Pineapple Ginger Cookies
The first day of Summer has officially come and gone, and boy can you feel it in this neck of the woods. It is hot, hot, HOT outside.
Let the record show that I am NOT a huge fan of extreme heat. Apart from the general discomfort of sweating, it just makes me lethargic, gives me headaches, and even nausea if it’s bad enough. Give me a winter snow storm over a heat wave any day.
Another downside of extreme heat is that it makes me have to be judicious about when I bake, which is usually early in the morning before the sun is highest/hottest in the sky. This means not getting to sleep in on the weekends, but y’know, sometimes the little compromise you make for tasty treats are so worth it.
These certainly are.
If I’m going to bake in the summer time, then I want to bake/eat things that remind me of summer when I eat them. This means using lots of stone fruit, citrus, berries, and tropical ingredients/flavors.
We’ve been on a kick with sour cherries for the past few weeks, but this week I want to take somewhat of a pivot and talk a little walk on the tropical side with three of my favorite ingredients: pineapple, toasted coconut and ginger.
I got into baking with pineapple a little over a year ago, and I feel like it’s going to be making yearly appearances in my summer baking, with good reason. It’s a bright, tart, but also sweet flavor that lends itself so well to summer tastebuds. It’s also versatile enough to work as both a flavor enhancer and a way to keep your baked goods soft and moist as they should be.
Toasted coconut is another recent addition to my baking tool bag that I don’t know how I’ve been doing so long without. I used to think I hated regular coconut, but I found out that the only thing that it needed was the warm, nutty, and rich flavor it gets when its toasted in the oven.
Putting pineapple and toasted coconut together I’ve found is another wonderful idea that can yield some very tasty results, like this cookie tart from last year.
Can’t get any better than that, right? Wrong.
This week’s recipe is proof that sometimes, three isn’t too much of a crowd; in fact it can be a perfect trio. Candied ginger is an ingredient I’ve been baking with (and making) for years. There are just sooo many different things you can do with it besides just make awesome gingerbread cake or cookies during the holidays. Turns out, it’s a great ingredient for summer time baking too.
This cookie dough started as a really realyl good soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie that I made some modifications to for summer time and summer tastes. The dough itself has both white and brown sugar in it, which gives it a rich, caramel-y flavor all on it’s own that is further enhanced by the addition of toasted coconut. Dried pineapple give it that bright, sweet and also tart burst of summer freshness, and the candied ginger gives it both sweetness AND a spiciness that pairs wonderfully with the sweet richness of the cookie.
I knew that these would probably taste fine, but I really wasn’t prepared for how much I ended up loving them. They are SO good, and well worth the hour or so I had to turn the oven on to make them. I have a feeling that you’ll agree if you try them for yourself.
Stay cool everyone!
Pineapple Ginger Cookies
Recipe Adapted from Southern Living
Ingredients
- 1 cup (8 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for rolling
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- 2 1/2 cups (about 10 5/8 oz.) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 2 cups dried pineapple, roughly chopped
- 1 1/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut, toasted
- 3/4 cup crystallized ginger, finely diced
Directions
In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, the salt, the baking soda, and baking powder. Stir together to combine and set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer or using a handheld mixer in a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, then the extracts, stirring just until combined.
Add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar creamed mixture in two batches.
Stir in the dried pineapple, toasted coconut, and diced crystallized ginger, just until combined.
Use a 1/4 cup measure to portion out cookie dough balls that you shape with your hands. Roll balls in a thin layer of white sugar. (This will give them extra texture, but it isn’t a required step)
Place the dough balls in a plastic container you’ve lined with foil, parchment or wax paper. Refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place chilled cookie dough balls on prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart (6 cookies per baking sheet). Cover remaining dough with plastic wrap, and store in refrigerator until ready to use.
Place baking sheets in oven on top third and lower third positions. Bake in preheated oven until edges are golden brown and set, 14 to 16 minutes, rotating baking sheets between top third and lower third positions halfway through cook time. Let cookies cool on baking sheets 5 minutes; transfer cookies to a wire rack. Let cookie sheets cool about 5 minutes.
Repeat process with remaining dough. Let cookies cool completely, about 20 minutes.
Note: no one oven is the same, & different baking sheets bake cookies differently. Keeping this in mind, I will ALWAYS test bake one cookie before baking entire sheets of the whole batch, just to get a good idea of how long they should be in the oven and if I need to adjust the way I’ve cut, rolled them out, etc. I highly recommend that you do the same.
Sharing at Fiesta Friday #594.
I’m pretty sure I never put pineapple in a cookie! Sounds great.
Pineapple and ginger in a cookie? I’m definitely intrigued. Thank you for sharing and joining Fiesta Friday party!
Thanks Jhuls!