Print Pin

piña colada blondies

Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword baking, bars, blondies, cake
Servings 12 lg. blondies
Author sunny

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut divided
  • 1 cup pineapple bits finely diced, but not crushed
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
  • 1 banana
  • 1 cup light brown sugar packed
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp. light rum (can substitute rum, coconut, or vanilla extract)
  • 2 cups self-rising flour

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Place a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the flaked coconut. Toss and/or shake often until the flakes begin to turn golden and smell toasty.
    1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
  • Transfer 3/4 cup of the toasted coconut into a blender and allow to cool for a few minutes. Set the remaining 3/4 cup of toasted coconut aside in a mixing bowl.
  • When the coconut is cool and has dried out a bit, cover the blender pitcher and blitz the flakes until you get a coarse powder. Don’t over-blend or it will start to get greasy; you just want it to be nice and fluffy. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
  • If using canned pineapple, drain well and pat dry with paper towels. Add chopped pineapple tidbits to the bowl with the coconut powder and toss well to coat. Add in a few tablespoons of the flour if you can’t get them well covered with just the coconut. (This step will help keep the pineapple bits from sinking to the bottom of the blondies while baking.) Set aside.
    1 cup pineapple bits
  • Mix the banana with the melted butter, using a fork to get the mixture as smooth as you can. Add in the brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix again until uniform in consistency.
    1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 banana, 1 cup light brown sugar, 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • Beat eggs in a separate bowl, and pour into the banana-butter-sugar mixture. Mash again to combine, then stir in the rum or extract.
    2 eggs, 2 tsp. light rum
  • Add the pineapple bits to the batter along with the coconut/flour mixture you tossed them in. Stir to combine (though they will likely stick out a lot all over rather than disappear into the mixture!)
    1 cup pineapple bits
  • Pour the remainder of the flour into the mixing bowl and, using a rubber spatula, fold it in. You want to make sure everything is evenly mixed, but don’t stress if some of the flour isn’t quite incorporated; you don’t want to overmix, so just fold until you can tell everything is distributed. Again, the pineapple bits are likely to stick out!
    2 cups self-rising flour
  • Place a sheet of parchment paper over an 8" x 8" (or 7" x 11" like mine) baking dish. Make sure there are a couple of inches overhang all the way around. (This is how you’ll be able to easily get the blondies out without sticking or breaking apart.) If you don’t have parchment, butter the baking dish really well or, preferably, coat it in cake goop.
  • Turn the batter into the prepared dish. It will be very thick. If you are working with the parchment paper, my advice is to center it well, then take one large spatula full of batter and plop it assertively into the very center. This should, theoretically, sort of anchor the parchment down. Next, put a dollop on either end of the baking dish so that you have the three globs of batter in a line. Now it should be easier for you to place the rest of the batter in easily so there is minimal spreading to do once you get it all in there.
  • Place baking dish, uncovered, in the center of your preheated oven. Check after 30 minutes; it should be puffed but still pretty jiggly. Around the 45 minute mark, you might find you need to cover the top loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil to keep it from over-browning. And if all goes well, your blondies should hit a perfect 185°F right around 1 hour.