are dome shaped because the pastry will lose its shape slightly after baking.
Yet, these melt-in-the-mouth pineapple tarts are actually stable enough to handle!
This rich buttery golden brown pastry with baked salted egg yolk taste is super yum!!!
And this is why I called these my dreamiest 咸蛋黄凤梨酥!!!
You can baked these super yum salted egg yolk pineapple tarts too! Watch my video to see how I baked mine and follow my recipe accordingly... Easy!
See... I'm so nice!!! I have optimised the recipe for you so that you can bake and enjoy these super yummy salted egg yolk pineapple tarts with no worries! LOL!
Please note that the ingredients used and listed in this video are a quarter of the amount mentioned in the below recipe. And thanks Bensound for the music in my video.
Want more recipes for your Chinese New Year baking?
You might want to try these HIGHLY RECOMMENDED very popular recipes:
Best Sturdy Melt-in-your-mouth Open Faced Pineapple Tarts at here
My Best Ultimate Melt-in-your-mouth Nastar Pineapple Tarts at here
Ultimate Melt-in-the-mouth Malay Style Condensed Milk Enclosed or Nastar Pineapple Tarts at here
Melt-in-your-mouth Parmesan Cheese Nastar Pineapple Tarts at here
Easy Fail Proof Strawberry Jam Butter Cookies at here
Best Nyonya Butter Cookies / Biscuit Samprit at here
4 Different Chinese Almond Cookies recipes at here
Ultimate Melt in the Mouth Chinese Cashew Cookies 腰果酥 at here
Melt in the Mouth Crispy Chinese Butter Cashew Cookies 香脆牛油腰果酥 at here
Melt-in-your-mouth Pork Floss Chinese Cookies at here
Melt-in-your-mouth Salted Egg Yolk Cookies at here
My favorite Kek Lapis recipe at here
Crispy Nestum Cereal Cookies at here
Extra Crispy Nestum loaded Cookies at here - extra crispy with twice amount of Nestum!
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Here's the recipe.
Please use the exact weight and make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature.
Please do not use this recipe to bake open faced pineapple tarts because this dough is too soft to be rolled with a rolling pin and the baked pastry won't be sturdy enough to hold a good amount of pineapple jam filling.
Makes about 55-60 enclosed tarts
For the pastry:
200g unsalted butter, soften at room temperature
80g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
100g cooked salted duck egg yolks
260g all purpose flour with 10% protein
80g cornflour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
For the egg wash:
1 egg yolk
1 tsp milk
For the filling:
homemade pineapple jam filling, recipe and demonstrating video at here.
For the pastry:
Using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter and icing sugar until combined and creamy for about 1 min. Do not over-beat mixture. Add vanilla and beat until combined.
Combine salted egg yolks, flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt. Sift flour mixture into the butter mixture and use a spoon to press any large crumbs through the sieve. Discard any large particles that are trapped in the sieve.
Use a spoon or spatula to mix until all ingredients are combined. Then, use your hand to knead slightly until mixture forms a soft pliable dough. No resting or chilling is required.
Preheat oven at 320ºF or 160ºC. Line baking trays with baking papers.
To shape the enclosed pineapple tarts:
Roll pineapple filling (about 8-9g) and divided pastry dough (about 12-13g) into balls.
Flatten a piece of dough and place a piece of the roll pineapple filling in the middle. Bring the edges of the dough together and press lightly to seal. Roll it in between your palms to shape it into a ball. Decorate the pastry with a very small fondant / cookie cutter or pincher if desired.
Arrange the tarts on the prepared trays. Use a fine brush to brush the top and the side of the pastry dough with a THIN layer of egg wash. Bake for 20 mins or until tarts are light golden brown. IMPORTANT: Please ensure that the tarts are baked thoroughly in not-too-hot / mild oven temperature so that the pastry will have a delicious well-baked golden salted egg taste. Please note that the baking time may vary a little if you use make your pineapple tarts in different sizes.
Allow the tarts to cool slightly on the baking trays for about 10 mins and transfer them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 weeks depending on the type (with or without preservative, with full amount of sugar or sugar reduced) of pineapple jam that you used.
WARNING: These melt-in-the-mouth tarts are fragile!!! Please handle with care when you are storing and stacking the tarts in a cookie jar. To do that, you will need pieces of parchment / baking / non-stick paper or plastic film to be placed on top of every layer of tarts before placing the next subsequent layer of tarts on them.
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