Sweet chinese-style pineapple bun (aka Melon Pan in Japanese)

So the pineapple bun...It's the "essence" of Hong Kong "Tea cafes" and the star of the Japanese bakery. It doesn't actually have pineapples...or melons...it's basicaly a sweet bun with a cookie like topping. There is a criss-cross pattern on top, therefore resembling a pineapple (or melon)...

A typical small pineapple bun from the Chinese bakery will cost you....$1 and around 350 calories, hardly a bargain. Here is my low cost and low caloric version:

Chinese Pineapple bun/Japanese Melon pan

(makes 4 servings)

Bun:

4 wonderbread hamburger buns (or any plain bun with 110 calories or lower)

*Note: I chose the wonderbread buns because I think they are the best substitutes for the lowest calories. They are decently sized, sweet, and have a fluffly texture similar to ones from the Chinese bakery. By the way, even plain buns from the Chinese bakery tend to contain much more fat and sugar.

Topping:

2 tbs Becel with RSF low calorie margarine (or other light margarine 37.5kcal/tbs)
1 tbs powdered sugarfree vanilla coffeemate (try other flavours 30kcal/tbs)
2 tbs splenda
1/3 cup Aunt Jemima complete buttermilk pancake mix

*Note: nutritionals for the pancake mix varies by region. The one I have (Vancouver) has 130kcal per 1/3 cup. You can also use pastry flour or other pancake/baking mix with less than 400kcal per cup

Method:
1. Cut margarine into flour, until it resembles coarse meal
2. Blend the rest of the topping ingredients together by hand with a spoon
3. Mix until ingredients have formed a ball of dough and sides of the mixing bowl are clean
4. Do not overmix! You dont' want the gluten in the flour to develop
5. If dough is too dry, add some water or milk, a little bit at a time (I didn't add any)
6. Divide dough into 4, about slightly smaller than a ping-pong ball

7. Flatten your dough and spread it out on the tops of your hamburger buns
8. Use the back of a knife to cut a criss-cross pattern
9. Toast in the oven until topping is cooked and browned
*Note: I used the broil option on my toaster oven as the bun is already cooked and didn't want to burn it while the topping cooks. Also, next time I may want to make a softer dough by adding a tiny bit of water. This way I might be able to stretch the dough to make 5 servings.

Approximate Nutritionals (per bun with topping):
Calories: 175 kcal

Fat: 4g

Pineapple bun with fatfree/sugarfree chestnut cream filling (filling recipe to come later). Nutritional information did not include chestnut filling.