those pineapple cookies

These are a traditional cookie of Christmas in my family, along with peanut butter blossoms and cut-outs. They do not have a name that I know of as we refer to them as "those pineapple cookies." My mother did not believe they could be veganized but in fact the veganized version is still nice and flakey and lighter and less greasy (the old ones left grease spots on napkins) and the dough is quite pleasant to work with. It is totally worth all the fiddliness of making them even when you see your uncle tossing them into his mouth five at a time.



Pineapple Cookies (Vegan)
makes maybe like six dozen or so? I would count them but we already ate a million of them.

1 8oz tub tofutti better-than-cream cheese (I used the yellow, non-hydrogenated one)
1 cup Earth Balance, slightly softened
2 cups flour

Cream together fake cream cheese and fake butter. Add flour and mix until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, flatten into a disc, and chill until cold. Meanwhile make filling:

2 cans crushed pineapple, drained thoroughly
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch

Combine in a saucepan and cook, stirring, until the milkiness turns clear. Cool completely.

Preheat oven to 350.

Roll out the dough to about 1/8" thick and use a sharp knife to cut into about 2" squares. The smaller they are, the cuter, but the more you will get sick of making them. You can mash the trimmings together and roll them out again but I wouldn't do that more than once or twice. Transfer the squares to a cookie sheet (put them close together because they do not puff up much) and use a teaspoon to put a little diagonal line of pineapple on each square. Fold the other two corners up so it is like a little pineapple baby wrapped in a blanket, sealing with a little bit of water.

Bake for 15-16 minutes, just until the little tips are starting to brown.


Santa hopes that you will not forget to supervise your puppy while you are making these cookies.