Pineapple Almond Bars

I loved those coconut lemon bars so much that I wanted to make more. But the second time around, I decided to change it up a bit. I had opened one of the large cans of pineapple tidbits when the idea hit me on the head. I didn't want to throw away all the delicious juice it came with. Sometimes I prefer the juice to the actual fruit. So pineapple bars it was!It's basically the same procedure as making the lemon bars. For the base I added some almond slices into the mix. Pineapple and almond do go well together.

Once baked, I put a tiny chunk of pineapple evenly space. It's best to do that part before the top layer of crust settles. One of the neat things is that after you sprinkle the powdered sugar on top. It melts into the little pineapple chunk, so it sort of looks like a tiny crater.

Makes 12 to 24 bars.

Pineapple Almond Bars

crust:
vegetable oil or cooking spray
3/4 c unsalted butter - 1 1/2 sticks - cold cubed
2 c all purpose flour
1/4 c brown sugar - packed
1/4 c confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar) - plus extra for dusting
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c almond slices

filling:
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 c granulated sugar
1/3 c all purpose flour
1 c pineapple tidbits
1 c pineapple juice

Preheat your oven to 350˚F

Grease a 9x13 - inch pan with the vegetable oil or cooking spray. Then line the pan with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides. Grease the foil as well.

In a food process, pulse the butter, flour, sugars and salt until it feels of a dough texture.  About a minute. If you don't have a food processor, mix and mash together with your hands until you get a doughy consistency. Pour the flour mixture into a bowl and add the almonds.

Place the dough in the pan and press evenly, making sure there are no cracks. Place in the oven and bake until the crust is golden brown, roughly 25 minutes.

While the crust bakes, make the filling. Whisk together, the eggs, yolks, sugar and flour until a smooth consistency. Add the pineapple juice.

When the crust is finished, remove from oven. Turn the oven down to 300˚F. Pour the filling onto the warm crust and return the pan into the oven. Baked for another 30-35 minutes or until the filling has set.

Let the bars cool in the pan on a rack, garnish with the pineapple tidbits evenly spaced. Then put in the fridge until it firms up -- 2 hours. When the filling has set, remove from the pan and slice. Dust with some additional powdered sugar.

Cini Mini Bites with Cream Cheese Frosting

Now for the 4th and final recipe of the 4-part meal. I remember watching Barefoot Contessa on day and on the episode, Ina Garten had made some easy sticky buns.(Click here to view her recipe) It got me thinking on making some, but bite-sized. Here's my adaptation.

As I mentioned in the first of this 4-part post. Puff pastry usually comes in tri-folded sheet. The recipe below will use 1/3 of that pastry puff.

Serving size: 1/3 will generally make around 11 to 12 bites. One whole puff pastry will make 33 to 36 including edges.

The cream cheese frosting is similar to the cream cheese filling minus the strawberries.



Cini Mini Bites

1/3 Puff Pastry Sheet (cut at crease)
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar (plus 4 Tbsp extra)
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp Toffee Bits
1 Tbsp chopped Pecan chips (plus extra)
1/4 tsp melted butter
4 Tbsp butter (softened)
all purpose flour

Preheat oven 400˚F

Place pastry puff on a well-floured flat surface. Longest side towards you. Sprinkle brown sugar over dough, leaving a little over 1/2" at the top for the edge crust. Then sprinkle ground cinnamon, toffee bits and pecan chips. Make sure to get all the other sides but that open 1/2"

Brush the melted butter on that open 1/2", then roll the the dough nice and snug from the bottom up. Cut into 3/4" pieces.

Cream together the extra 4 Tbsp butter and 4 Tbsp brown sugar on a small bowl.

For baking sheets: Place mini muffins on greased sheet and place a tiny dollop of the butter and brown sugar mix and sprinkle some extra pecan ships.

For mini-muffin pans: place a tiny dollup of the butter mix at the bottom of each cup. Then place one piece of the cinnamon bites on top.

Bake for 10min.

For mini-muffin pans: to remove mini-bites, flip the pan onto a flat surface.
For sheet pans: remove with spatula.


Cream Cheese Frosting
2 oz. Cream Cheese (roughly 4 Tbsp)
4 Tbsp Confectioner Sugar (powdered sugar)
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

Mix all three ingredients together in a small bowl


Putting it together: Place a nice dollop of frosting on each cini mini bite and enjoy!

Banananana Nut Bread

No, I didn't misspell banana. You read the title right. Added a couple extra syllables there at the end. I was reading a few recent posts on my fellow foodie blogs and happened to come across doggybloggy's (ChezWhat?) post on Banana Nut Bread. That got me craving for some. I didn't want to go and buy a loaf or a single muffin that costs four or five bucks. I didn't want to eat dinner rolls again. I had some extra time and the ingredients, so I made some for myself and my mom. Depending if I don't devour it first.

I love bananas and you already know my love for breads. I used a 6-inch round cake pan as I didn't have a loaf pan when I made this. (I do now.) So it looks more like a cake with a dome. I love the texture of the innards in the picture below. It has a nice firm crust and a spongy center.

A lot of the recipes I've seen contain the same ingredients. This is very simple and super easy to make. No need for complicated equipment or special ingredients. The only difficult part is waiting for it to bake. But as they say, patience is virtue. You can change it up a notch by adding different nuts, dried fruits, chocolate chips, cinnamon, etc. Make it your own. It's all easy-peasy!

This recipe below will make about two loaves or one loaf and some muffins or just muffins. Your choice.

1 cup unsalted butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soda
4 cups flour
6 large bananas, very ripe, mashed
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Cream together butter and sugar. (Combining them into one mushy blob)

Add in the other ingredients once that is done. Mix well and place mixture into a greased loaf pan.

Bake for 1h 15min in a preheated 325˚ oven or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 10min, remove from loaf pan and enjoy.

The best way to slice into a loaf of bread is to use a bread knife. If you don't have one, a knife with a serrated edge would do. This'll keep you bread from getting squished while you're slicing. Finally, spread some butter, jam or eat it alone. Whatever way you like, this bread is oh-so nutritious and delicious!!!