Tagged with tart

Pineapple Tarts (鳳梨酥)

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For this month’s Secret Recipe Club I was assigned Shirley from Enriching Your Kid, who is a clinical psychologist-slash-homemaker that chronicles her family recipes and cooking experiences through her blog. There were a few recipes I was thinking about making, especially Mint Chutney, Dal Lentils, and Chole Chana Masala. I had been itching to bake something so I zoomed in on pineapple jam. I was thinking about all the ways I could use the pineapple jam: pineapple cookies, swirled into banana bread, plain on toast, and pineapple cakes.

The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival was in the month of October so I already had Asian sweets on my mind. Pineapple cakes (sometimes called pineapple tarts) are all over Asia and each region has its own special format. The Taiwanese version is named s Fènglísū (鳳梨酥).

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I really enjoy eating pineapple cakes, but the store-bought kind tend to be dry and the filling lacking in flavor. making your own pineapple filling allows you to control the texture, spices, and sweetness. I switched out the cardamom in the recipe for ginger and cut down the sugar, cooking it down until it was nice and thick.

The dough for these tarts comes together quickly and is ridiculously easy. There are only 3 ingredients: sweetened condensed milk, flour, and egg yolk. I busted out my wooden mooncake molds that I picked up in Chicago’s Chinatown years ago and brushed them with an egg wash mixture before filling.

Mooncake Mold
Freshly baked cakes

Eaten warm, the dough is thick, buttery with a nice tender crumb. The filling is the perfect consistency that doesn’t ooze out when you bite into it but is soft enough to mix with the dough in each bite.

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Mango Ginger Tart with Pistachio & Coconut

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When my sister was graduating with her undergraduate degree in English last May, I had to show up to the ceremony with a little treat for her to eat afterwards.

This tart is incredibly easy to put together and is flavorful yet light. I first saw it on Zen Can Cook, thinking it was odd that a recipe so simple would be on his site. Then I knew it was destiny when fellow DC food-blogger Olga of  Mango & Tomato re-created it with some crystallized ginger. How could you go wrong with mango and ginger?

My sister & I in Philadelphia
All bundled up, ready to be enjoyed

I was a bit lazy, which yielded a more “rustic” result. I used pre-chopped mango from the store instead of slicing my own, which made the tart a bit more clunky and testy when slicing. But the end result was still scrumptious and looked perfect for the occasion in my Panibois Baking Molds wrapped with ribbon and cute graduating owls. 

Patriotic Cheesecake Delight (Happy Election Day! & Hello Kitty for President 2012)

Happy (Early) Election Day!

My sister was craving Cherry Delight pie and requested a red, white, and blue colored dessert to go with the occasion. Most patriotic desserts involve strawberries which my sister is allergic to, so I had my work cut out for me. The Cherry Delight pies my sister was thinking of consisted of canned cherry pie filling. Instead, I went to the grocery store and picked up what red and blue fruits I could find – Bing cherries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries.

I did take a shortcut and used a pre-made graham cracker crumb crust, but didn’t skimp out on any other steps from this Martha Stewart recipe.  It’s good that I skipped the crust because I had forgotten cherries needed pitting! Red hands and pulverized cherries later, this cheesecake was cooling in the refrigerator waiting to be eaten. This cheesecake was a bit on the sour side since it has sour cream and cream cheese paired with the tart fruits. It was fun making this cheesecake “delight”, but I don’t think it’s worth making again, especially if you don’t own a cherry pitter!

Also, for the past couple of days, Hello Kitty has made her campaign headquarters for the 2012 Election DC! You didn’t know she was running? Well Tuxedo Sam is her Vice President and she’s not running for any traditional party and entered the race late.

I went with my sister this past weekend to her headquarters to show my support for her cause and to have some cheesy good fun.

 

French Silk Chile Chai Chocolate Pie

My dad is one of those people that says you’re supposed to eat hot foods when it’s hot outside. I think he just wants an excuse to eat hot bowls of noodles all year round! The weather in Washington DC has been sweltering recently, which I actually enjoy–I’m always cold so I love when I can finally wear dresses and shorts without goose bumps.

This recipe is a combination of cold and hot, as part of Marx Food’s Fire on Ice Chile Recipe Contest.

Update: I brought this pie in to work and everyone loved it — they actually liked it better without knowing there was chile powder in it since it was a surprise. They also were amazed I made my own chile powder! The contest is now open for voting, so if you like this recipe or wanted to see the other entries, please head over there now to vote. 

I recently was on vacation in Vancouver and Seattle where it was a balmy 50-70 degrees. At one of the many coffee and tea shops I stopped by, I got a house-made chai made with fresh ground ginger and cayenne. That unique and delicious drink is part of the inspiration of this recipe. This recipe for French Silk Pie has been in my boyfriend’s family for years and I thought it was time for a new twist. This pie is usually served for birthdays or holidays in a normal pie crust.

I used a combination of homemade chile powder and chile syrup to get the subtle heat I wanted in this cool, rich dessert. The chile powder is a combination of dried habanero, japone, ancho, guajillo,  pequin, and cascabel peppers. The peppers range from mild to hot and savory to slightly sweet, so I combined them all for a complex, multi-dimensional chile powder by following Marx Food’s directions on how to make your own chile powder. I only have a sesame seed grinder and food processor, so I used the processor since it’s used for my pie crust as well.

I added a ½ teaspoon chile powder to the crust and the chocolate filling and also added ½ teaspoon chai cocoa powder to temper the spice. If you don’t have chai cocoa powder, you can use regular cocoa powder or just decrease the amount of chile. If the heat is too much, omit the chile simple syrup (1 guajillo chile, rehydrated, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, simmered together) and add more whipped cream.

Go check out all the other entries in the Fire on Ice Contest over at Marx Foods! Thanks again to Marx Foods for the great Chiles, I have many more plans for them, including chili oil!


Note: I was given the chiles free of charge from Marx Foods, though all thoughts and recipes are my own.