Tips to Modify Cheese Pineapple Tart

Nastar or pineapple tart is derived from a foreign language, i.e. ananas and tart in Dutch. It means tart filled with pineapple. In English, nastar is known as pineapple tart. It is shaped like a pie.

The cookie made of pineapple and flour is the traditional cookies served during Eid al Fitr and Chinese New Year. Pineapple tart is almost never absent during Eid al Fitr, and is considered a must have snack. In the tradition of Chinese New Year, the cookie symbolizes prosperity.

At the beginning, pineapple tart was made for family traditions. Each family made their own pineapple tart using family recipes passed down for generations. Overtime, the tradition began to disappear and commercial bakers began to see a window of opportunity. As a result, pineapple tarts are often sold ahead of Eid al Fitr or Chinese New Year.

Over time, pineapple tarts undergone many variations, both in terms of shape and taste. Today, pineapple tarts are not only filled with pineapple jam, but also strawberry or chocolate jam. Not only the filling, the presentation also went through many changes. One of the changes is the addition of shredded cheese on top. This variety later became popular as cheese pineapple tart.

Cheese pineapple tart is a combination of pineapple tart and kastengels. The two must have cookies during Eid al Fitr are combined to create a delish sweet and salty flavor. Cheese pineapple tart has the same shapes as ordinary pineapple tart. The difference lies on the shredded cheese topping sprinkled on top of the cheese pineapple tart.

Just like other cookies , cheese pineapple tart requires a special treatment to keep them crunchy and savory. To prevent the cookies from being stale too quickly, it is advised to use high quality ingredients to make your cheese pineapple tart.

In addition, you have to ensure that the jam used is fully cooked, and is not soft or watery. Jam with soft texture makes the cookie dough wet and susceptible to molds.

Furthermore, to prevent cracking in cheese pineapple tart, do not bake the cheese pineapple tart in high temperature. Set the oven at 150 – 160 Celcius. It is also advised to pay attention to the cheese pineapple tart dough. It should not be too thin, and the jam should not be too big. Both factors can cause cracking in cheese pineapple tart.

Even the new variations of cheese pineapple tarts can be easily made at home. The recipe is similar to the original cheese pineapple tart. The only difference is that cheese pineapple tart uses shredded cheese as topping. All you need to bake perfect cheese pineapple tarts is extra care when preparing the dough and pineapple jam.