The Christmas Table: Christmas recipes and tutorials A celebration of all things Christmas! | Page 68

Aunty Irene’s
pineapple tarts

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ineapple tarts are a popular treat in Malaysia and Singapore often reserved
for special occasions and festivities. Pineapple in Chinese is translated as
“yellow pears” and yellow is the colour of royalty and wealth. Growing
up as a kid in Malaysia, I remember sitting at the table with my mum, grandma
and aunty to make these tarts. They’re a true labour of love as they’re quite
time-consuming to make. It took hours to cook the jam, back in the day modern
appliances such as jam makers and thermomix weren’t even invented but now
my Bimbi (thermomix) basically makes the jam in about 45 minutes and no need
to slave over a hot stove! But I still have to make the pastry, there’s simply no
short cuts to cake decorating or in this case, tart decorating. Tarts were reserved
only for days of festivities like Chinese New Year and since my family is Catholic,
they were also made at Christmas. I still make these for Christmas. My husband
loves them and so does my dog, Noah!