Pineapple Cookies (Nastar)



This little pineapple treat or what we usually call "Nastar" is an traditional Indonesian goodie. If Chinese has pineapple cake, American has pineapple upside-down cake, then nastar is definitely the Indonesian staple. Inside these little cookies is homemade-pineapple jam. We can't use the ready-made or jarred pineapple jam from grocery store because it will leak out. Besides, the taste will be completely different. The jam then wrapped with pastry-like dough or a little more like cookie dough.

What makes a good nastar is the perfect pineapple jam and the texture of the pastry. Some people like the pastry to be crunchy, but others (including me) like it soft and melt-in-your-mouth texture. The difference lies in the method of making the pastry, not the amount of the ingredients. You can make completely different textures with the exact same recipe, but different method.

I've been searching for the perfect recipe for this cookie for so long. And after long research, reading, experimenting, I think I find one. I really like the texture of this one. It's soft and when you put it in your mouth, it just breaks into melting goodness with intense milk flavor and sweet pineapple jam.

Luckily, I still managed to take a picture before it's all gone, although it's only half-full :).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

nastarmu uenak rek. bikin lagi yang buanyak, ok?

llk said...

Is it fine to share the recipe?

Unknown said...

Hi Bertha,

Wow!! 'ntar lagi Christmas... Nastarmu bikin menggoda saja, jadi nggak sabar nih bikin Nastar seperti di Indo.

Jen (Pasadena)

Bertha said...

Hi natalya, thank you.
Bikin nastar is veryyyy time consuming, especially if you try to get every single piece the same size. It took me about 10 hours last time, straight!! and It was gone very fast. I don't feel like making nastar anytime soon :)