Old Fashioned Pineapple Cookies
If you love pineapple, you have to try these cookies! Old Fashioned Pineapple Cookies are made with crushed pineapple and topped with a vanilla pineapple frosting for amazing pineapple flavor.
Old Fashioned Pineapple Cookies have been around for generations, for good reason! They’re soft, lightly sweet, and bursting with pineapple flavor.
They’re delicious on their own, but I topped them with a vanilla/pineapple frosting, creating a lovely sweet treat for dessert or an afternoon snack.
The original recipe, which I found in a 1980s church cookbook, calls for a #2 can of crushed pineapple. Today, that’s sold as a 20 ounce can. It truly transforms these Old Fashioned Pineapple Cookies into a taste of the tropics!
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Tips to keep in mind
- Leave time to soften the butter, both for the cookies and for the frosting.
- When draining the pineapple, reserve 1 tablespoon of the juice for the frosting.
- Bake the cookies just until they no longer appear wet in the center. This ensures they will be cooked through but still soft.
- Want a less sweet cookie? Skip the frosting/glaze and enjoy these plain!
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need:
- A can of crushed pineapple (20 ounces) is the star of this recipe.
- The cookies are thick and puffy thanks to both the moisture in the brown sugar and creaming together the butter and granulated sugar.
- Vanilla extract complements the pineapple flavor so nicely. Use coconut extract if you’d like for some additional tropical flavor.
How to Make Old Fashioned Pineapple Cookies
- Drain the pineapple in a colander set over a bowl to catch the juice. Push on the pineapple with a spatula to release the juice.
- Cream the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together. Add the eggs, vanilla, and drained pineapple, beating well after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the pineapple mixture, and mix just until combined.
- Scoop 2-tablespoon sized balls of dough onto a baking sheet. I use a cookie scoop so I have uniform cookies both in size and in shape, but you can use a spoon instead for a true pineapple drop cookie. Bake for 10–12 minutes at 350°F.
If you prefer a less sweet cookie, stop right there and enjoy these canned pineapple cookies as-is. If you want to add frosting, read on!
Frosting for Pineapple Cookies
- Place the softened butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, milk, and reserved pineapple juice in a large bowl. Mix with a hand mixer until fluffy.
- Once the pineapple cookies have completely cooled, frost each cookie with about a tablespoon of frosting.
Variations
These soft pineapple cookies are easily customizable. Here are some ideas:
- Add 1 cup of finely chopped pecans or macadamia nuts to the batter.
- Top the frosting (while still wet) with finely chopped nuts.
- Add 1 cup of shredded coconut to the batter.
- Stir ½ teaspoon of coconut extract into the batter.
I don’t recommend using fresh pineapple for this recipe, as the consistency is different than canned pineapple and will affect the texture of the cookies.
More recipes with crushed pineapple
- Cherry Dump Cake
- Easy Punch Bowl Cake
- Coconut Pineapple Poke Cake
- Homemade Hawaiian Cake
- Cherry Salad
- No-Bake Banana Split Cake
- 5 Cup Salad (Ambrosia)
- Taffy Apple Salad
- Pineapple Upside Down Cake with Boxed Cake Mix
📖 Recipe
Old Fashioned Pineapple Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
For the frosting:
- ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon reserved pineapple juice
- 1 tablespoon milk
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Place the pineapple in a colander. Press with a spatula to drain out the pineapple juice (reserve 1 tablespoon of the juice for the frosting). It doesn’t have to be completely dry but try to get most of the juice out.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating in between additions.
- Beat in the vanilla and pineapple.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the stand mixer, and stir until combined.
- Drop 2-tablespoon sized scoops onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until light brown on the bottom and the cookies no longer look wet on top. Let cool completely.
- For the frosting, combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Beat with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.
- Spread the frosting on top of the cooled cookies.
Cookie recipe did not work. I ended up with flat cookies that had the consistency of cake. Basically the cookies fell apart when you tried to pick them up. However, after two failed sheets, I put the rest in a cake pan on parchment and baked it until internal temp of 200 F. Delicious!
Hi Shirley, I’m sorry these cookies didn’t turn out for you. It sounds like too much liquid from the pineapple made its way into the batter. I like how you pivoted to a cake pan instead!
I have a very old pineapple cookie recipe that is almost identical to this one except it calls for shortening (aka butter-flavored Crisco today) and they always come out great. A pineapple cookie does have a sort of soft cake-like texure but it should not fall apart. Just my 2 cents worth.
Thanks for chiming in, Robin!