chinese pineapple cakes

Chinese pineapple cakes&nbsp;(鳳梨酥, pronounced Feng Li Su) are&nbsp;a famous pastry in Taiwan.&nbsp;Usually square-shaped, it has a buttery, shortbread-like casing with a pineapple filling similar to a very thick jam. It is often served and gifted around Lunar New Year.

Chinese/Taiwanese Pineapple Cakes

(20-oz) cans crushed pineapples, drained

sugar

corn syrup

honey

tbsp all-purpose flour

cake flour

icing sugar

custard powder

unsalted butter

In a medium, nonstick saucepan, add drained crushed pineapples. Bring to a simmer on the stove and cook, uncovered, for about 20&nbsp;minutes or until most of the excess liquid evaporates and mixture thickens.

Stir&nbsp;in sugar, corn syrup, and honey. Cook mixture at a low simmer for about 40 minutes, until it becomes quite thick, with very little liquid. Stir occasionally. You may also want to taste it a few minutes after everything is mixed together to see if the filling is sweet enough. If not, you can add a little more sugar. Stir in the flour and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Pour filling into a glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. You can leave it for several hours or even make it the day &nbsp;before. You want the filling to be completely cooled when you work with it.

To make the pastry, add all ingredients except egg yolks into a food processor. Turn on and let it mix for about 2 minutes or until it becomes little balls of dough. See photo above; they look like dippin dots. At first the dough will turn very crumbly as your food processor breaks down the butter, but it will eventually turn soft into the little dough balls. If you want to try the recipe without egg yolks (as discussed in my notes), you can just squeeze these dough balls together to form one big ball of dough. Otherwise, add egg yolks in and pulse for about 1 minute, until smooth dough forms (shown in photo above).

Scoop out 1.5 tbsp dough balls and shape between palms to form round balls. Continue until all dough is used up. Set aside.

Take pineapple filling from the fridge. Scoop out 1 tbsp of filling and compress between palms. Filling will be sticky and wet to work with. Gently roll between palms to shape into balls. Make enough filling balls to match the dough balls.

Lightly grease the inside of your square molds, by brushing them with oil.

Take a sheet of plastic wrap and stretch over a flat surface, keeping it as smooth as possible. I found that plastic wrap really helped&nbsp;to make these cakes pretty.&nbsp;You want the plastic wrap to be smooth because your dough will have creases if your plastic wrap has creases. Take one of your dough balls and place it on top of the plastic wrap. Press down with your palm until it spreads out to a thin round. You want the round to be just big enough that it will wrap over the filling. It may take a few tries to determine the best length to stretch your To make to. The round should be thin because the pastry is supposed to be only a thin layer of crust. However, keep the middle section of your round slightly thicker and thin out more on the edges. This way, when you bunch all the edges together to seal your pastry, the bunched edges won't become too thick, which would make one side of your cake uneven.

Place a pineapple filling ball in the middle of your round. Lift one side of plastic wrap and peel the round from that side. You should be able to easily peel it off and the bottom side of the round should be completely smooth. Lift round completely from plastic wrap and then cover your pineapple filling with the dough, sealing the edges on top, attempting to smooth them as much as possible.

Place your square mold on top of the plastic wrap. Place your dough ball inside the square, with the bunch up ends side facing up, smooth side facing down. Carefully push and spread your ball until it spreads out completely across the square mold. It may take a few tries to get the hang of it. The dough should fit completely inside the mold. Try to smooth the surface of the dough as much as possible. Flip over. The underside of your dough should look nearly completely smooth and should fill the entire square mold. One of the photos above show both the finished smooth side and the side with the bunched edges.

Place mold, with the smooth side facing up, on a baking sheet lined with silicone mats or parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 350°F. While your oven is heating up, finish making the rest of your pineapple cakes.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until the tops turn a light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool a few minutes. After about 15 minutes, gently push the cakes out the molds. You can eat immediately or wait for them to finish cooling. Store any uneaten ones in an airtight container at room temperate. Because these have a fruit filling, do not store for too many days.

These Taiwanese Pineapple Cakes are mini morsels of sweet, jammy pineapple encased in a buttery shortbread cookie. 

Taiwanese Pineapple Cakes (Feng Li Su) 鳳梨酥

454 g candied winter melon

g all-purpose flour

almond flour

dry milk powder

130 g salted butter (room temperature)

g icing sugar

vanilla extract

Place the diced pineapple and winter melon into a food processor or blender.

Process or blend it until becomes a very fine texture.

Transfer the mixture into a wok or large pot and cook, stirring over medium-low heat, until it becomes a very thick and dry paste, about 60 minutes.

The mixture will become thick, and dark yellow/golden in colour.

Remove from heat, transfer to a container and cool the pineapple filling.

Cover and chill in the fridge or freezer until ready to use.

Form the filling by scooping pineapple paste with a melon baller or teaspoon and roll it into a ball, about 17g per filling. Place onto a plate and set aside.

Make the pineapple filling:

In a bowl, whisk together together the all-purpose flour, almond flour and milk powder. Set aside.

In a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.

Add in the egg yolk and vanilla and beat until just combined.

Pour the all-purpose flour, almond flour and milk powder into the butter mixture and combine until a dough is formed. Be sure not to over mix.

Note: Check the mixture to see if it will hold together by clumping a bit of dough in your hand. If it sticks together, it&#39;s good to go. If it&#39;s too crumbly, add in a little extra butter or egg yolk to the mixture and test again.

Divide the dough and form into two long logs and wrap with plastic wrap.

Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Make the pastry dough:

Divide the dough into 18g pieces (about 24-26) and form each piece into a ball.

Place the dough in between a large piece of plastic wrap, folded over.

Flatten the dough with your palm and with a rolling pin, roll each ball into a disc.

Place a ball of pineapple filling in the centre of the dough, and with the plastic wrap, gather up the dough, pressing it gently to cover the filling and seal.

Gently form the filled dough between the palm of your hands into a round ball.

Place the dough into a 50g mooncake mold and press firmly flat into it.

Invert the plunger to imprint the shape and release onto a parchment lined baking sheet.Note: if the dough is a little sticky, dust the mooncake mold with a little flour prior to adding the dough.

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Top 2 chinese pineapple cakes recipes from across the web

The most viewed chinese pineapple cakes recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

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Taiwanese Pineapple Cakes (Feng Li ...

The most viewed chinese pineapple cakes recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine