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Friday 21 September 2018

Recipe Request: Pineapple Squares

River, who blogs at Drifting Through Life, requested the recipe for the pineapple squares I mentioned in my poem last Monday. These are not a low calorie treat, not by any stretch of the imagination, but they do taste mighty fine. The directions call for standard measuring cups and spoons rather than weighing ingredients, and I bake mine in an electric oven. Your results may differ if you use a different system of measurement or a different kind of oven.

Just one question before we get to the actual recipe. Our son-in-law, who grew up in Australia and in the United States, wanted to know why we called squares "squares" because he had never heard the term used before. When I explained that a square was any kind of sweet made in a flat pan and cut into squares or rectangles, that was confusing enough. But then when we started talking about brownies (sweets made in a flat pan and cut into squares or rectangles, and never called "brownie squares"), he was even more baffled.

I thought the word "squares" was in universal use. Apparently not! What do YOU call sweet treats that are baked in a pan and cut into squares? I'm curious to know.

Pineapple Squares

Base:
1/2 c butter
3 T brown sugar or icing sugar (I've used both; they're equally good)
1 c white flour

Cream butter and sugar together; add flour and mix well. Press into bottom of ungreased 8 inch square pan (metal or glass). Bake at 350F - 375F for 10-15 minutes. Will not be browned, but will feel firm to the touch. Do not overbake. Cool before adding frosting layer.

Frosting layer:
1/4 c butter
3/4 c icing sugar
1/4 t vanilla

Cream butter; gradually add icing sugar and then vanillal mix well. Spread over base.

Topping:
1/2 c whipping cream
1 c crushed pineapple (or tidbits work too), well drained

Whip cream until soft peaks form, fold in drained pineapple, and spread on frosted base. Chill well before serving. Perishable, so store in fridge. Keeps at least four days.

As with any recipe, you may wish to tweak it to make it healthier, more decadent, etc. I usually make a bit more whipped cream in order to accommodate the entire can of pineapple that is closest in size to one cup, because otherwise the pineapple would go to waste and also because I like the topping part the best :)

*****

Good luck, River and anyone else who takes a run at making these. Any questions, feel free to ask in the comments.

*****

I couldn't find a picture of pineapple squares on the internet that looked even remotely like the ones this recipe makes, so instead here's a funny video of Louie the beagle making Christmas cookies . . . because Christmas is only thirteen and a half weeks away . . . . . . .








50 comments:

River said...

Thank you for the recipe. I also have an electric oven and I hate it, but I'm stuck with it. Where I grew up, things made in pans and cut into squares or rectangles were often called slice, for instance lemon slice, which I made recently, I guess because the slab was sliced for serving. I've never thought or heard of brownies being called slice or squares though they are always just brownies, very delicious and very popular.
Excess pineapple never goes to waste here, I put it on pizza, or use it in pineapple meringue pies, which are like lemon meringue pies, but the filling is pineapple not lemon. Or I just eat it.

River said...

I'm thinking this would be good with very-well-drained crushed pineapple mixed into the base and then baked.

Elephant's Child said...

Such decadent treats are slices rather than squares here.
Christmas? Wash your mouth out. I am so not ready to even start thinking about it.

Elephant's Child said...

PS: I believe your squares are traybakes in the UK.

Joan (Devon) said...

Hallo Jenny, the Pineapple Squares sound a bit too sweet for me, but I'm sure they are delicious for anyone with a sweet-tooth. I can understand why they're called squares if that is what they are.
Over here we call cakes that are baked in a shallow tin, tray-bakes. There were various recipes for tray-bakes in a book I bought in the 70s and I tried a couple of them at the time and the one that I thought was delicious was the carrot cake. I haven't had any as nice as that since and unfortunately the book is no more.
The only ones I can think of that are universal are Flapjacks and Yorkshire Parkin which have been made in trays since time began, lol.

37paddington said...

oh my these sound yummy. definitely not on my eating plan, but storing away for a rainy day.

jenny_o said...

That's interesting; we use the word slice only for bread and sweet loaves such as banana loaf. It's neat how names differ from place to place.

I would eat the pineapple too except it's one of the things I need to be careful how much I eat. It gives me a sore throat if I eat it by itself without a buffering food.

jenny_o said...

I'm thinking your thinking sounds good :)

jenny_o said...

River has mentioned about slices; see my reply to her.

I'm only thinking about Christmas because I stumbled on the video! . . . Sorry :D

jenny_o said...

And that makes sense, too, doesn't it?

jenny_o said...

The pineapple squares are surprisingly light-tasting (but not light in calories). The original recipe my mother had called for twice as much frosting in the middle layer; we use less because the original was very sweet.

Traybakes sounds like a sensible name. And I've never heard of flapjacks being made in a tray! Here we fry them (albeit in a non-stick pan with cooking spray, to cut the calories) and call them pancakes - ha ha

jenny_o said...

Yeah. Sigh. I take them to my potluck so I can have one and be done :)

Joanne Noragon said...

First, as to semantics, squares is squares and that's all there is to it. If brownies were squares, they'd be called squares. Easy peasy.
Pineapple squares was an occasional childhood dessert, when every meal ended with dessert. Ours stopped at the first step, were browned, and featured a maraschino cherry baked into the pineapple's center. We used a lot of maraschino cherries!

Little Red Hen said...

I call them squares but don't think twice about calling them Nanaimo Bars.

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

I must try your pineapple dessert, it does sound very yummy. All my filled, capped and bridged teeth are sweet so this certainly appeals to me. We call them squares because somebody named them that and told us to cut them that way. Of course, you could place them on a plate at a diamond angle and you would have Pineapple Diamonds. Now that really sounds decadent.

dinthebeast said...

You remind me of a math joke my father, who was from Oklahoma, used to tell: Pi r squared? No, pie are round, cornbread are square.

-Doug in Oakland

Marie Smith said...

I will makes these for the grandkids, Jenny.

Squares were always cookies to me.

jenny_o said...

I couldn't believe how many iterations of pineapple squares I found on the internet! All different.

jenny_o said...

See, there's another confusing thing! Life is hard :)

jenny_o said...

If I was running the world, I'd get you to be the official dessert namer - Pineapple Diamonds is a great name :)

jenny_o said...

LOL! Let's see if I can remember that for more than my customary five minutes!

And there's another confusing thing - cornbread ARE square (or rectangular) but we'd never call it/them "squares", now would we?

jenny_o said...

Squares were cookies? Now my head really hurts :D

Just as a warning, kids don't seem to enjoy these, although maybe that's just the kids I've tried them on! Seem to be more of a big person taste.

kylie said...

This reminds me a little of a pineapple slice my mum used to make (although it's really nothing alike) mum's had a cooked shortbread base and was topped with crushed pineapple cooked into a semi solid gel type thing thickened with cornflour. We had whipped cream and grated chocolate on top.
The naming traditions are interesting, you need a piece of something delicious to help get your head around it!

Mr. Shife said...

Thanks for sharing the recipe, jenny_o. It looks delicious and I will have to share with my son, who is a budding cook, and see what he thinks. Also, thanks for sharing Louie. He's pretty awesome. Have a great weekend.

jenny_o said...

That sounds good and the flavours are probably similar. Yes, yes I do need a piece of something delicious, instead of the handful of dry pretzel sticks I am currently substituting for something delicious :)

jenny_o said...

I haven't met a kid yet who does like these but, hey, all the more for the adults in the room, eh? :) I laughed at Louie through three viewings of that video!

only slightly confused said...

They are squares in Canada and brownies are just brownies...but the most common description for them in our house is 'gone'.

Geo. said...

Square: Meaning "square shape or area" is recorded from late 14c. (Old English), containing four equal sides and right angles, and if you want to get really ancient about it, Romans called squares "quadra". Beyond that, it's after midnight and I am delirious. Enjoyable bedtime post. Thanks!

e said...

Yum!

Alphie Soup said...

Hah. My last comment vanished. It's slices here and whatever it is in other places.
Too early for that Christmas talk.
Alphie

River said...

That sounds a lot like pineapple meringue pie, just substitute meringue for the whipped cream and bake of course to brown the meringue.

Dee said...

Dear jenny_o, thanks for the Louie video; I laughed out loud! I can just see doing this with one of the cats with whom I lived. Chaos!

And thanks for the recipe. I use the word "squares" for what I cut from a rectangular or square pan, how I don't say "Brownie squares," just "Brownies"! Isn't language a delight! Peace.

LL Cool Joe said...

I think in the UK we'd call them slices too, not squares, which is a little strange as they are squares not slices. :D

jenny_o said...

I hear you!

jenny_o said...

I think I'll start calling squares "quadra" and see how confused I can make my people :D

I hope your delirium recedes soon!

jenny_o said...

Me too, e :)

jenny_o said...

Actually both comments came to me (and I deleted the extra when moderating) - I don't know why, but Blogger does that sometimes.

Yes, too early for Christmas :)

jenny_o said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one to laugh at the video! I suppose it wasn't much fun for the dog but then again he seems to have gotten a few bites of the dog cookie ingredients :)

Language is indeed a delight! Peace to you.

jenny_o said...

Unless they're rectangles, which is what I do sometimes to make them smaller and more numerous :) The only thing we call slices are bread and sweet loaves. Strange!

Steve Reed said...

I'd call them squares, just like you -- unless they were brownies. :)

bazza said...

In the UK, Brownies are just Brownies but we tend to use all words: slab, square, slice, round etc. We've got too many words!
CLICK HERE for Bazza’s criticasterous Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

jenny_o said...

Yep :)

jenny_o said...

Maybe you could give some away :)

Martha said...

I call them 'yummy'. And that's good enough for me :)

This recipe sounds delicious! Maybe I'll make it when we have guests and they could eat most of it, so all of it doesn't end up on my thighs :)

Diane Henders said...

Ooh, that sounds yummy! I call everything but brownies "squares", too - must be a Canajen thing. ;-)

jenny_o said...

Silly Martha, that's cookies you're thinking of - lol (now I have the Cookie Monster song in my head)

The thing I like about these squares is that they don't really taste overly sweet. That, and the whipped cream. That part is good, too :)

jenny_o said...

We just have no imagination, right? :D

jenny_o said...

No, no no! Meringue and whipped cream are not interchangeable! Naughty River :)

baili said...

Your son in law's question has logic :)

thank you for incredible recipe

here sometimes voltage of electricity is not stable or quite below then an oven requires specially in winters which is annoying because baking is mostly fun during cold weather

yet i will try this one

lots of love and prays!

jenny_o said...

Our son-in-law's question opened my eyes to how our names for things may not make sense sometimes!

You're so right, baking is much better done in winter! It helps to make the house cozy :)