Pineapple Tarts

This is my favorite Pineapple Tarts recipe. I first adapted Amy Beh's recipe but was not satisfied with the result because I wanted a melt in the mouth tart.  So, I played with the recipe couple of times until I got the end result that I was looking for.  The recipe below was the result of my experiments and is the recipe that I used every year since then. The pastry was soft and has the melt in your mouth taste to it.

Pastry:
1 1/6 cup butter (2 sticks + 1.5 Tbsp)
2/3 cup icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt


Sift together,
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup + 1/8 cup cornflour (I split it out for easy measurement)

1 beaten egg for glazing, beat with a little water to become Egg Wash.


Filling:
-2 canned crushed pineapple in it's own juice (20oz), drained.
-1 cup sugar
-1 or 2 cinnamon stick(s)
-2 star anise
-6 cloves


Methods:

The night before, make the pineapple filling:
In a saucepan, on medium high heat, pour in drained crushed pineapple, add in the rest of the ingredients. Stir occasionally until the jam like consistency is achieved. Meaning it became dry and sticky like. About one to one and a half hour. Discard the spices and store the jam in the fridge until ready to use. It will thicken more in the fridge.

The next day, make the pastry:
1. Cream butter, margarine and icing sugar until light. Beat in egg yolks one at a time. Add vanilla extract and salt and beat until fluffy. Fold in the sifted flours and mix into a dough. Refrigerate the dough at least 30 minutes before use.

2 Preheat oven to 350'F.

3. Roll the dough out about 1/2 cm and cut with a cookie cutter. Place the jam in the middle and decorate the top with strips of pastry. Brush the top with the egg wash. (For a prettier tarts, roll the jam into a ball and place it on top of the pastry.)

4. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown on edges. Cool on wire racks.

NOTE:

1. Handle the dough with care since it's very soft. Roll immediately after taken out from the refrigerator.

2. You can also try to make it into a covered pineapple tarts.

3. Thicker cut pineapple tarts required more time to bake.

My heart shaped pineapple tarts when I didn't own any pineapple tart mold back in 2005.