Hi, hello, I’m back! Took a few months away from here because, well, let’s face it, the world can be a pretty draining place right now. Take that in tandem with being a full-time student and I was in a very non-creative space for a while. BUT I’m so excited to start posting frequently on here again and with a very fun, creative and delicious recipe! Many of us cannot travel this summer due to COVID-19, and I know we’re all missing summer travels. I’m bringing the vacation to you with these mini pineapple sandwich cookies. They are simple, delicious and oh so fun. Let’s just jump right into the how-to, shall we?
The sandwich cookies are made using a standard shortbread recipe. It makes a perfect base that will be simple enough to complement the pineapple flavor, but will still taste delicious! Shortbread is also the perfect cookie choice here because it will keep the shape of whatever cookie cutter you’re using. Frequently sandwich cookies are made with shortbread for this reason, and also because shortbread is really hard to screw up. That said, I won’t get too detailed here, but after mixing your butter in sugar all you need to do is add your dry ingredients.
On a floured surface, add your cookie dough and roll out with a floured rolling pin to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out as many pineapple shapes as possible with a 3 inch cookie cutter, and then repeat this process until you are out of dough! I was able to get 28 shapes and 14 full sandwich cookies out of this batch.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 11 minutes, or until slightly golden. Let cool completely.
These cookies will be filled with a buttercream border and pineapple curd in the center, so while the cookies are cooling get started on that! For the buttercream, simply beat 1/4 cup butter with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and set aside.
For the pineapple curd, you can use store-bought or homemade. I made mine homemade and used a recipe from Alaska From Scratch. I have found her recipe is the easiest pineapple curd to make and also tastes the most fresh. If you’re making the pineapple curd from scratch, I would recommend making it before you start the cookies so it has an appropriate amount of time to cool.
I also made some icing to decorate the top, but it’s an optional step. You could definitely dust the cookies with powdered sugar and call it a day. If you want to decorate your cookies like pineapples like I did, all you need to do is add powdered sugar and vanilla to a bowl, and then add milk 1/2 a teaspoon at a time until the icing is a glue consistency. I also took about 1/4 of the icing and dyed it green for the pineapple leaves, and then dyed the rest yellow for the actual pineapple part. This kind of icing is best because it hardens on top so the decoration will stay put.
Now it’s time to assemble. Flip over half of your shortbread cookies and outline them with the homemade buttercream. This will act as a border to keep the pineapple curd in tact and prevent it from spilling out of the sides. I piped the outline once and went over it a second time to make a tall lip around the cookie. Next, fill the inside with a small dollop of pineapple curd, try not to over fill it!
On the other half of the cookies, leave them right side up and pipe out your pineapple designs! All you need to do is make diagonal lines going one way, and then more diagonal lines going the opposite way. Fill in the top part of the leaves however you wish! I did mine how I would doodle pine tree branches. (As you can see I decided to outline and fill the top of the cookie as well, which you should definitely do if you want your cookies to stack evenly)!
Place your pineapple decorated cookie on top of the cookie with the buttercream and pineapple curd to create the perfect sandwich cookie!
And that’s it! Serve right away or store in the fridge for later. Hope you all enjoy these cookies so much, and that they bring some brightness your way!
With Love,
Jenna
Pineapple Sandwich Cookies
Ingredients
For the Shortbread:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the Buttercream:
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1. tsp vanilla
For the Royal Icing:
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- milk 1/2 tsp at a time
- gel food coloring
Instructions
For the Shortbread:
- In the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- On a well-floured surface, with a flour-coated rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Cut as many pineapple shapes out as you can, and then scoop the dough back up and repeat until you have about 28 pineapple shapes.
- Place your pineapple-shaped cookie dough on a pan lined with parchment paperand bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for around 11 minutes or until lightly golden (if your dough gets warm for some reason while rolling out, be sure to chill your cookie dough for about 10 minutes before putting in the oven, to ensure their shape stays).
- Let cool completely.
For the Buttercream:
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, or with a medium bowl and your hand mixer, cream together the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and set aside.
For the Royal Icing:
- Mix together the powdered sugar and vanilla. Add the milk 1/2 a teaspoon at a time until the icing looks like Elmer's Glue. Dye 1/4 of it green, and dye the rest yellow (if you are not using gel food coloring, use the regular food coloring first, and then add the milk, because otherwise the liquid food coloring could change the consistency of the icing).
To Assemble:
- Flip over half of your cookies and outline them with the buttercream to create a lip that will hold the pineapple curd.
- Add the pineapple curd in the center and be sure not to over fill.
- Leave the rest of the cookies right side up and use your royal icing to decorate them like pineapples!
- Place the pineapple decorated cookie on top of your cookie with the buttercream and curd to create the perfect little sandwich cookie!
- Serve right away and enjoy, or store in the fridge 🙂