Pineapple Squares for Mama





Before I was born, my family moved from the city to a brand new house in the suburbs.  I lived there for 26 years until the day I got married.  My mother made my wedding cake.

When I think of my mother, I think of her in the kitchen.  I remember her standing at the sink and I'd come up behind her, put my arms around her, and give her a great big squeeeeeeze and make her groan. 

My mother always loved to bake. But when she discovered the Yankee Kitchen, she took baking to a whole new level.

Candies, cookies, pies and cakes.  Chocolate covered cherry cookies, Mrs. Fields' cookies, Italian cookies, and Apple Spice cake. These were some of the Yankee Kitchen recipes that she added to her Fannie Farmer Cookbook favorites of molasses taffy, divinity, and chocolate fudge. There was always an endless array of my mother's creations at the dining room table.  And I did my very best to eat them.

My mother had shoe boxes filled with recipes written on cards, edges of envelopes, anything that was handy when Gus's callers were giving their recipes. 

Pineapple Squares was one of my mother's favorites from the Yankee Kitchen. I don't know who contributed it, but whoever did, thank you.  She made this one religiously for her family and for the Women's Alliance meetings at our church.

Today was my mother's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mama. I'm thinking of you and the life we lived in the days of the Yankee Kitchen.



Pineapple Squares

For the crust:



4 cups flour

1 pound of margarine

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

Cut margarine into flour with pastry blender. Add sour cream and vanilla.  Mix well.  Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.

For the filling:

3 cups crushed pineapple - drained

1 cup sugar

3 TB cornstarch

Cook pineapple, sugar, and cornstarch until thick & clear. Let cool.

Roll out one half of the dough.  Place on the bottom of an ungreased jelly roll pan.  Spread with the cooled filling.  Roll out remaining dough and place on top of the filling. Press edges a bit to seal.  Bake at 325 F for 55 minutes.  When cooled, dust with confectioner's sugar and cut into squares. 

Happy Valentine's Day

I give you my heart

Here are some homemade Valentines that are fun to make and are a special gift for those you love. It's basically a sugar cookie dough that you form into a mold, remove and then bake. 

Here's the mold that I purchased in 1989
at Jordan Marsh.

Here's the tag to prove it!

Brown Bag Designs are the makers of these cookie molds.  You can still purchase molds, classic cookie stamps, and shortbread pans through these retailers and websites. 

Photo is from the inside cover of a Brown Bag Cookie Art recipe book.

This is my adaptation of a sugar cookie dough for use in the mold.

Sugar cookies

 with almond and nutmeg

1/2 c. butter, at room temperature

3/4 c. sugar

1 egg

1 TB milk

2 c. flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. almond extract

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, add egg, milk, and almond extract and beat well.  Mix the flour, salt and nutmeg and stir into the creamed mixure.  Press the dough into a mold that has been lightly greased and floured.  I find that it's best to fill the mold with small amounts and keep pressing in.  Fill the entire mold, being careful not to go outside the outer edge.  Flatten the dough so it's level with the mold.  Using a knife, encourage the cookie to come out of the mold by gently lifting one of its edges.  Then turn the mold upside down and remove the cookie completely.

Bake at 375 F until just done (about 17 minutes).  I like the cookies a bit soft, light in color - not brown.  Makes 5 large cookies from the heart shape mold that measures 5" wide by 5" long.

To really enhance the designs on the molds, when the cookies are completely cooled you can paint them with a confectioner's sugar glaze.  Just take some confectioner's sugar - start with a 1/2 cup or so, and add a tiny bit of milk and a couple of drops of food coloring until you get the right consistency.  Make a few different colors. I used a toothpick to paint my flowers, but a little paint brush can work, too.  The glaze will harden.  I really enjoy painting these cookies.  It's relaxing and they come out so pretty.  Your valentine will love you for it!