Weekend Herb Blogging - Pineapple Roll Cookies

Simona from Briciole is hosting this edition of Weekend Herb Blogging. The rules for taking part can be found here.

As promised, this week's entry will be on pineapples. It's Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) or CNY and it's pastry and snacks time! My favourite CNY delight has got to be pineapple tarts.

Pineapple tarts comes in many forms. The tarts, with cookies and pineapple jam on top is the more common type. There is also the pineapple rolls and pineapple roll cookies where the pineapple is enclosed by a buttery roll. My favourite go to be the pineapple roll cookies.

The pineapple is a tropical fruit with a rather unique taste of apple, strawberry and peach mixed together as some would claim. The pineapple is an excellent source of vitamin C and some forms of vitamin B. Unknown to many, pineapple also contains the trace mineral manganese, an important cofactor in certain enzymes production.

One trick to keep pineapple fresh and retain its taste and juiciness, is to store them in air-tight containers with some of its juice in the refrigerator.

This is not the typical type of jam used on breads. The pineapple jam used here is dry, instead of jello like. This recipe is adapted from a cooking class that I attended with my wife.

Pineapple Jam

You will need:
 
4 small pineapples (honey pineapple)
1 large Sarawak pineapple
50g cane rock sugar - to give the jam a nice brown colour
150g caster sugar
50g sugar
salt
2-3 cloves + 1 small piece of star anise (to be removed after 10 mins of cooking.)
 
1. Grate the honey pineapples, including the core.
2. Chop the Sarawak pineapple finely. This will provide the fibre.
3. Drain off pineapple juices, DO NOT squeeze off the juices. You will probably need 2 hours. You will need the pineapples to be really dry. Use the drained juice as a drink or make a cocktail!
4. Add all ingredients into a pot. 
5. Cook on low heat until syrupy and slightly brown. Stir at least once every 15mins to prevent sugars from burning. 
6. You will notice that the pineapple will change to a dark yellow colour as it cooks.
7. Remove cloves and anise. Cool in room temperature.
8. Store in fridge. If cooked properly, this jam can be stored for up to a year in the fridge.
 
Take note that no water should be allowed into the mixture as it spoils the jam.
 
Butter Cookie Dough (courtesy of a friend's mum)
 

 
You will need :
 
60g Salted Butter
65g Unsalted butter
160g plain flour
1 egg yolk
12g milk powder
25g caster sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla essense
1/8 tsp vanillin powder
 
1. Mix the butter and sugar. Add in egg yolk
2. Slowly mix in flour, milk powder, vanilla essense and vanillin.
3. Roll out dough and put in the pineapple jam.
4. Brush with egg yolk wash.
5. Bake at 180C till golden brown.

 
Enjoy!