Pineapple Cookies

I absolutely love baking with pineapple. The sweet, tropical flavors found in pineapple instantly have me envisioning a warm sandy beach in Hawaii. Some of my favorite pineapple dessert recipes on the blog are my Pineapple Bread,  Air Fryer Pineapple,  Pineapple Pound Cake and Pineapple Dump Cake recipes. I am so excited to add this pineapple cookie recipe to the blog. I know you’ll love it too!

• They are quick and easy to make. All you need to do is bring the butter and cream cheese to room temperature, mix everything up in one bowl, chill for 30 minutes, scoop and bake! 
• Layers of flavor and texture. From the soft and pillowy pineapple filled cookie, to the sweet and tart pineapple juice glaze, these glazed pineapple drop cookies are full of light, refreshing and tropical flavor I know you’ll love.

This buttery pineapple sugar cookie recipe requires only a handful of pantry basics to make. Make sure you have these ingredients ready to go.

• Dry ingredients: Gather all purpose flour, baking powder and salt. 
• Wet Ingredients: Gather unsalted butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, pineapple juice and crushed pineapple. 
• Lemon Glaze: Gather pineapple  juice and powdered sugar.

Here are my recommended substitutions to make these wonderfully soft and pillowy old fashioned pineapple cake cookies. 

• All purpose flour: To make these pineapple cream cheese cookie gluten free use a good 1-1 gluten free flour. I recommend using the one from Bob’s Red Mill. Measure based off weight (240 g) rather than measurable cups for the most accurate substitution. 
• Baking Powder: This is part of what creates the cake like texture in these cookies. I do not recommend subbing with baking soda. 
• Unsalted Butter: Feel free to use an equal amount of salted butter in place of the unsalted butter. Just make sure to omit the added salt. Vegan butter or plant based can also be used in place of regular unsalted butter.
• Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar: These easy pineapple glazed cookies call for granulated and light brown sugar, but maple sugar would also work well to make them refined sugar free. 
• Egg: This recipe for pineapple cookies has not been tested without eggs. 
• Cream Cheese: Feel free to substitute with ½ cup (113 g) butter or use a vegan cream cheese or plant based butter. 
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla is the perfect flavor complement to the topical flavors of pineapple.
• Pineapple Juice: This is easy to reserve from the crushed or fresh pineapple. If you prefer, use orange juice in place of the pineapple juice. 
• Crushed Pineapple: To make this recipe super easy, I use canned crushed pineapple. Feel free to use fresh pineapple such as Dole. Just make sure to run the fresh pineapple through the food processor for a few pulses to make it closer to the texture of crushed pineapple. 
• Pineapple Glaze: These frosted pineapple filled cookies are just as delicious when enjoyed plain or with a dusting of powdered sugar.

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together until well combined. In another bowl, drain the crushed pineapple, but reserve ¼ - ½ cup (60 - 120 ml) pineapple juice to use in both the cookies and the glaze. Set aside for now. 
2. Using a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer with beaters, cream the room temperature butter and cream cheese together until they are smooth and well combined. This takes about 2 minutes on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl. Cream the butter and cream cheese mixture on medium speed with the light brown and granulated sugars for another 2 minutes. On low, mix in the egg, vanilla extract and pineapple juice until smooth and well combined.

3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in th drained crushed pineapple. Cover the dough and chill in the fridge for 30 - 60 minutes or up to overnight. 
4. While the cookies chill, preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C).Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop about 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. I like to use a small cookie scoop to get perfectly portioned cookies. Bake the glazed pineapple sugar cookies for 13 - 15 minutes. The bottom of the cookies will be very lightly golden brown. Remove the cookies from the oven onto a cooling rack. After 4 -5 minutes, transfer the cookies off the hot baking sheet and onto the cooling rack to cool to room temperature.

5. Make the pineapple glaze for the pineapple drop cookies by mixing 2 - 3 tablespoons (30 ml) reserved pineapple juice with 1 ½ cups (180 g) of powdered sugar until well combined. Top each cookie with the pineapple glaze. Allow the frosting cookies to set for about 1 hour and enjoy.

Other Fruit Cookie Recipes To Try

• Lemon Drop Cookies
• Lemon Blueberry Cookies
• Cherry Cookies
• Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you try this Pineapple Cookies recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! Happy Baking! - M