凤梨酥
新年快乐！祝你们万事如意！
Happy lunar new year! Every year, my family celebrates this special occasion by watching 舞狮舞龙 (lion and dragon dance) and afterward, eating dinner with the entire family. But obviously, we have not been able to do so since last year, so I decided to make 凤梨酥 (fènglísū) or traditional pineapple cakes to safely commemorate my favorite Chinese holiday.
I first tried this pineapple cake at the end of a very exhausting tour in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. We were all basking in the heat while walking an entire temple and famous park, so we were all desperate to go to an air-conditioned place. Thankfully, our last stop was a souvenir shop where they sold all traditional Chinese delicacies ranging from dried fruits and peanut cookies to special alcoholic drinks. We ended up buying some pineapple cakes because there was an entire wall dedicated to these, for they are the shop’s specialty. The box we bought for our family to try did not live to see the next day.
Recipe
Yields 12 servings
Ingredients
Pineapple filling
500 grams pineapple, no juice
¼ cup or 50 grams sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
Dough
1 ¼ cup or 150 grams all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 tablespoons or 30 grams powdered sugar
½ cup or 100 grams butter
1 egg yolk
Egg wash
1 egg yolk
½ teaspoon milk
*Optional: melted chocolate
Procedure
Pineapple filling
Remove the juice from the pineapple.
Puree the pineapple and sugar in a blender.
Mix the cornstarch in water to make a slurry.
In a pan on low heat, stir the purée and slurry until it forms a paste. This takes around 15 minutes.
Refrigerate the paste until needed.
Dough
Preheat the oven to 325℉.
In an electric stand mixer, first mix the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, and powdered sugar together.
Gradually add in the wet ingredients (butter and egg yolk).
Divide the dough into 1 tablespoon or 25-gram portions.
Flatten the dough and add 1 teaspoon or 10 grams of filling to it. Pinch it back up and roll it into a ball shape. Repeat these steps until all the cookies are shaped.
Score a criss-cross pattern on it with a knife.
Place them on a lined baking sheet.
Prepare the egg wash by mixing the egg yolk and milk together then brush this on each cookie.
Bake them for 18 minutes.
If you want to draw faces on them, melt some chocolate and use a paper piping bag or a toothpick to draw on the details.
Let them cool and enjoy!
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