HAMTRAMCK PINEAPPLE BARS
By Gloria Pitzer
As pictured above, seen in her self-published cookbook… The Original 200 Plus Secret Recipes© Book (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; June 1997, p. 13). Also published (as seen below) in her last book… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 230). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]
When I visited a Polish bakery in Hamtramck, MI (Detroit area) many years ago, one of their most popular cookies was their pineapple bars, which have remained a favorite of ours!
CRUST INGREDIENTS:
5 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
3 large eggs, beaten well
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup sour cream
½ teaspoon baking soda
CRUST INSTRUCTIONS:
Grease a 15.5″ x 10″ x 1” jellyroll pan – or use two 9″ x 12” pans. Combine as listed, blending to the consistency of a pie crust. Divide into 2 equal portions. Pat 1 portion evenly over bottom of a prepared pan. Set aside while you prepare the pineapple filling (below):
FILLING INGREDIENTS:
2 cans (9-oz each) crushed pineapple, drained – reserving the juice/syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons cornstarch
Dash of salt
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
Cinnamon & Sugar mix
1½ cups chopped pecans
FILLING & ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS:
Place pineapple in a 1½-quart sauce pan with sugar. Put 1/3 cup of reserved juice/syrup and the cornstarch through a blender until smooth. Pour into pineapple and sugar mixture.
Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until smooth and thickened. Add salt and butter. Remove at once from heat. Let cool about 5 minutes. Spread evenly over the prepared half of dough in the pan.
Roll out remaining dough between 2 sheets of Pam-sprayed waxed-paper, to the size of the pan, so that when inverted (with the top sheet removed), it fits neatly over the pineapple filling.
Peel off other sheet of wax paper, (having used that bottom sheet with which to lift the dough and invert it over the filling.) Dust top of dough with a cinnamon and sugar mix. Also, sprinkle it with chopped pecans.
Bake at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into squares after completely cooled in the pan. Serve as you would a brownie. Makes about 3 dozen small squares.
See also…
Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Michigan’s Mosaic Melting Pot
