Pineapple coconut muffin

I always wanted to bake something with pineapples and coconut. And when I have balance canned pineapples after making pizza and coconut milk after baking pandan chiffon cake, it was a good time to clear the fridge too! It also had been a long time since I last baked muffins and this quick and easy recipe yields a very moist and coconut-y one!

 

Pineapple coconut muffins
(recipe from Serious Eats, with modifications. Makes 18 muffins)

113g (4 ounces) unsalted butter, soft
175g castor sugar (reduced, can increase to 200g if you want it sweet)
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
100g desiccated coconut (to reduce to 75g), leave some to sprinkle on top of muffin
195g plain flour
2 1/2tsp baking powder
240g (1 cup) drained pineapple cubes/ slices, chopped

1. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. Beat butter with sugar and salt in a large bowl until creamy.
3. Whisk in eggs, one by one, until combined.
4. Add in coconut milk and desiccated coconut and whisk till combined.
5. Add in sifted flour and baking powder and whisk till combined.
6. Stir in chopped pineapples. Do not over-mix.
7. Scoop batter into muffin cup and sprinkle desiccated coconut on top.
8. Bake at pre-heated oven 180 deg C for 20 mins - 22 mins.
9. Cool on wire rack.

Catching up

..... with CNY baking. I know I've been slacked with blogging and baking for at least 3 weeks. This blog would probably be neglected for even longer period, but because I really like baking my own pineapple tarts that pushed me to start preparing the pineapple paste last week. The usual shredding, cooking, and rolling them into little balls.

Unlike years of making all covered up, i wanted to 'expose' them!! Open tart or nastar? A very ignorant me, I thought the nastar was using a knife to cut the pastry across many times. I tried that before and of course, the outcome was disastrous! Until recently i saw a post from Quinn that i realised that there is actually a tool to make nastar, and it cost only a few bucks. I did open tarts before, like 4 years ago, and i still have the moulds.

Ok, Sunday is a good time to start baking CNY cookies, and here it goes. But only nastar. Because there's not enough pineapple paste left for open tart. Maybe next year? There are probably about 190 pineapple nastar, and they are definitely prettier than my closed pineapple tarts ;-)

With some leftover dough, i added chocolate rice and 'concorted' my own Butterfly cookies.

My other CNY bakes

This is the first year that i made so many new year goodies, and also doing a new batch of pineapple tarts using the original recipe. Plus i also did ngoh hiang and huat kueh, both my mum's specialty and favourite.

My favourite pineapple tarts!

Almond cookies

Peanut cookies n Almond Milk cookies


Soft & fluffy Huat Kueh - my mum's favourite!

Huat Kueh

Ingredients/ Method:

500g gula melaka

500g coconut milk

500g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1. Cook gula melaka with about 150ml water until dissolve. Leave to cool before use.

2. Mix cooled gula melaka with coconut milk. Add in about 200ml water, and mix evenly.

3. Add in flour, baking powder and baking soda into gula melaka mixture, till well mixed. Mixture should look gluey.

4. Prepare steamer.

5. I use tart mould for my huat kueh. Pour mixture into tart mould lined with paper cup. For small huat kueh, steam for 15 mins. For medium size huat kueh, steam for 20 mins.

Ngoh Hiang - an inch away from my mum's standard

Ngoh Hiang

Ingredients/ Method:

1.5kg pork (五花肉)

375g fish meat

250g water chestnut

6 medium-sized mushroom

300g prawns

4 tbsp corn flour

12 pcs cream cracker

3 tbsp light soya sauce

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp five spice powder

pepper - to taste

few stalks of spring onion & chinese parsley

1 pcs beancurd sheet

1. Peel and chop water chestnut into small cubes.

2. Soak mushroom in hotwater for 20 mins. Remove the stalk. Cut the mushroom into small cubes.

3. Devine the prawns and chop the prawns into very small pieces.

4. Pound the cream cracker until powder form.

5. Cut spring onion and chinese parsley into small pieces.

6. Add all ingredients evenly and mixture ready to be rolled onto beancurd sheet. Amount of meat depends on your own preference.

7. Steam the rolled ngoh hiang for 10-15 mins. Cooled before frying, and ready to be served.

Note:

Steamed ngoh hiang can be stored in freezer for 1 month before consumption.

Pineapple Tarts (part 2)

Wishing everyone a Happy, Prosperous, Healthy Year of Ox, and many succesful and delicious baking!

牛年快乐

笑口常開

年年有余

Ingredients/ Method:-

Dough
750g butter
525 Hong Kong flour
525g plain flour
1 tsp butter milk essence
100g milk powder
20g custard powder
120g soft brown sugar
4 1/2 egg yolk (about 81 g)
1 1/2 egg white (abt 53.5g)
1/2 tsp salt


1. Beat all ingredients, except Hong Kong flour and plain flour, till pale white.
2. Add flour and mix evenly. Do not over-mixed.
3. Keep in fridge for 30 mins before use.


Filling

10 half-ripe pineapple
750g brown sugar
1/2tsp cinnamon powder (optional)


1. Grate the pineapples and drained the juice.
2. Cook the grated pineapples in a pot over medium heat. After about 5 mins add in the sugar and continue cooking until the pineapples are dry. (Takes about 2 hours)
3. Leave to cool before use.


- Egg washed pineapple tart.
- Bake tarts on greased tray at 175 deg C for 25 mins.


Note:
a. The original recipe uses white sugar for cooking pineapple and no cinnamon added, which i followed the previous year i made these tarts. I will stick to the original recipe.

b. To have melt-in-your-mouth texture, avoid over-mixing the dough.
c. I made my tarts in 2 sizes - 12g dough and 10g pineapple filling, and 6g dough and 5g pineapple filling.
d. To test whether pineapple fillings is cooked, it should stick to the wooden spatula that need to be shaken off.
e. The above recipe yield 88 big tarts, and 167 small tarts, with some pineapple fillings left-over.

f. Use good quality butter.

Pineapple tarts

The equation of pineapple tarts: -

+ 2 hours of grating

=

+ 2 hours of cooking pineapple pulps

=

+

+ plain flour + HK flour + custard powder + salt

+ 5 1/2 hours of dough playing + baking

=

20 big pineapple tarts + 167 small pineapple tarts

=

Yummy + Satisfaction!

Another round of baking frenzy this weekend to finish the remaining pineapple filling and dough, and trying out some other new year goodies recipes. Stay tuned!