Sakura Pineapple Balls ~ CNY 2021 ~ 樱花菠萝球

 I was mulling over the idea of what type of pineapple tarts to make for this coming Chinese New Year  and was thrilled when I came across Audrey Goh's post in Bake the Talk on FB.  A great thank you to you, Audrey.  I had some dried Sakura flowers idling in my fridge for the longest time and indeed I was most glad when I saw her pictures of Sakura pineapple tarts.  What an inspiration! To make things easy for myself, I just wrapped the balls of dough with the pineapple paste and then happily placed a hydrated flower on top.   I only 'created' ten Sakura pineapple balls as that was all the flowers I had. 

Sakura Pineapple Balls ~   樱花菠萝球  (adapted from  'here' )

Ingredients

• 250 gm butter 
• 50 gm icing sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 380 gm plain flour
• 2 Tbsp cornflour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 600 to 700 gm pineapple paste
• Egg glaze (1 whole egg, sieved)
• Dried Sakura flowers, hydrated (optional)

Method

1. Sift the plain flour, cornflour and salt, set aside.
2. Beat the butter with icing sugar till creamy.  Fold in the sifted flour.  Add in vanilla.  Mix well.  Let the dough rest for 30 mins.
3. Weigh out 12 gm of pineapple paste, roll into balls.  Set aside.
4. Weigh out 15 gm of dough, roll into balls, flatten and wrap up the pineapple paste.  Roll into a ball.  Apply egg glaze and stick a Sakura flower on top.
5. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 deg.C for about 15 minutes. 
6. Yield :  50 Pineapple balls.  

Here's wishing everyone A very Happy and Blessed  Lunar New Year

&

May the Year of the Ox brings you much cheer, joy and good health