MIRIAM'S PINEAPPLE COOKIES

When I went back to check if I had posted a recipe for Pineapple Cookies, I was surprised to see I shared two in the same week. Each one was a little different, but I still can't believe I made two recipes that were so similar that close together. It all started because I was looking for a cookie recipe to take to Friends Margaret and Gary's house for dinner. Gary had successful open heart surgery and I wanted to take them dinner. I decided to make them Dinner in One Dish (See picture below.) I asked about dessert and Margaret said he hadn't gotten his appetite back completely. He had a cookie in the hospital so she said if I had any cookies around, I could bring some.

I had a cookie recipe I had decided to make (I'll surprise you with it next week since I have decided to make and take them to Hillcrest.), but I made a 5 - Cup Salad (look for that recipe Thursday) that only used a cup of crushed pineapple which meant I had a tad more than 1/2 cup left. So I decided to make Miriam Miller's Amish Pineapple Cookies from her The Wooden Spoon Cookbook. The recipe was one of those easy to cut in half and that meant I only needed 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple. I will give you the full recipe, but it is easy to cut the ingredients in half if you don't want to make a lot of cookies. (like 8 dozen)

I left out the pecans because Gary is supposed to avoid saturated fats. (I made four cookies with a few chopped pecans for the picture and because I like nuts in baked goods and wanted to enjoy a couple with the nuts.)

MIRIAM'S PINEAPPLE COOKIES

2       eggs
1        cup brown sugar
1        cup white sugar
1        cup oleo (I did use unsalted butter.)
1        cup crushed pineapple, drained
2       teaspoons vanilla
1        cup chopped nuts (I chopped a few pecans in the sample cookies)
1        cup chopped nuts
4       cups flour
1/2    teaspoon salt
1/2    teaspoon baking soda
2       teaspoons baking powder

(The only instructions Miriam had was Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. This is what I did.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cream sugars and butter together til smooth. (I cut the stick of butter into slices to speed up the creaming.)

Add eggs and vanilla. Beat til smooth scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a different bowl.

Add and stir (mixer on lowest speed) in flour mixture alternately with the crushed pineapple beginning and ending with the flour. (1/3 of the flour each time and half of the pineapple each time)

Add nuts, if you are using them. (Picture of my sampling.)




Using a small cookie scoop (mine holds 1 tablespoon of water) drop dough on ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. (I never bake more than 12 cookies on a sheet.) (Oops! I guess I forgot to take a picture of them on the cookie sheet. You can see the first two I made below.) 

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. (10 minutes was perfect in my oven.)

Remove and cool on wire rack.

I tried two cookies only on the first sheet; one as it came out of the cookie scoop (flatten side down) and one I flattened with my fingers.

Results? The cookie flattened enough that I didn't need to flatten the cookies.



Store in an airtight container.

Here is the Dinner in a Dish I made them.

I used Mrs. Dash's Garlic and Herb seasoning and generously sprayed the whole dish with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray which has no salt and no saturated fat. Mrs. Dash doesn't have any sodium either. (Orders from Gary's doctor.) Margaret said it was seasoned just right!

TIP from Patricia:

Does your brown sugar get hard on you even if you store it in an airtight container? Did you know all you have to do is put some bread in the container and the brown sugar softens up? Yep. It works. (I didn't think to take a picture of the brown sugar when I put half a heel in the container yesterday. The first picture is today when I needed some for the recipe.)

And some Wooden Spoon Wisdom :

Any trouble that is too small to take to God in prayer is too small to worry about.