Brown Sugar Topped Squares Revisited: I bought the pan just for these

Today, we are revisiting the first recipe we made from my great-grandmother's book!

Brown Sugar Topped Squares ½ cup butter (or ¼ cup each of butter and shortening) 1 cup dark brown sugar 1 egg 1 egg yolk (save the white for the topping) ½ to 1 tsp cinnamon, if desired 1 tsp vanilla 1½ cups sifted flour ½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt         Topping: 1 egg white 1 cup dark brown sugar 1 cup chopped hazelnuts, pecans, or almonds (if desired) Heat oven to 325°. Line a 9"x13" pan with parchment paper. (You don't need to bother with cooking spray, just put the paper into the bare pan.) Cream the butter and sugar. Then beat in the egg, the yolk, the cinnamon (if using), and the vanilla. Beat well. Then sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix everything together. Place into the pan and spread as much as you can. This is easier if you coat the top of the dough with cooking spray and then pat it out. (You may need to re-spray it a few times if it starts sticking to your hands.) You may not coax it all the way to the edges of the pan-- that's fine, don't worry about it. In a clean bowl with clean beaters, beat the egg white until it forms stiff peaks. Gradually add the sugar, then beat well. Pour this onto the dough and spread it to cover. Sprinkle on the nuts if using, then gently pat them to press them into the topping. Bake about 30 minutes. Cut into squares or bars while warm. Source: handwritten note Notebook of Hannah D. O'Neil (née Hanora Frances Dannehy)

One of my friends flips electronics for a side income, so we often go to thrift shops looking for stuff tagged with notes like UNTESTED or SOLD AS-IS. While he is examining the electronics, I often wander to the kitchen section because I can't be persuaded to care about vintage stereos. I usually leave empty handed, but I recently plonked this on the checkout counter next to a haul of 1990s computer keyboards and an alarm clock with woodgrain sides. (Did you know there are alarm clock collectors? I didn't.)

 

I got this pan because I wanted to bring out a certain special recipe again:

As some readers will recall, we didn't have the right-sized pan or enough brown sugar the last time we made this. (I was housesitting for my parents at the time. Mom doesn't keep as many ingredients on hand since she decided she was three-quarters done with baking.)

Just like before, the recipe yielded very little dough. It looks like a decent amount until you compare it to the vast acreage of pan that it's supposed to cover.

I tried to persuade our dough to get all the way to the edges of the pan, but it didn't quite make it. Fortunately, that ultimately didn't matter.

This is a really fast recipe--- aside from the tedious job of coaxing a small portion of dough across a big pan. We were ready to put on the topping before we knew it. The first time we made this, the topping was so runny that we only needed to tilt the pan a bit. But today, we needed to get out a spatula.

Since we had some pecans lying around from a previous recipe, I sprinkled them on as the recipe says. I mean, how can you go wrong with brown sugar and pecans?

I should have pressed the nuts into the cake before baking. I thought they would sink in, and they didn't. They didn't fall off as soon as you picked up a slice, but they didn't really stay on either.

If you love the taste of brown sugar, this recipe is absolutely meant for you. The now-toasted pecans on top were perfect with it. You might want to add a little bit of cinnamon to the cookie layer, but if you like brown sugar a lot you won't need to.