Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Pineapple Gingerbread Bars



A moist, chewy gingerbread crust melds into the sweet, juicy pineapple topping in these delectable bars. This was one of those "necessity is the mother of invention" things that so many new recipes are born from. While helping me put away groceries last weekend, my husband discovered that one of the cans of pineapple had been dropped when it was unloaded. The pop-top lid's seal had been broken. So, I needed to use up a can of pineapple soon.  



After looking for the "just right" recipe and not finding what I was hoping to, I decided to experiment. Often experimenting doesn't yield perfect results--especially the first time. But this was the exception. These are amazing bars. My entire family loved them and had seconds, thirds, and those slivers you cut when you want more, but say you are "cleaning up the edge." 



Here' the recipe: 

Pineapple Gingerbread Bars
Makes 48 bars

Ingredients
Crust:
2 cups whole wheat flour (all-purpose is fine)
2/3 cups brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1.5 sticks cold butter, cut into small pieces
Filling:
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
dash salt
1.5 teaspoons vanilla
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained (reserve juice)
Icing:
3 Tablespoons melted butter
1.5 cups powdered sugar
pineapple juice (reserved from can)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line either an 10" x 15" baking dish or two 8"x 8" square pans with foil and spray with cooking spray.
2. Mix dry ingredients of crust together in a bowl or food processor. Add the butter and either cut in with a pastry cutter, or pulse in processor, until mixture is a coarse meal.
3. Press into prepared pans and bake for 10 minutes. Remove and cool.
4. Prepare filling by beating together all filling ingredients except pineapple until well mixed. Stir in pineapple. Pour over cooled crust and return to oven. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove and cool.
5. Prepare icing by mixing powdered sugar into melted butter. Add pineapple juice by the tablespoon until icing is a good drizzling consistency. Drizzle top of cooled bars . I spooned the icing into a sandwich bag and cut off a corner tip to evenly drizzle. Cut into bars and serve. Store in refrigerator. 





4 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness - what a happy accident! I am pretty sure I would have tossed the pineapple - so good that you didn't! Thank you for sharing at On Display Thursday!

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  2. It was meant to be! I think the can accident happened so that you could make the lovely bars. Will try this out.

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  3. I love the combination of pineapple and gingerbread! Thank you so much for linking up at Tasty Tuesday! Your recipe has been pinned to the Tasty Tuesday Pinterest board! Please join us again this week!

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  4. YES PLEASE! This looks amazing! Thanks for linking up at Totally Terrific Tuesday! I hope you have a wonderful new year! I cant wait to see what it brings for everyone! Jess @Liverandomlysimple
    Hope you made it back this week! :)

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