Pineapple Bars

We have come to the end of our Virtual Potluck  Healthy New Year Challenge with Bob's Red Mill and California Olive Ranch, and the perfect ending is of course dessert.  I had never baked with olive oil before.  You can in fact substitute olive for butter in many recipes.

I first thought about a pie and then I decide bars were much quicker and easier.  As busy as this week has been, that suited me quite well.  This week has been anything but boring.  I drove the tractor down a narrow road with steep banks without running over any cows or tipping the tractor over, helped build corrals, fell in the mud.  Hey what's a day stomping in the mud if you don't fall down?  That's what I'm telling myself anyway.

I have to say I was a little unsure if the guys would like this dessert, but in fact they ate most of it before I could even get supper on the table.  I asked them to please save some for the pictures!

I have thoroughly enjoyed cooking with the whole grains and olive oil this month.  I have added some new foods to my pantry and will continue to cook with these great ingredients from the  Healthy New Year Challenge and I hope you will be inspired to do the same.

This weeks giveaway for the featured products are Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour and California Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

WE HAVE A FINAL WINNER, THANKS SO MUCH TO EVERYONE FOR ENTERING AND A BIG THANK YOU TO BOB'S RED MILL & CALIFORNIA OLIVE RANCH, IT HAS BEEN GREAT COOKING WITH YOUR PRODUCTS!

THE WINNER IS: "Amy Tong January 27, 2012 at 3:14 pm  Following Virtual Potluck on facebook"

To enter: 

• Visit either Bob’s Red Mill or California Olive Ranch’s Facebook pages and retrieve this week’s Virtual Potluck code word. Then use that code word in a sentence for your comment here.

Additional Entries:

• For an extra entry: Follow Bob’s Red Mill, California Olive Ranch and VirtualPotluck’s  on Twitter  and tweet the following, “Win A Healthy New Year Prize Pack from @Missnthekitchen, @CA_EVOO & @Bobs_Red_Mill http://wp.me/p1Xrnn-1zT   #VirtualPotluck ”  Leave a link back to your tweet here.
• Follow Virtual Potluck on facebook and leave a comment here that you do.
• Follow Miss in the Kitchen on facebook and leave a comment here that you do.
• Subscribe to Miss in the Kitchen by email or RSS.

Entries accepted through Wednesday, Feb 1, 2012.  US addresses only.

Remember to visit Groovy Foody for the a complete roundup of this week's recipes and more chances to win! Also, if you are looking for more cooking techniques and recipes, some pastry schools offer affordable baking classes.

Pineapple Bars with Olive Oil Crust

Ingredients:

crust:

• 1 cup Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• ⅓ cup California Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil

filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup pineapple juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2  15 ¼ oz cans pineapple tidbits (drained, ¼ cup juice reserved*)

Cooking Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

for crust:

In a medium bowl, combine pastry flour and powdered sugar.  Pour in extra virgin olive oil and cut in with a fork or pastry blender.  Mixture will form a crumbly dough.  Press evenly into a 8 x 8 -inch pan.

Bake for 12 minutes.

for filling:

While crust is baking prepare filling.

In a large bowl, combine sugar and pastry flour.  Add eggs, pineapple juice,  and vanilla, stirring to combine.  Fold in pineapple tidbits.

Remove crust from the oven and pour filling over the top, spreading pineapple evenly.  Return to oven and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 1 hour.  Refrigerate 2 hours.  Cut into  bars to serve.

Enjoy!

Miss