Pina Colada Fudge

One of my favorites of all the different types of fudge that my dad used to make was his pina colada fudge. I didn’t really know a lot about fudge, although I do recall the fantastic flavors. I also remember that you can only have a small amount of this fudge as it is so sweet. I found his recipe for this fudge and knew I needed to make it.

This recipe comes from a Pillsbury Bake Off, which tells you a bit about the ingredients. When the competition began in the late 1940s, people used standard ingredients such as flour and sugar. Since this recipe is from the 2002 contest, the requirements are different. Typically, recipes need to include one or two premade or specialty ingredients. This recipe uses Pillsbury vanilla frosting, which is unusual in fudge but explains why this fudge is so sweet.

I do use slightly different recipes from my dad, and I could tell the difference. I use desiccated coconut, which is smaller cut and less sweet than American-style coconut. I also wasn’t sure about the dried pineapple, as what I found was slightly darkened due to the drying process. In the end, the fudge looked as expected, so the pineapple I used was fine. The coconut, since it is a smaller cut, is very prevalent. I like this since I love coconut so much. This tastes a lot like Dad’s, but slightly different. And yes, it is still very sweet.

Pina Colada Fudge
2 cups white chips
3.25 ounces chopped macadamia nuts, toasted
16 ounce can Pillsbury vanilla frosting
1/2 cup chopped dried pineapple
1/2 cup toasted coconut
1 teaspoon rum extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract

Line a 9” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

Place the white chips in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring frequently, until the chips are melted and smooth.

Reserve ¼ cup of chopped macadamia nuts. Fold in the remaining macadamias, vanilla frosting, dried pineapple, coconut, rum and coconut extracts. Mix until thoroughly combined and then spread in the prepared pan. Top with the ¼ cup reserved macadamia nuts.

Refrigerate until firm, at least an hour, before cutting into small squares.

Recipe from Michelle Grosella, BakeOff 2002 via Pillsbury

Pineapple Pecan Bars

I don’t bake a lot with pineapple, and that’s really a shame! I don’t really live in an area where I get fresh pineapple very frequently, but I sure do love pineapple! There is nothing better than fresh pineapple. Perhaps I should go to Hawaii where it is more common? I’ve been to Hawaii once, but any change of scenery right now sounds just perfect. I’m hopeful that at some point it will be less stressful to travel.

These bars are not complex, and the only ingredient that I needed to purchase was the crushed pineapple. Some fruits don’t do as well being canned, but I have hardly ever used a different form of pineapple. I also had wanted to use sliced almonds instead of pecans, but I must have used up all of my sliced almonds in other things. The pecans were nice, and I think most any type of nut you have on hand would work.

The bars that I made were quite messy, and I did some thinking to figure out why. I think that I didn’t drain the pineapple sufficiently, which made for a filling that was soft. I knew I had to drain the pineapple as some of the juice went into the glaze, but I think the pineapple wasn’t drained enough. I did refrigerate these bars to cool them, but no amount of refrigeration will make the filling be anything but messy. Sometimes a messy cookie is ok, and these are so tasty that I feel the taste overcomes the messiness.

Pineapple Pecan Bars
½ cup butter, melted
¼ cup sugar
1 ¼ cup flour

2 eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup drained crushed pineapple
½ cup pecans, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons pineapple juice

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, and flour and stir until the mixture comes together. Press into an even layer in the prepared pan.

Bake for 15 minutes, until golden. Allow the crust to cool slightly while you make the filling.

Make the filling: in a large mixer bowl, beat the eggs until uniform. Add the brown sugar, pineapple, pecans, flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until the mixture comes together. Pour over the slightly cooled crust.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the bars are set, and the bars have little movement when the pan is shaken. Cool for one hour.

In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and enough pineapple juice to make a smooth consistency. Pour the glaze over the partially cooled bars and spread into an even layer. Refrigerate the bars before cutting.

Recipe from This Delicious House

Pineapple Coconut Tassies

Tassies are one of my favorites to make. These little cookie cups can have almost any type of filling, and I have enjoyed finding new and different recipes to try. Most people are familiar with pecan tassies, which are little pecan pies, but this type of cookie can hold just about anything and work for any number of occasions. I like that you bake them all at once, so when the weather is warm you don’t have to work with the oven for too long.

This recipe felt perfect for summer with the combination of pineapple and coconut. The pineapple comes in the form of pineapple ice cream topping. I saw this at the store, when I was checking for something else, but didn’t end up buying it. I then discovered that it wasn’t an item found at the normal places that I shop! I made a trip back to that first grocery store and picked it up since they had a lot. I’m not really sure why it is common some places and non-existent at other spots.

When I went to make these, I realized that the only nuts that I had on hand were pecans, which didn’t seem to fit this recipe. I figured I would be ok with macadamias or almonds, both of which I usually have on hand. Since I didn’t have them, I made these cookies without nuts, and they turned out fine. The only challenge with these cookies is to press the dough into the mini muffin pans, and that’s just a tedious task that isn’t too bad if you just get to it. These cookies are great, with little bits of pineapple coming through from the filling. They are a little crumbly, but that makes them extra tasty!

Pineapple Coconut Tassies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup pineapple ice cream topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 egg
2 teaspoons cornstarch
    
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract (or vanilla)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini muffin pan with nonstick spray. You will need about 36 mini muffin cups.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and powdered sugar on medium until light, several minutes. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Shape the dough into balls and press evenly on the bottom and up the sides of the prepared mini muffin cups.

Bake the filling: in a medium bowl, mix the coconut, pineapple ice cream topping, sugar, nuts, egg, and cornstarch. Fill each cup with about a tablespoon of filling.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Allow the cookies to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and extract. Drizzle over the cooled cookies. Allow the glaze to set before serving.

Recipe from Connie Shuff via Taste of Home

Pineapple White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

Gosh, I must be losing my mind. I planned what cookies I was going to make for today, bought all the ingredients, and then realized that I had already made the cookies. And I made them not that long ago so there’s no excuse! Anyway, this recipe came up in my Instagram feed from my local blogger friend Peabody and I knew it would be a winning combination. I only needed to get the dried pineapple at the store, so I went ahead with this recipe. She just posted these yesterday- I think that’s the fastest making of a recipe I’ve pinned ever!

Peabody talks about Mrs. Fields cookies in the 1980s, and how white chocolate macadamia was such a popular combination. I remember that too! I have Mrs. Fields Cookie Cookbook, but I find the recipes to be a little strange and don’t turn out that well. She has you bake the cookies at 300 degrees, which is… weird. Her recipes also contain SO MUCH butter that even I think it’s too much. That’s saying something. Her bar cookies are meant to be made in a 9-inch square pan, but the recipe have like a pound of butter and 4 cups of flour, which would be generous for a 9” x 13” pan. She has a few cookies that I have adapted to work, but that cookbook has been relegated to basement storage.

This cookie combines white chocolate and macadamias, but also adds dried pineapple, which is the perfect complement. I had some macadamias that my friend had brought me from Hawaii (stored in the refrigerator, they have kept for some time). Mine weren’t salted, so I just added a little extra salt. This makes a big batch of cookies; I made 5 dozen and I even made them larger than I normally do. The oven temperature is a little different, at 360 degrees, which is often what you get when you convert Celsius to Fahrenheit. My oven must have warmed as I baked the batches, as the first couple of trays baked perfectly at 13 minutes, but the last two trays needed just 12 minutes. They have a beautiful buttery, brown sugar crunch. You won’t go wrong with these cookies!

Pineapple White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

3-1/2 cups flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/4 cups white chocolate chips

3/4 cup dried pineapple, finely chopped

1-1/4 cups salted macadamia nuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter sugar and brown sugar until light, about three minutes. Add the eggs, mixing for one minute after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Stir in the white chocolate chips, dried pineapple, and macadamias. Do not over mix.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, using a medium cookie scoop, creating 1-1/2” mounds.

Bake for 12-13 minutes, until golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Sweet Recipeas

Glazed Pineapple Cookies

I wanted to make something more springy for this week. I know that baking doesn’t always seem springy or summery, but there are certainly ways to incorporate sunnier flavors into baking. I found this recipe online, in an article that talked about cookies for summer. Some of their options didn’t seem like I would want to make them in the summer: who wants to roll out cookies and then decorate them in a hot kitchen? I wouldn’t; but these seemed like they’d be great for this time of year.

I really like pineapple, and I have made a handful of pineapple recipes. I liked these as they were a simple cookie, but with the glaze and the optional sparkling sugar jazzed these up a lot. This doesn’t make a huge batch, about two and a half dozen. I stated my glaze with three tablespoons pineapple juice and it was too runny, so I had to add quite a bit more powdered sugar. They looked too plain just glazed, so I searched the cupboard for sparkling sugar and I had some smoked sugar that I used to finish the cookies. The cookies are soft but crisp around the edges, with the great sweetness of pineapple shining through.

Glazed Pineapple Cookies

8 ounce can crushed pineapple

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Drain the pineapple, reserving the juice; set aside the pineapple juice for the glaze. In a large mixer bowl, beat the shortening and brown sugar on medium until smooth. Add the egg and mix on medium to incorporate. Add the drained pineapple and vanilla; mix well on medium-low. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir on low, just until the dough comes together.

Scoop onto the prepared baking sheets, using about 1-1/2 tablespoons dough for each cookie.

Bake for about 17 minutes, until lightly browned on the bottom and set but still soft. Allow the cookies to cool on a wire rack before glazing.

Make the glaze: in a small bowl, whisk the powdered sugar and two tablespoons of reserved pineapple juice. Continue adding pineapple juice, about ½ teaspoon at a time, until the right consistency for glazing. Glaze the cooled cookies. Top with sparkling sugar, if desired.

Recipe from Taste of Home

Pina Colada Cheesecake Cookie Cups

It’s the last bit of summer and what’s more summery than pina colada? These don’t require too much of the oven, which is nice for summer. There are multiple steps, but nothing too complex. I suppose you could just skip the whipped cream on the top, but they look a lot fancier with the whipped cream, and it makes it easier to add the decorative pineapple and cherry on top.

This recipe uses regular-sized muffin cups, which makes for large cookies. This recipe yields about 20 cookies. You could probably adapt the recipe for a mini muffin pan, which might be better if you needed to share with lots of folks. It’s a bit frustrating that you use both crushed pineapple and pineapple tidbits, and a small amount of both, so I have leftovers. You could always finely chop the pineapple tidbits and use that in place of the crushed pineapple.

The cookie recipe is simple and the whipped cream is simple too. It’s a little tricky to whip ¼ cup of whipped cream, as my mixer is better suited to larger quantities! I wasn’t sure that I had the cheesecake filling right. You add the thickened pineapple/cornstarch mixture, but mine never really thickened all that much. I thought the filling was too thin after it was mixed, so I added more powdered sugar. It thickens up when it’s refrigerated, so it worked out. These are lovely, whether you consider them a big cookie or a petite dessert. Although they contain no coconut, they have all the flavors of pina colada.

Pina Colada Cheesecake Cookie Cups

3/4 cups butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoon coconut extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 cup pineapple juice

1 teaspoon cornstarch

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons crushed pineapple, drained

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon coconut extract

Pineapple tidbits

Maraschino cherries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray two muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium until light. Add the egg and coconut extract and stir to combine. Add the flour, baking soda, and cornstarch and mix on low until the dough comes together.

Shape the dough into 2 tablespoon balls of dough. Place one ball in each of the muffin pans. Press the cookie dough into the bottom and half way up the sides, forming a cup. Bake for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned along the edges.

Allow the cookies to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then press the dough down with a tart tamper or a spoon, to deepen the indentation. Allow the cookies to cool completely, then gently remove from the pan and place on a wire rack.

Make the cheesecake filling: whisk together the pineapple juice and cornstarch in a small bowl. Microwave until thickened, about 30 seconds. In a large mixer bowl, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar on medium until smooth. Add the pineapple juice mixture and the crushed pineapple and stir to combine. If the mixture is too thin, add in additional powdered sugar. Spoon the mixture into the cooled cookie cups. Refrigerate.

Make the whipped cream: in a large mixer bowl, using the whisk attachment, beat the whipping cream, powdered sugar, and coconut extract on high until stiff peaks form. Pipe the whipped cream on top of the cheesecake filled cookie cups. Decorate with pineapple tidbits and maraschino cherries. Store in the refrigerator.

Recipe from Life, Love, and Sugar