Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall
These rich and gooey Pineapple Crumble Bars just might replace your usual lemon squares. Flavored with brown sugar, ginger, vanilla, and fresh pineapple, these bar cookies will stand out at any bake sale or dessert spread. Our Test Kitchen recommends using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment to make the crust and crumble topping because a hand mixer will send flour flying everywhere.
How to Make It
Step 1
Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly coat a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray. Beat flour, butter, vanilla, 1 cup of the sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt with a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-low speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about 1 minute. Reserve 1 cup of the crumb mixture in a small bowl for the topping. Press remaining crumb mixture evenly into bottom of prepared pan.
Step 2
Bake crust until golden brown, about 18 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack, and cool crust completely, about 30 minutes. (Do not turn off oven.)
Step 3
Meanwhile, gently stir together chopped pineapple, cornstarch, lemon juice, and remaining 1/3 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Spread pineapple mixture evenly over cooled crust.
Step 4
Stir together almonds and reserved crumb mixture in a small bowl until combined. Sprinkle almond mixture evenly over pineapple mixture on crust. Bake at 375°F until the filling is bubbly and the topping is lightly browned, 45 to 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour, and cut into 16 squares.
