Palm Beach Pineapple Squares

Directions

Place oven rack ⅓ of way up from bottom of oven; preheat to 375℉ (190℃).

Butter a 13×9×2 inch pan and dust all over lightly with fine dry bread crumbs; invert pan to shake out excess crumbs. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Melt the chocolate in top of double boiler over hot water; set aside. Place pineapple in a strainer set over a bowl and let drain.

In large mixer bowl, cream the butter. Add vanilla and sugar and beat well.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. On low speed, add dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with rubber spatula and beating only until thoroughly mixed.

Remove one cup of the mixture and place in a smaller bowl.

Stir the lemon rind and drained pineapple into this smaller mixture; set aside.

Add melted chocolate to the mixture in large bowl and beat until very well mixed.

Stir in the nuts. Spread the chocolate mixture in an even layer in prepared pan.

Place the pineapple mixture by small spoonsful evenly over the chocolate mixture.

With back of a spoon, spread the pineapple mixture to make a smooth, thin layer.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, reversing the rack postion once to insure even browning.

Cake is done when the top springs back when lightly touched and cakes begins to pull away from sides of pan.

Let cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes then cover the pan with a cookie sheet and invert.

Remove the pan and cover the cake with a large rack. Invert again to cool completely right side up.

When completely cool, transfer to a cutting board and use long, thin knife to cut into squares or bars.