If you love pineapple (and/or lemon bars), you are sure to love this super easy pineapple bars recipe! Canned pineapple works in a pinch, but cut up half of a whole fresh pineapple and get ready to be hooked for life on this sweet and tangy treat!!
Rich, delicious pineapple bars are simply amazing either with fresh or canned pineapple!
Pineapple Bars Recipe
OK, this is one of those desserts that I would totally be able to fill up the entire blog page with nothing but me gushing about how wonderful my pineapple bars are!!
This amazing pineapple dessert is not only quick ( prep-wise, it takes some time in the oven ) and incredibly easy, but the recipe is also requested frequently. Bring these luscious pineapple bars to a party at work or a potluck and you will be barred from leaving until everyone knows how to make them!
How To Make Pineapple Bars
To start on the pineapple bars you will need flour, sugar, salt, butter, eggs, sour cream, and pineapple. The confectioners sugar, half-and-half and coconut extract are for the optional, but highly recommended, drizzled icing.
Preheat your oven to 350 ºF (175 ºC) and butter or spray your 9 x 13 baking pan or dish with non-stick cooking spray. Lining the baking dish with parchment paper is also an option, as you can then lift the entire batch of pineapple bars out for slicing and serving.
Make the Pastry Crust & Crumble Topping
You can make the crust layer using a food processor, stand mixer or pastry cutter to blend in the cold, cubed butter. Grab what you have and mix the first portion of flour with the sugar, salt, and butter until crumbly in texture.
Withhold one cup of the crust mixture and reserve it for topping the filling layer.
Transfer the remaining pastry crust mixture to your buttered baking dish and spread it evenly across the bottom of the pan. Press down on the crust layer until the bottom of the pan is covered evenly, and until it reaches the corners of the pan.
Bake the crust layer in your preheated oven for 15 minutes while mixing up the filling layer.
Make The Pineapple Filling
For the filling, use a large mixing bowl or your stand mixer bowl. Combine the beaten eggs with sugar, sour cream, salt, flour, and either freshly cut pineapple, canned pineapple chunks or crushed pineapple.
Gently stir the filling mixture until well combined.
After your crust has baked, allow it to cool for a few minutes. Spoon the pineapple filling over the cooled crust layer.
Crumble the reserved cup of the crust mixture over the filling and then bake for approximately one hour or until golden on top.
The filling will be soft and gooey but it should not be runny. An inserted knife should come out with some moist crumb on it, but not anything like a doughy texture.
I had to run into town, and left these pineapple bars for my husband to remove from the oven for me. Thus, they are about 4-5 minutes overdone (but still delicious)!
When you remove the baked pineapple bars out of the oven, place the pan on a wire cooling rack and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
Make The Coconut Icing
While the pineapple bars are cooling, mix up your coconut icing. Use a small bowl and combine the confectioners sugar, half-and-half, and coconut extract until smooth.
The icing should be thick enough to drizzle slowly over the pineapple bars, but should not be runny either. Add more confectioners sugar if needed, to thicken – conversely, add more half-and-half if the icing is too thick.
Drizzle the icing over the pineapple bars randomly, cut the bars into squares, serve, and enjoy!
Pineapple Bars
Ingredients
Crust & Topping
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 3/4 cup butter (cold, cubed butter - 1 1/2 sticks)
Filling Mix
- 2 large eggs (beaten)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 pineapple (fresh, finely sliced or 1 16 oz can of crushed pineapple)
Coconut Icing
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 2 Tbsp half-and-half (use more as needed)
- 1 tsp coconut extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease your 9 x 13 baking pan with butter or use non-stick cooking spray.
Pastry Crust & Crumble Topping
- For the crust/topping: in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl add flour, sugar, salt and cubed butter. Use a pastry cutter if using a mixing bowl, or using your stand mixer, combine until crumbly.
- Reserve 1 cup of the crust/topping crumbles to use as the topping later. Transfer the rest of the crust mix to your 9 x 13 pan and cover the bottom of the pan completely, pressing the crust mixture down to make an even base layer.
- Bake the crust for 15 minutes in preheated oven. While the crust is baking, start on the filling.
Pineapple Filling
- In a large bowl or your stand mixer bowl, combine beaten eggs, sugar, sour cream, salt, flour and pineapple. Stir gently to combine.
- After the crust has baked for 15 minutes, allow to cool for a few minutes then spoon the filling over the crust layer. Crumble the reserved 1 cup of the crust mixture over the filling layer and bake for 1 hour or until golden (lightly).
- Allow baked pineapple bars to cool for 15 minutes on a cooling rack.
Coconut Icing
- While cooling, mix up the coconut icing: in a small bowl, combine confectioners sugar, half-and-half and coconut extract.
- Stir until the icing is smooth and thick enough to slowly drizzle over the pineapple bars (add more confectioners sugar if needed, to thicken - conversely, add more half-and-half if the icing is too thick).
- Drizzle the icing over your pan of cooled pineapple bars, cut into squares and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Angela is an at home chef that developed a passion for all things cooking and baking at a young age in her Grandma’s kitchen. After many years in the food service industry, she now enjoys sharing all of her family favorite recipes and creating tasty dinner and amazing dessert recipes here at Bake It With Love!
These would be very yummy with coconut in the filling too.
They would be fabulous with coconut! I have a different version that does include coconut, I just haven’t added it to the blog…yet 🙂
Do you need to drain the crush pineapple first? Thank you!
Yes, drain off the excessive pineapple juice (but you don’t need to get every bit of juice) as when I make this with fresh or canned I like to add some of the juice to the filling mixture. It won’t hurt anything if some is missed. Thanks for asking! Enjoy!!
Used your recipe but combined some sweet cherries with the pineapple. I did not want to waste any of the fruit. Smells very yummy, and looks delicious.
Adding the cherries sounds fantastic! I have some on hand too, but they’re reserved for a cherry tart 🙂 However, I am on my way to go make a new batch of these pineapple bars and can’t wait to enjoy some more myself! How did yours turn out? Did you use the glaze/drizzle?