I think I’m conquering Chinese New Year one snack at a time. I’ve always made a mean pineapple tart; this was thanks to baking classes as well as lots of shared tips from other baking gurus. But when diabetes hit and sugar and flour became no-nos, I stopped making pineapple tarts for several years. After all, pineapples are really sugar-laden fruits in the first place. But I suspect the lethal combination of the pineapple jam and a sugary buttery tart base (good pineapple tarts have to be melt in the mouth) is what makes Chinese New Year an impossibly calorie and sugar-laden festival. It is said that 7 pineapple tarts are equivalent to a bowl of rice in terms of calories; my Fitness Pal says that 1 pineapple tart has 15 carbs. Which means that taking one tart exceeds my usual carb intake per meal in my low carb lifestyle.
This year I decided to try to figure out the challenge to make pineapple tarts as low carb as possible. I couldn’t use my usual almond flour tart base as this tends to soften over time and this is definitely not what one wants for a pineapple tart…the tart base has to be soft enough and yet hold its form and shape for several days. So I first tried to use quinoa flour – the texture wasn’t too bad and it looked like the typical pineapple tart…but the taste was kind of weird. The tart tasted vegetablish and the closest I would describe it was a kind of mung bean flavour. Kid #2 spat it out immediately but kid #1 (the Hoover) inhaled the tarts. But I felt I had to do a little better than that and so I fell back on using Bob’s Red Mill Low Carb Baking Mix. This mix is definitely higher in fiber content and the tart shells were brownish in colour, but this time kid#2 gave the tarts a thumbs up.
I think in future I may invest in LC cake flour when making pineapple tarts. The problem is that netrition international shipping costs an absolute bomb. For now, this version of pineapple tarts is good enough for my low carb family.
Low Carb Pineapple Tarts
Ingredients
Pineapple filling
- 4 honey pineapples
- 1 cup of sugar substitute (adjust according to the tartness of the pineapple)
- 1 cinnamon stick
Pineapple tart shell
- 500 g butter
- 150 g Swerve confectioners sugar
- 6 egg yolks
- 500 g Bob’s Red Mill Low Carb Baking Mix
- 1 tbsp arrowroot flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
Method
- Slice and grate the pineapples (don’t use a food processor as this changes the texture of the filling).
- Place the grated pineapple, sugar substitute and cinnamon into a large non-stick pot and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon to make sure the filling does not get stuck to the bottom of the pan. The filling is done when the pineapple filling is thick and the juice has evaporated.
- Leave to cool. When cool, shape into balls weighing 9 g each. The tart filling can be refrigerated until ready for use.
- Cream the butter and confectioner’s sugar together.
- Add the egg yolks and vanilla essence and beat for a minute.
- In a separate bowl, mix the Bob’s Red Mill Baking Mix and arrowroot flour and baking powder together. Fold the dry ingredients together with the butter and egg mixture.
- Divide the tart dough into 2 halves. Take one half and roll out the tart dough between 2 sheets of baking paper.
- Use a tart shell mould and press out the dough shell. Place a round ball of pineapple filling and press into the center of the shell.
- Turn on the oven to 150 deg C. Bake the tarts for 15 minutes, then allow to cool in the tray. Serve when cool.
Still Feeling Peckish 