Step 1

Peel the pineapple and remove core and ‘eyes’.

Step 2

Cut the pineapple flesh into small dice, about 5mm.

Step 3

Strain for about 10 minutes to remove excess juice.

Step 4

Place pineapple and sugar in a wide non-stick pan and cook over low medium heat until most of the moisture has evaporated, about 30 minutes, stirring often.

Step 5

Add butter and stir continuously until butter has melted into the pineapple. Keep the heat on to help evaporate moisture from the butter, but do not cook for more than about 5 minutes in order to preserve the taste of the butter. The mixture will appear soft, but it will stiffen when cooled to room temperature.

Step 6

Spread mixture thinly on a large plate to cool completely before using.

Step 7

Dice butter and shortening into approximately 1cm cubes. Freeze for 15 minutes.

Step 8

Add dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and mix.

Step 9

Tip frozen butter and shortening, and the beaten egg into food processor bowl, and pulse until crumbly.

Step 10

Tip mixture onto a pastry mat and quickly press together with your hands to form a ball. Do not knead, to avoid gluten developing and toughening the baked crust. Press dough into a disc and place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

Step 11

Note: The dough can also be made by creaming together the fats and the sugar, then adding the egg, and finally combining with the dry ingredients to create a crumble. This can then be pressed together to form a ball, in the same way as the food processor method.

Step 12

Precise weights are important to ensure each pastry fits the mould snugly. Divide pineapple jam filling into portions of 20 grams each, and roll each portion into a ball.

Step 13

Divide pastry dough into portions of 25 grams each, and roll each portion into a ball.

Step 14

Flatten a dough ball. You can do this in your palm or with a small rolling pin, but It is easiest to do this in a tortilla press between two pieces of silicone greaseproof paper.

Step 15

Place a portion of filling into the centre of the flattened dough.

Step 16

Gently wrap the dough around the filling, pinching away and setting aside excess dough at the top and where the edges meet. Roll the filled dough between your palms to form a smooth ball.

Step 17

Place the ball into a metal mould.

Step 18

Gently press down using your fingers or a small pointed spatula, to ease the dough into the corners of the square mould. The dough will not quite reach the top of the mould – the pastry will expand when baked in the oven. Pave over any thin patches and cracks with the excess dough set aside earlier, smoothing the surface with the spatula. Turn the mould over and repeat on the other side.

Step 19

Place the shaped pastries, all still inside their moulds, on a baking sheet.

Step 20

When all pastries have been shaped, put the baking sheet into the fridge and chill for 15 minutes.

Step 21

While pastries are chilling, heat the oven to 170 C.

Step 22

Bake the pastries for 8 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and turn each pastry over.

Step 23

Return the pastries to the oven and bake 5-8 more minutes, until the top is slightly golden, checking regularly after 5 minutes. Do not over bake or the filling could expand and crack through the dough surrounding it.

Step 24

Remove the pastries from the oven, lift off the moulds and cool the pastries on a rack.

Step 25

One side of the pastry might be more coloured than the other – this is fine, you can turn them all on the same side for a uniform look, or turn them on different sides for contrast.

Step 26

The pastries can be enjoyed fresh and warm.

Step 27

However, convention is to leave the pastries overnight in an airtight container, after which the crust will have become more tender.

Step 28

The pastries should keep at room temperature for 3-4 days. Mine are all eaten within this this period so I’m afraid I don’t know what their maximum shelf life would be.