Pineapple cakes, or in Chinese 鳳梨酥(feng-li-su), are these buttery, flaky pastries that are stuffed with a sweet pineapple jam. Honestly, I have never bothered to make them before, since it’s so easy to purchase them, and almost every Taiwanese household has them just lying around to snack on! However, I had leftover pink pineapple that I needed to use up, and that’s how this recipe really came into existence. Traditionally, these buttery pastries are shaped in either little rectangles or squares, and resemble gold bars, but in my recipe, I wanted to use my mooncake presses, and went that route instead. Mostly because I have been purchasing a lot of baking equipment lately, and while that has been fun, rather than purchasing square shaped or rectangular ring molds I would only ever use once in a blue moon, I would rather use the moon cake molds that I already have and put those to some good use instead! I was pleasantly surprised by how the pineapple cakes baked off. The dough is really crumbly and short, since there is a high amount of fat in them, but they held their form quite nicely in the oven. The filling, I used my pink pineapple for that, but you can also just use regular pineapple with a similar end result. The only differences is mostly the color of the filling, and a little bit on the flavor, since pink pineapple is sweeter than regular pineapple.

For the dough, it was very similar to a shortbread dough, but with more fat to it, and milk powder, which adds a slight chew to the dough. Because of the fat content in the dough, it can be really crumbly. I recommend resting the dough at room temperature before using it to roll with, otherwise you may end up with a crumbly mess. I tried refrigerating the dough before rolling it, and it literally just fell apart because the high fat content meant that the dough hardens really quickly at lower temperatures. Don’t be discouraged if that happens though, if you use enough *gentle* force, you can still press the dough back together and around the filling as necessary! Since I was running these cakes through a mooncake press, and I did not want my filling to somehow leak out, I did about a 3:1 weight ratio of dough to filling – most pineapple cake recipes call for a 3:2 ratio, but a. I was running low on filling since I only had about 60g of pink pineapple to work with, and b. when I tried doing that ratio, that dough did not survive the mooncake press. For the filling, it was made by taking the pink pineapple, blending it down into a liquid, and cooking that down with a decent amount of sugar. The sugar sets the pectins in the pineapple as the liquid cooks off, resulting in a jam that is almost completely solid as it cools down. The coconut oil is added as an insurance policy there. I did use coconut oil in my recipe, but you can sub that out with either butter or shortening if desired. I just like the contrast of coconut and pineapple, and this was my subtle nod to that. Pineapple cakes are a childhood classic for me, so being able to make them was a fun experience all in all!

Makes 16 pineapple cakes:
For the jam:
200g pink pineapple, measured after being peeled, cored, and diced
water
100g granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
5g coconut oil

In a blender, puree the pink pineapple with just enough water for the pineapple to catch the blender blades. Pour the liquidated pineapple into a pot, and add to that the sugar and salt, and reduce over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until almost all of the liquid has evaporated, and you are left with a thick paste – it should more resemble mud than it does a liquid. Stir into that the coconut oil and allow the jam to cool down. Portion out the jam into 12-13g balls and refrigerate these until they are solidified.

For the pastry:
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp coconut oil
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp milk powder
2 egg yolks, reserve the white
1 cup all-purpose flour

In a bowl, whisk together room temperature butter, coconut oil, salt, and sugar. Fold into that the milk powder first, then then egg yolk. Sift in the flour and cornstarch, and continue folding until just combined into a dough. Refrigerate the dough for 10-15 minutes first, then portion it out to 35-36g balls. Roll these out on a floured surface into disks.

For assembly:
1 egg white

Gently fold the pastry around the fillings and seal the filling with the pastry completely. Gently press the pastries with a 1 1/2-inch moon cake press. Place these onto a lined sheet tray and brush the top with the egg white. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes. Allow the pastries to cool before transferring to a desired serving surface.