April Cookie Carnival - Toasted Coconut Shortbread with Pineapple Filling

One of the Cookie Carnival recipes this month is Toasted Coconut Shortbread with Pineapple Filling by Anna Olson of the Food Network Canada.

I wasn't sure that I was going to find the time to make these cookies this month. Since it is raining today and we couldn't get out to clean and wash the car like I'd planned, I decided to make the cookies since I had everything on hand. I'm really happy that I did.

The shortbread cookies are stacked with pineapple cream filling in between and on top of the cookies. I could sit and eat the pineapple filling with a spoon! It's that good. The little cookie stacks would make a perfect Easter dessert served in single serving cups.

When reading the recipe, I thought that it might be a little more work that I really wanted to do but it ended up being a really simple recipe that came together quickly.

Toasted Coconut Shortbread with Pineapple Filling
from Anna Olson on Food Network Canada

Ingredients:

Shortbread1/2 cup sweetened coconut, fine shred
1 cup and 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
dash salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

Pineapple Cream
1/2 cup cream cheese at room temperature
1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
2/3 cup whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks
pineapple slices (I omitted)

To make cookies:

Shortbread

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Spread coconut on an ungreased baking tray and toast for 10 minutes, stirring once. Allow to cool. (I did not toast the coconut first. I just added it to the dough out of the bag.)

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add butter in pieces and pulse just until dough is crumbly.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle toasted coconut over. Work coconut into dough until dough comes together.

Dust work surface again and roll out dough into a rectangle about 1/8 –inch thick, and cut into circles using a cookie cutter or small glass.

Use a spatula to lift cookies onto a parchment-lined baking tray and bake, on the center rack of the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, just until edges of cookie color slightly.

Cool cookies on the pan for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely.

Pineapple Cream

Beat cream cheese until soft and fluffy. Beat in icing sugar and vanilla. Stir in pineapple and fold into whipped cream. Chill until ready to serve.

To assemble:

To plate, place a cookie on a plate with thinly sliced pineapple. Then spoon or pipe about 2 Tbsp of pineapple cream onto cookie and top with another cookie. Spoon or pipe another 2 Tbsp of cream and serve or refrigerate until ready to eat.

**Note** The recipe says it makes 12 cookies but I ended up with 14 cookies using a 3 inch cookie cutter. If you were to use a 4 or 5 inch cookie cutter to be able to hold the pineapple slice, you would most likely get 10 - 12 cookies. 

Would you like to have fun baking with us in the Cookie Carnival? Click here to find out what it's all about!