INTRODUCTION

I have overbought one package of pineapple jam and I was thinking what I should do with it. Besides the normal pineapple tarts, this recipe immediately come to my mind.

Pie slices are very common overseas but not common here and I know one of the common misconceptions that many readers have is that it is too sweet. While I cannot guarantee the sweetness of the western recipe, but I can guarantee you that this recipe is not very sweet.

Pie slices basically are jams sandwiched between 2 layers of shortbread . Shortbread in very layman terms are just butter biscuits. However, it differs from biscuits as it is more crumbly and not as hard as biscuits. Shortbread for slices are not sweetened and therefore the sweetness of the jam is balanced with the simple buttery shortbread.

Any jam can be used in fact and if you do not have any pineapple jam left, you can always used blueberry jam or raspberry jam or strawberry jam. But as a caution, any jam (include homemade pineapple jam) used shall not be too wet. If it is too wet, it will soften the shortbread and hence it will not be as crumbly as it should be. In addition, the shelf life will be much shorter.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: About 30 pieces of slices 2cm x 5 cm

• 500 grams of pineapple jam
• 500 grams of plain flour
• 250 grams of cold butter (directly from fridge)
• 50 grams of white sugar
• 2 egg whites

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.

• Put cold butter, castor sugar and flour in a food processor. Blend until it becomes crumbly. Gradually add in the egg white. Have a pause blend for a few seconds until it form a dough. Transfer the dough out and press it evenly into a baking tray ( I used 48 cm x 30 cm tray and the dough thickness is about 5 mm). Use a fork to pierce some holes on the pastry. Any tray can be used and what it yields is a thicker or thinner shortbread. If you do not have a food processor, you can use hand rubbing method by rubbing cold butter  using finger tips with flour and you can refer to this post for demonstration: Traditional Coconut Tarts (椰子塔） of the hand rubbing method.

• Bake in the pre-heated oven of 180 degree Celsius for 12 minutes.

• Take out the short crust pastry, place the jam on HALF of the baked pastry as evenly as possible. Scrap pastry of the other half and use hand to make it crumbly and sprinkle on top of the jam. Use a leveller to press the short crust pastry to as compact and as even as possible. Egg wash the  top pastry if preferred. For egg washing, crack one egg yolks, add two drops of water , beat and brush on top of the pastry.

• Send back to the oven and bake in the heated oven of 180 degree Celsius for another 15 minutes or the desired colour tone. Cut in sizes of your choice when the slices cooled completely.

CONCLUSION

This is an extremely simple recipe that yields great taste. As this is a huge batch and I am still enjoying it today even it was prepared about 3 weeks ago. It is still crispy, crumbly possibly because the jam is very dry. If you can’t imagine the taste, just try to think that you are eating pineapple tarts in different shapes. Who does not like pineapple tarts and will this shape change the taste of the shortbread pineapple jam combo?

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