Authentic Fènglísū Recipe Taiwan, Asia

First, clean the pineapple and chop it into very small pieces.

Place the pineapple and caster sugar in a large skillet and cook over high heat, until the sugar dissolves. Continue cooking until the liquid evaporates.

When the fruit becomes sticky and translucent, stir in the maltose syrup and lower the heat. If necessary, heat the syrup shortly in a microwave. Stir constantly, until the mixture gets a light caramel color and becomes thick. Remove from heat and leave to cool.

Now, prepare the crust. Sift milk powder, a pinch of salt, and cake flour into a large bowl. Place softened butter into a mixing bowl and beat at medium speed until it becomes creamy and pale. Add caster sugar and beat over medium to high speed for 2 to 3 more minutes.

When the butter doubles in volume and becomes very pale, add in 1/2 beaten egg. Keep mixing until combined.

Now, turn the mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture. When the dough is just combined, turn off the mixer. Fold with a spatula, then transfer the dough to a plastic wrap, form into a ball, wrap tightly and place into a refrigerator.

While the dough is cooling, divide the pineapple jam into 20 equal portions using a kitchen scale, then place in a refrigerator to cool for 30 minutes.

Roll each portion of filling into a small ball and lightly dust with flour. Do not allow the balls to touch because they might stick to each other.

Remove the dough from the fridge. It should be soft, but not sticky. Transfer the dough to a working surface and divide it in half. Roll out each half into a long rope and divide each rope into 10 equal pieces, so you have 20 pieces in total.

Roll each piece of the dough into a small ball using both hands. While holding the ball in the palm of one hand, press it down with your other palm and make a small dent with the tips of your fingers.

Now, place pineapple filling in the middle of the dough and gently pull up the edges of the dough between your thumb and index finger. The dough should envelop the filling. Roll into a small ball with filling in the center and repeat with the remaining portions of dough and filling.

Preheat the oven to 170˚C. Meanwhile, lightly flour the working surface and reshape the balls into low cylinders.

Bake for 10 minutes, then take the cakes out of the oven and flip over using spatulas. Be gentle, since the cakes are very fragile at this stage.

Put the cakes back into the oven and bake for 5 to 8 more minutes. When the cakes are lightly golden, remove them from the oven.

Cool the cakes and place them in an air-tight container. The fenglisu cakes are best to serve on the next day.