Taiwanese Pineapple Cake Recipes

TAIWANESE PINEAPPLE CAKES

Steps:

• Pineapple Filling: Drain the pineapple well over a bowl, pushing on it through a fine mesh strainer to push out as much juice as possible. (Save the pineapple juice to drink or for making pineapple mojitos!) Mix together the sugar, cinnamon and salt, set aside.
• In a saucepan place the strained pineapple and cook over medium heat until all the juice is gone and pineapple appears dry; about 5 minutes. Add the sugar/cinnamon/salt mix and stir constantly over medium heat and cook until all the juice is absorbed, it appears dry and sticky. (visually you are looking for a mixture that comes together when you stir and push it around with the spatula). This will take about 10-15 minutes. Add in the corn syrup and cook again until mixture appears sticky and dry. This will take about another 10 minutes. Add in the flour, stir and cook for about 7 more minutes. Mixture will become very sticky and dry. Cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge to cool while you make the pastry.
• Shortcrust Pastry Dough: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180° C). Prepare a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Cream butter and sugar together using an electric mixer until light; about 1 minute. Beat in egg yolks one at a time, until well combined. Add vanilla, salt and blend.
• In a bowl whisk the flour and corn starch together. To the butter/sugar mixture, add in the flour and corn starch mixture until dough starts to come together, but dough is still a bit craggy, then knead gently with your hands to bring the dough together.
• To form cakes: Take a tablespoon of dough and flatten out in your hand, set aside. Lightly butter your hands, and take a teaspoon of filling and roll it in your hands to form a ball. Place the flattened piece of dough in our hand, and place the ball of filling on top and fold over and bring the dough together to encase the filling. Roll the filled cake ball in your hands, to even out any seams. Shape the filled cake into an equal square. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet at least one inch apart, and bake at 350° F for 15 minutes on one side, then using a small offset spatula, carefully flip over and bake on the other side for 15 minutes more. They will turn lightly golden brown. Let the cakes cool completely on the baking sheet until cool to prevent crumbling. Eat when cool.

TAIWANESE PINEAPPLE COOKIES

Steps:

• Gather all the ingredients.
• Preheat oven to 325F.
• If applicable, drain pineapple liquid. Place chunks into a food processor, along with sweetener and water. Pulse until puree like consistency is formed.
• Transfer sauce to a small stovetop pot and cook on medium heat until boiling, then turn down to low, stirring often until sauce thickens. Roughly 4-5 minutes and then remove from heat.
• In the meantime, melt butter in a small bowl in the microwave (about 45-60 seconds).
• Use a large mixing bowl to combine Almond Flour, sweetener, cream cheese, salt and melted butter. Mix well for about 1 minute with a hand/stand mixer. Note - make sure melted butter is at room temperature when pouring otherwise it will 'cook' the batter.
• Roll the dough into 1 inch size balls and place on a silicone baking mat or greased baking sheet.
• Press down the dough balls using your palm of your hand to roughly 1/4 inch thickness.
• With your thumb, make an imprint and press about 3/4 the way down.
• Fill each cookies with about 1/2 tsp of pineapple sauce in the center. I recommend slightly overfilling just enough to create a mound but not over-spilling. The cookie will expand as it bakes, so the center will as well. Slightly overfilling will compensate for this.
• Bake at 325 F for 16-20 minutes (ours took 18 minutes) or until bottom edges start to slightly brown. Once done, wait at least 10 minutes for cookie to cool down prior to handling. We prefer enjoying the cookies once they have completely cooled down and hardened, which takes about 1 hour, but it's up to you!

TAIWANESE PINEAPPLE CAKES

Steps:

• For the pineapple filling: Put the drained pineapple in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until any remaining liquid has cooked off and the pineapple is almost completely dry, about 12 minutes. Add the granulated sugar, corn syrup, cornstarch and lemon juice. Continue to cook, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is golden brown, very thick and jammy, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate, uncovered, until completely cool, about 1 hour. This can be made up to 24 hours in advance.
• For the pastry dough: Once the pineapple filling is cool, make the dough. Pulse the cake flour, butter, confectioners' sugar, milk powder, custard powder and salt in a food processor until the butter is thoroughly mixed into the flour and the dough is starting to clump together, about 2 minutes. Add the egg yolk, then continue to pulse until a smooth, homogenous dough forms. Scoop the dough into fifteen 1 tablespoon-size pieces, then roll into uniform balls.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Spray the inside of each of fifteen 1 1/2-by-2-inch rectangular aluminum molds generously with nonstick cooking spray and place on the prepared baking sheet.
• Divide the cold pineapple filling into fifteen 2 teaspoon-size balls.
• Working one at a time, use a rolling pin to roll one dough ball into a thin round (about 3 inches wide and about 1/8 inch thick) on a piece of parchment lightly dusted with flour. Place one ball of filling in the center of the dough, then shape the dough up and around the filling, pinching the ends to seal. Roll between the palms of your hands to make uniform. Place into one of the greased molds, then gently press so it fills the mold and is level with the top edges. Repeat with the remaining filling and dough until all 15 cakes are formed.
• Bake until the top of each cake is matte and puffed slightly and the bottom is light golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes, then carefully press out of the molds. Enjoy warm or transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.