Makes about 100. Author Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan writes, “Quantities aren’t exact. My aunts don’t use a recipe, and they laughed at me the first 10 times I asked them for this one. The initial set of instructions they gave me for pineapple jam was “Aiyah, you just juice the pineapple, add sugar, and then boil, boil, boil!”
Ingredients
FOR THE JAM
4 pineapples
2-3 pandan leaves, knotted together (you can find them in some Asian grocery stores, frozen)
1 long cinnamon stick, broken in two
At least 2 1/2cups sugar, depending on desired sweetness
FOR THE PASTRY
3 sticks plus 3 1/2tablespoons butter, room temperature
About 4 3/4cups flour
4 egg yolks, plus 1 yolk for brushing onto pastry
Directions
Make the jam. Peel the pineapples, dig out the eyes, and chop the fruit into chunks. Run the chunks through a juicer. Place the pulp in a wok or pot with a large surface area and heat it on the stove.
Add the juice until the mixture has the consistency of porridge or grits; add the knotted pandan leaves and cinnamon stick. Bring the mixture to a boil and keep it there for three hours, stirring often. Halfway through, taste the jam, and add sugar by the 1/2 cup until the jam is as sweet as you desire. (Note: The amount of sugar needed will vary greatly depending on how ripe the pineapples are.)
The jam is done when the mixture has changed from bright yellow to brownish ocher and most of the liquid has evaporated, leaving a dense but moist jam.
Make the tarts. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
With a mixer on low speed, combine the butter, flour, and egg yolks, mixing for 3-5 minutes.
Place the dough in a cookie press fitted with a disk featuring a circle of diamonds. Press the cookies out onto greased baking sheets. Form small balls of dough and press each one into the hollow of a cookie, forming the base of the tart.
Beat the remaining egg yolk with 1/2 teaspoon of water. Brush the rim of each tart generously with this mixture. Take a scant teaspoon of jam (more or less, as desired) and form a ball, then press it into the hollow of each tart. Pat the side of the same to create a small dome.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a rack.
