As much as I love dessert, I also love decorating. My two passions intersect when I get the opportunity to decorate baked goods. Recently, while recipe testing Hummingbird Cake/Cupcake recipes (here), I came across some recipes for stunning dried pineapple flowers and slices. Brilliant! I believe we eat with our eyes and often with an iced cake, you can't tell what flavours are inside. Adding decor to a dessert that displays an ingredient in such a creative and visually appealing way, is right up my alley. Seasonal, fresh, colourful and beautiful.
While these Dried Pineapple Flowers & Slices were intended to be displayed on my Hummingbird Cake and Cupcakes, I've also used them in everything from breakfast bowls to ice cream toppers. They are a definite "wow" factor to your dish.
I hope you try making them at home as well.
Enjoy,
Krista
Dried Pineapple Flowers, great tutorial here
Ingredients
1 fresh pineapple
Method
Pre-heat oven to lowest setting or 200 degrees.
Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.
Take the fresh pineapple and using a sharp knife remove the stem and bottom, then from top to bottom cut away the outside peel off so that only flesh remains. Using a fruit corer, remove any eyes that remain in the pineapple flesh. Place pineapple on a cutting board horizontally and slice very thin rounds. Place thin pineapple rounds onto the baking sheet and bake until slices are dried.
Cook times will vary depending on your oven, the thinness of your slices and the juiciness of the pineapple. I would start with about 30 minutes on one side (check for dryness, adding more time if necessary), then flip and bake for 20-30 minutes on the opposite side. To create the flower shape, you are not looking for dark brown and crispy, you want pliable and dry.
Once dry, remove slices from tray. Stop here if you are only wanting dried pineapple slices. If you would like to create the flower shape, place 1 dried pineapple slice into each bottom of a lightly sprayed muffin tin, let cool and sit over night. The following morning, heat oven to 200-225 degrees and bake pineapple slices in the muffin tine for another 30 minutes to hold shape. Allow to cool completely, then remove slices from the tin.
Use Pineapple Flowers immediately of store in an open zip top bag so flowers do not become more pliable.
*Optional: take 1/2 teaspoon of cream cheese icing and dollop in the centre of a dried pineapple flower. Sprinkle pearl candy beads.
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