Month: January 2023

It’s been 5 years since I’ve celebrated lunar new year in Singapore! Its honestly been heartwarming to be back with family and friends and one of the first celebrations I’ve truly enjoyed. We also very quickly found a pocket of time to make some pineapple tarts and rushed to get this out just before the big day!

Of course, I had to put a spin on it because why not right? So we made parmesan and pineapple linzer tarts. The cookie base is made with a parmesan sablé and the filling is pineapple jam spiced with Tahitian vanilla, cloves and cinnamon. Something familiar, something different. I had so much fun making these and taste testing them.

The cheese gives it a salty umami flavor and the tangy and sweet pineapple filling balances out the flavors.

I hope everyone had a good time celebrating and we wish everyone abundance and happiness this year!

I first tasted this flavor when my friend Jason in San Francisco made this. We’d often have dinner together with his wife, Yoko and we had many delicious meals together. With that said, he knows his stuff. He isn’t a baker/pastry chef or a person who works in the kitchen – he works in tech. Strangely enough, he married his eye for detail with his obsession for dessert and he always manages to outdo a lot of dessert programmes in the city.

Jason’s sakura and strawberry cake had umeshu, salted sakura leaves and strawberries. It’s like spring bursting in your mouth. The sweet and sour umeshu and the delicious flavor bomb of strawberries from Rodriguez farm and earthy nutty flavor of the salted sakura leaves really left a lingering imprint in my memory that I had to remake this.

I didn’t want to use the umeshu that Jason made as it’s my final bottle split between Lih and I so I found some ume tea which works just as well. Floral, nutty, and with the sweet scent of strawberries – this is really one of my favorites. I wish I could make this more often, but the weather here is impossible and also other logistical issues that cottage bakers would understand makes this not “delivery friendly”. I do however hope that one day, I’ll be able to open a small dine in shop and share these bakes.

Until then ◡̈ Happy 2023.