Nastar Cookies / Pineapple Tart Cookies

2 times in a week I baked this cookies, first of all because the pineapple in store near by was crazy cheap .  Without hesitation I bought 5 of them, peel, granted and made pineapple jam since everyone loves eat bread with pineapple jam over the weekend.  Off course, I used some of them for my pineapple tart cookies .


Wanna try to make your own ? I adapted recipe from my blogger buddy, Annita..  thanks for the recipe dear ..

Nastar Cookies
350 gram unsalted butter, room temperature
100 gram sweet condensed milk
2 egg yolks
510 gram all purpose flour
Egg wash : 1 egg yolk + 2 tsp honey + 1 teaspoon milk

Direction :

Beat together butter and condensed milk until light and fluffy. Add egg, one and a time, beat until well mixed. Slowly add all purpose flour in batches into the mixture, beat until the dough becomes smooth, but not sticky. I find it easier if I just use my hand to incorporate the last batch of flour into the dough.

Scoop 10 gram of dough and make a round ball. Repeat until dough is used up.

Prepare 2 baking sheets, each lined with a parchment paper.

Flatten each dough, place the pineapple jam filling at the center, gather the edges of the dough and wrap the filling with the dough. Roll into a round ball, then place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat for the rest of dough and jam filling.

Mix egg yolk, honey and milk together to make the egg wash. Brush the top of cookies with egg wash.

Preheat oven to 300 Fahrenheit. Bake the cookies for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Let the cookies cool completely before storing them in nice looking jars.

Pineapple jam

1 ripe pineapple, flesh only

1 cinnamon stick (optional)

3 cloves (optional)

200 gram brown sugar, or to taste

Directions :

In a food processor/blender, puree pineapple. Transfer pineapple puree into a heavy bottom pot along with cinnamon stick, cloves, brown sugar .Turn on heat to medium and cook until boiling,

Reduce heat to a simmer and continue cooking until the jam is really thick. Add more sugar if needed. Near the end, be sure to stir and scrap frequently to prevent burning.

Transfer jam to a mixing bowl to cool. Keep in refrigerator . Make this pineapple jam ahead of time, and let in room temperature before you using it

Onde Onde / Sesame Seed Ball

 

 

I must to admit 'food' is my biggest weakness.. I love food, good food, soul food, may be because I am asian ! We always appreciate home cook food . Now, here a thousand miles away from home - I move to different land, I found myself miss my mom food alot - I do cook for family, but sometime the sensation is different than I ever feel before.

There is one sweet snack I miss alot is onde-onde / sesame seed ball - some called, 'Ma Tuan' One of the most beloved Asian sweet dumpling. The texture of dumpling itself is not hubby or little one fav. so, you know next ... I am the one who will enjoy the sweet ... I don't mind at all .. :)))

Onde-onde / Sesame Seed Ball

Recipe : Ika - Ikaray Kitchen

Ingredients :

For Dumpling

250 glutinous rice flour

50 gr tapioca flour

50 gr sugar

1 tsp salt

250 cc warm lite coconut milk

sesame seed

For Filling :

150 gr dried,hulled and split yellow mung beans

200 gr sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanila extract

about 200 gr water

Directions :

Making filling :

1.Rinse the mung bean, put them in a bowl, and add water to cover by 1 inch. Let soak for 2hour or overnight.

2.In medium heavy pot, add water , beans , salt, let boiled and cook until tender and add the sugar , vanila. Stir and cooked until the bean firm and smooth out. Turn off the heat.

3. Transfer to plastic container and cool at room temperature before using. The paste can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or frozen for a month.

4. Measure 1 level tsp of paste for each dumpling and roll each portion into a small ball. Put on a plate, cover, and set aside.

Tips : an easy way, skip (1)-(2) by put all the ingredients into the pressure cooker, close the lid, turn the heat to medium high. Wait until pressure cooker give a wishtle sound than start to set the time for 7 minute. And you are done !!

Making Dumpling :

Put the flours , sugar, salt, in a bowl and make a large well in the centre. Pour the warm coconut milk into the flour mixture . Use the wooden spoon or spatula to combine, stirring and eventually pressing the ingredients into the ball. Transfer to a work surface, the dough will still be warm , so be carefull and knead until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap

take about 1 tbsp of dough, roll into a ball. Repeat with the remaining dough pieces to yield 15-18 balls total.

for each dumpling, take a ball of dough and make a deep indentation to create a little cup. Aim to make the cup about 1 inch deep. You can build up the wall by pressing it between your tumb and index finger. Put a ball of paste in the well, tapping it down a bit. Close the cup, making sure that the filling is closed. Pinch and twist off any extra dough and seal well.

Roll the dumploing between your hands to make it perfectly round and smooth, slightly wet your hands before this final roll if the dough feel dry . Set aside and repeat to make more. cover the filled ones to prevent drying.

Put the sesame seed in a small bolw. Dunk each of dumpling into the bowl of water, shake off the excess water and then put it in the bowl of sesame seeds. Dredge the dumpling to coat it well with sesame seed, the place it back on your work surface. Repeat the remaining balls.

Use a wok or a pot, (about 4 quart pot) . Pour in the oil to a depth of 2 1/2 inches. Heat over medium . Fry the ball, 5 at a time, for 7 minute, frequently turn and stir the balls to prevent uneven browning.

To better taste, try to eat them the day after they are made !! :)

Roti Gambang

 

I missed my parents, I missed my sisters, I missed my country a lot - it has been 3 years won't be able to come to visit them. Hopefully someday. The more and more I miss my country, always pushing me to go back to the kitchen and make something related to my country, Indonesia - and the other hand, its always nice to introduce a new taste to my family members.

One of their favorite now is Roti Gambang, a very simple brown sugar bread . Is always easy to find this bread in my city ; there is always a guy who selling this bread and other kind of home made breads by the bicycle every afternoon. :))

The recipe I found from my blogger friend, Arfi Binsted - she made a gluten free version of the bread. Which is create a nice texture for the bread itself.

Gluten-Free Roti Gambang
By Femina Online
Source: Riana Ambarsari

250 g dark palm sugar, grated (I used Javanese Dark Palm Sugar).
175 ml water
380 g gluten-free flour or all purpose flour will work too
125 g almond meal
25 g milk powder (I skip this since I don't have in my pantry)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp vanilla flavouring essence
2 egg yolks, loosely beaten
200g margarine if you want softer texture
112g raw slivered almond, crushed lightly with rolling pin
3 Tbsp water, for brushing - I skip this since my dough is kind of sticky
3 Tbsp sesame seeds

Instruction:
Put sugar and water in a saucepan on a medium heat. Stir the sugar until dissolved and let it boiled for a while until bubbly. Remove from the stove, strain it  and let cool.
Combine flour, almond meal, milk powder, salt, baking soda, baking powder, crushed almond and cinnamon powder. Pour in the sugar mixture. Add in egg yolks and vanilla essence. With a wooden spoon, mix well until all the mixed dry ingredients hydrated. The mixture should be rather sticky. Add in margarine, mix well. Leave and cover the mixture a rest for 30 minutes for easy handling.
Preheat the oven to 300 F.
Line baking trays with baking paper. Weigh mixture 75g each, roll into balls, oval shape or long fingers , and put them on the trays. spread the sesame seeds stick on top of bread
Bake for 35 minutes. The bread will taste crunchy outside but soft inside.

 

Thank you Riana and Arfi for a nice recipe .. :)

The Common Cookies

 

Ask Indonesian people, what a popular cookies for Eid Celebration ? no doubt, they will say "Nastar" and "Katetong" - a very simple cookies yet delicious.  You are not celebrate Eid, if you don't have nastar - well, I think that is a real MANTRA !!  As like other who celebrate Eid in Indonesia - far away from home, I want do the same , bake a humble nastar and katetong. eew, why I just bake once a year since hubby and daughter loves this ?

The other hand, I just realize that another cookies named : katetong - has a different named around the country. Some called cat tounge (which make sense to me, katetong - sound like cat tounge) or Lingue di gato are so named because their shape resembles a cat’s tongue.  They also look a lot like a ladyfinger.  Katetong have a wonderful buttery flavor and can be served plain or frosted with a glaze of bittersweet chocolate.  You can also sandwich two cookies together with the chocolate glaze or with a little jam or Nutella. 

I got this recipe from my beloved friend, Ika Ray - so talented lady, who loves to bake and cook  . I need to re-post the recipe since I told my daughter, someday she need to bake her own :)

 

 

Nastar / Pineapple Tarts Recipe

Recipe : Ika Ray Kitchen

Pineapple Jam Filling
Ingredients:
4 large pineapples
300 g sugar
1 clove
1 inch cinnamon stick

Method:
1. Slice and grate pineapples till fine. You can use a food processor do grate it.
2. In medium pot ( i used spaghetti pot - so the pot deep enough to simmer the jam and not much of mess around the kitchen after work) put the grated pineapple, cinnamon stick, clove, let it simmer until the juice has dry up. Than add sugar .
3. Stir till the pineapple has thickened and dry.

Note : You can make the filling in advance and refrigerate it.

Pastry
Ingredients:
350 g margarine
350 gr butter
150 g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
900 g all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla essence

Egg Brush
2 egg yolk plus 1Tbsp water

Method:
1.Preheat oven at 150° C.
2.Cream margarine, butter and sugar till white.
3.Add in egg yolks and beat at low speed for 1 minute.
4.Fold in flour gradually.
5.Take about 2 tsp pastry dough, roll, press with your finger put a filling, roll it again.
6.Brush with egg brush. Add clove for decoration (optional)
7.Bake in a preheat oven at 350F for 20-25 minutes or when tarts is light golden brown in color

 

Katetong / Cat Tounge Cookies

Recipe : Ika Ray

Ingredients:
white eggs from 3 eggs (approx.90 - 100 ml)
450 gr margarine
150 gr butter
350 gr powder sugar
75 gr shreded cheddar cheese
600 gr all purpose flour (shive)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Direction :
Beat margarine, butter, sugar until smooth and fluffy.
Add white eggs, little by little, beat again until smooth and well blended. Gradually add flour .
With spatulla add cheddar cheese, mix well.
Place the dough inside a piping bag (i used plain tip). Then squeezed
out the dough into a greased kattetong mould. or just I just placed the dough on a cookie tin which was lined with a piece of parchment paper - pipe about 4 - 5 cm long
Bake in a preheat oven at 350F for 15-20 minute until done

Klepon Ubi

 

This recipe is a little bit of modification from original recipe, as I know the original recipe just using glutinous rice flour. But the new one add sweet potatoes - to me, the texture is more soften than regular one and yet delicious. And this dessert become popular among Indonesian's Food Blogger - I tell you, how easy media attract you ^_^

Thought using purple potatoes giving more pretty colors too, but too bad I couldn't fine the purple one so just grabbed the red / yellow sweet potatoes than.

KLEPON UBI
Recipe Ingredients:
200 grams of sweet violet / red/ yellow potatoes (steamed, mashed)
150 grams white glutinous rice flour
1 teaspoon salt
approx. 100 ml or less cold water water (for dough)
500 ml of water (for cooking)
100 gr grated coconut (steamed + add a pinch of salt)
50 g brown sugar (chopped)

Directions :
Combine sweet potatoes, white glutinous rice flour, salt and water. Stir well.
Take a little dough, fill with brown sugar. Make a round shape as big as lime size
In medium pot, boiled water. Add the potatoes ball , cooked until the dough are floating. Try not to put too many dough so not over crowded.
Roll in shredded coconut.
Serve.

old time memories..

Bring back my old time memories ! that what i try to do before eid fitri celebration coming this Tuesday - Insya Allah . My mom used to sew clothes for me and my sisters before eid clebration a very long time ago. Yup, she sew clothes for everybody , not only for us but for neighbor too.  She made money with her skill.  And a couple days before eid , she will be busy in the kitchen too .  She baked, she cooked , she prepared everything , the smell of cookies filled the air, sometime made us hungry and couldn't wait to taste .. to bad, we must to obey what she said, wait until fasting break.  And than she will give us a little amount of cookies to try and kept the rest for eid celebration day. Oh, that memory is always come to my mind especially during ramadan like this time.

Soon we will celebrate Eid fitri too, like my mom did , this time i do the same to my little one, i sewing a simple dress for her just to remind me how happy i was wear a new dress and walked around neighborhood. As you can guess, a fabric stores is more like a big playground to me. I will forget about the time while I'm in there. Silly me, while others enjoy been around jewelry store, i chose fabric store instead LOL. 

look what a beautiful fabrics i bought , oh well.. 

And baking an old time style cookies for celebration is another exciting moment to me too.  I choose one of my mom recipe with a different shape of cookies off course , we call Nastar .  Nastar is a small cookies filled with pineapple jam, delightful snap through the day, and become the most famous and the most wanted treats on big holiday such as Christmas, New Year eve and Eid in Indonesia.

NASTAR // Pineapple Tarts Recipe

Pineapple Filling


Ingredients:
4 large pineapples
300 g sugar
1 clove
1 inch cinnamon stick

Method:
1. Slice and grate pineapples till fine. You can use a food processor do grate it.
2. Strain the grated pineapple till dry.
3. Let it simmer in a wok toll the juice has dry up. Add sugar and, cinnamon stick and clove.
4. Stir till the pineapple filling is thick, sticky and dry.
5. Leave to cool and shape into small balls.

Note : make the filling in advance and refrigerate it.

Pastry

Ingredients:
500 g butter (or mix between butter and margarine is ok too)
100 g powdered sugar
4 egg yolks
700 g all purpose flour
200 gr edam cheese, granted
4 tbsp milk powder
1 tsp vanilla essence

Egg Brush
1 egg yolk plus 1Tbsp water


Method:
1.Preheat oven at 150° C.
2.Cream butter and sugar till white.
3.Add in egg yolks and beat at low speed for 1 minute.
4.Fold in flour gradually.
5.For pineapple cookies basket like mine : just roll a small dough between Ziploc bag, cut into a circle shape and put into a small pie cup. Or the simple way just make like a small ball.
6.Put the rolled pineapple filling onto the pastry
7.Brush with egg brush.

8.Bake for 30 minutes or when tarts is light golden brown in color.

When my arms can’t reach people close to my heart.

I always hug them with my prayers.

May allah’s peace be with you.

A very happy eid mubarak to you, my friends