BAKING PROJECT

This is a must-have cookie for us Malays during Hari Raya time..  thank God now the filling is sold ready-made, so you don’t have to make the filling from scratch.  Which involves long hours of stirring the pineapple flesh with sugar till it is thick.  Which is in actual, making pineapple jam, only thicker in consistency.    The ready ones sold taste quite nice, the one I bought is made in Thailand.   For the cookie dough, I don’t really like the ones which is too fluffy and breaks apart when you touch it.  The recipe I used is a simple one, you have to use real expensive butter to appreciate it.

The recipe :

Sieve the flour.  Cut the butter into small pieces.  Then add all the ingredients together except for the cold water.  I just used my fingers.  Rub the butter and ghee into the flour and knead gently.  Add the cold water bit by bit till you get a dough.  Its just like making a pie, not too wet ok.   Then roll the dough into a ball and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Roll the dough between a sheet of baking paper into 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut out the cookies using a pineapple tart mold/ cutter.  For the filling, wet your palms and take a bit of the pineapple jam.  Make small balls , press into the center of the cookie.  Bake at 170C for about 25 to 30 minutes.

I really like this cookie, the dough does not have sugar in it but the jam is sweet enough to compliment it.   Keep in an air-tight containers and I guess it should last for a week or two.  There are many recipes for this cookie, one which looks enticing is here.   And many shapes too, either using different cutters or free-hand.  Click on the picture below to see the recipes.  Yum !