P for Procrastination

This was the text message I sent to my best friend, Bigfoot, on the eve of CNY.

"Just sent a batch of p-tarts into the oven. Wishing you were here."

By "p-tarts" I meant pineapple tarts. But after I hit the "Send" button, I thought they should be more aptly called procrastination tarts since I had wait until this very last minute to make them. (*.*)

Pre-baby days, I would invite Bigfoot to my place and we would pull out the pineapple tart moulds, rolling pins, pastry brushes, etc and soaked ourselves in sugar, butter, flour and lots of pinepple tart filling for hours. The fun part was making the tarts and laughing over how ugly our tarts were. Unfortunately, as our lives got more hectic, arranging for such a bake-off got slightly more complicated.

So without Bigfoot's delicate hands to roll and unmould the tarts, I had to opt for a simpler version. That's how I ended up with Betty Saw's Pineapple Rolls. According to the recipe, I am suppose to roll the tarts and snip the pastry to make it resemble a pineapple. But for me, it is "simplify, simplify!"

I told me hubby that my tarts looked more like Peanut Cookies (fan sang paeng). (^.^)

Results: The pastry smells wonderful due to the vanilla and it melts in your mouth. Not too crumbly.

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Pastry for Pineapple Tarts

(adapted from Betty Saw's More Kitchen Secrets)

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250g unsalted butter, bring to room temp

465g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg beaten with 1 tsp of vanilla essence

1 1/2 tbsp cold water

1. Cream butter in mixer until it changes to a lighter shade of yellow and creamy.

2. Sift the flour into the mixing bowl. Add salt. On the mixer and beat at low speed until combined.

3. Add egg mixture and cold water. On the mixer and beat at low speed until combined.

Makes about 55 squash-ball size (with filling) pastry.