Buttery and crumbly. Tart and tasty. Few goodies are more associated with Chinese New Year in Singapore than the pineapple tart which, by the way, is a truly local creation.

Baked by residents of The Helping Hand, proceeds from the pineapple tarts will go to funding the work of the organisation to rehabilitate drug addicts.

This year, as you look for Chinese New Year treats, why not try one that comes with a story that spans two continents and more than 30 years?

This pineapple tart with a tale to tell comes from The Helping Hand (THH), a Christian halfway house that rehabilitates drug addicts. For the first time, THH is making pineapple tarts to sell for Chinese New Year.

For years, the volunteer welfare organisation (VWO) has offered several services – removal and disposal, painting and cleaning, furniture and digital product sales and redistribution of used items – to fund their mission to transform lives through their holistic programme as well as to provide gainful employment to their residents.

This year, they have added selling homemade pineapple tarts to their services because now they have, in their midst, a baker who has honed his craft in Europe.

The reluctant baker  

Lim Choon Hock, or Ah Hock as he is known, worked in kitchens across Europe for 10 years. He has lived in England, Ireland, France and Italy. It was in Italy that he first picked up baking skills.

Lim (right), who did not enjoy baking at first, can now bake all types of bread. He is part of the team in THH who will be making baked goods.

“My first loaf turned out like a rock,” shared the 62-year-old. “The yeast didn’t ferment well.”

Though he now knows how to make all sorts of breads and even pizza dough from scratch, Lim confessed that he was “very negative” about baking at first because it was tough.

“You have to get everything just right – the right amount of water, yeast and flour, the right temperature. You have to factor in even climate changes. So, if you take what you learn in Europe and apply it here, it would be different.”

He fought to overcome the challenges and soon “found baking interesting and fell in love with it”.

His may seem like the usual account of a baking novice made good but Lim did not go to Europe to learn to bake. He went there to save his life.

The prideful young man

Lim was 50 years old and desperate. He had been addicted to heroin for much of his adult years and it had ruined his life.

He was about 25 when an old army buddy introduced him to the drug. “I thought I was strong enough. I was just playing with it and thought there was nothing wrong, that if I wanted to, I could stop.”

Within a month of his first puff, he was hooked. His lifestyle spiralled downwards. “When you get into this sort of addiction, it leads to clubbing, womanising, gambling, because all these types of people are in this type of environment.”

The drugs made him spacey and the former electronics salesman became unreliable at work, often showing up late or not even bothering to show up. Financing his expensive addiction soon took up all his time and attention.

“When I needed money, I would take it from my sisters, my mother, my father. In the beginning, I borrowed. Then, I started to steal from them.”

When Lim finally got baptised, his sisters turned up to support him.

The youngest of seven children with five sisters and one brother, Lim was the much doted upon baby of the family. To help him kick his addiction, his parents sent him to expensive detox centres. He went three times. Each time he got out, he returned to drugs.

“On the day I got discharged, I was using again.”

He went to prison four times, each time because of his drug use.

The hopeless middle-ager

Then, his parents passed away, first his father and then, a few years later, his mother. Since his siblings had all married and moved out and Lim was the only one still single and living at home, he sold his parents’ flat. The money went to feed his drug habit because he had been jobless for more than two decades.

When the money ran out, so did his options.

“I was very down. I didn’t know what to do. There was no one to help me (like my parents had).”

He contemplated suicide but instead walked into the Church of the Risen Christ, a Catholic church he had passed by almost all his life because it was near his home. There, he asked for help.

It was the priest who introduced Lim to the Cenacolo Community, a Catholic organisation that rehabilitates addicts of all kinds. Those in need of help live in one of its 60 fraternities or houses across 18 countries where they devote themselves to prayer, work and friendship.

“No handphones, no phones, no television, no newspapers,” said Lim of the simple lifestyle.

Years spent in kitchens across Europe helped Lim (right) hone his baking skills which he now puts to good use at THH.

Already equipped with cooking skills because “I have five older sisters, one of whom owns a restaurant, and they taught me”, Lim was introduced to baking there and served in that area.

For the next decade, he lived in various houses in Europe, first as a resident, then as a counsellor.

The recalcitrant addict

 When Lim was 60, he returned to Singapore with the intention of moving to the Philippines to start Cenacolo Community’s Asian house there. Instead, away from the cloistered community, he returned to heroin.

But his time with the faith community in Europe had changed his heart for good, if not his habit.

“I used one, two, three times and then I felt bad.”

He walked into a police station and surrendered himself. He was arrested and his sentence included mandatory rehabilitation at THH.

Explaining how being in THH has helped, Lim said: “When I am in Helping Hand, I don’t have the desire to go back to drugs. My time here is fully occupied – prayer, do Quiet Time, counselling, work.

“The right group of friends is very important. The right attitude in work and a prayer life as well. Every morning, I do my Quiet Time and reflect on what I had done wrong and I pray. It’s very simple.”

Sweet beginnings

What has not been simple was coming up with the right tart recipe once THH decided to embark on the new project. Lim took lessons from a baking school, watched YouTube videos and consulted his sister who was good at making pastries and mooncakes.

It was after trying several different recipes that THH finally settled on one which features tart pineapple filling encased in buttery pastry.

Together with his team of three other residents, they spent months trying to prefect their bake. “Every morning, we would let the residents try our pineapple tarts. We went through quite a number of versions and made changes based on what the majority liked.”

There were several different versions – open-faced pineapple tarts shaped like flowers, ones rolled up to look like tiny bolsters or shaped like mahjong tiles as well as those rolled up into perfect golden globes.

The favourite and the one THH is finally selling are round pineapple tarts with a tangy, fruity centre enfolded by rich, golden pastry. But what is so special about these pineapple tarts?

“We put love in it!” quipped Lim.

THH hopes to sell at least 500 tubs, each filled with 40 pineapple tarts. “Every time you buy a tub, you are actually contributing to society and making a difference in someone’s life.

THH hopes to sell at least 500 tubs of these quintessential Chinese New Year goodies.

“Our mission is to transform our residents to live a Christ-centered life and reintegrate into society – this is what you would be supporting.”

Having completed his court-instructed stay at THH, Lim is now working there, helping new residents integrate into the programme as a “big brother” of sorts, though he demurred when called that and insisted he was merely “the least and the last”.

Lim now journeys with new residents, helping them integrate into the programme and life at THH.

“My favourite verse is ‘the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many’ (Matthew 20:28).

“Because of my addiction, my first words in the past 30 years had been, ‘Can you please help me?’ Now, I can help someone else. There is meaning in my life.”