Pina Colada Cookies

Imagine what would happen if traditional white chocolate macadamia cookies decided to pack their bags and go lay on the beach for a while. They'd get out their little beach towels and lay in the sun, right? And, like any other tourists, they'd suck down some pina coladas, yes? Well, imagine if they got a little tipsy and spilled those pina coladas all over themselves. Oh no! Now we've got white chocolate macadamia cookies, covered in pineapple and coconut, getting all toasty in the sun! No! What a tragedy.

Oh wait. I didn't mean tragedy, I meant delicious. Suddenly, fellow beachgoers stop and stare, licking their chops, and the cookies glance at each other and begin to feel afraid.

So let's spare those poor vacationing cookies, shall we, and just make some of our own. Crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, all filled to the brim with gooey white chocolate, tangy pineapple, and crunchy little bits of macadamia. I'm suddenly feeling festively tropical.

What you'll need
Recipe is kosher dairy and vegetarian

2 sticks unsalted, sweet cream butter, room temperature
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 package (3.4oz) coconut instant pudding
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
6 oz white chocolate chips
6 oz candied pineapple, finely chopped
2oz macadamia nuts, chopped
Handful of shredded coconut



What to do:

First, we wanna get our cookie base all whipped up and creamy. I use a hand mixer, but you can use a stand mixer or a sturdy spoon, whatever you like.

In your favorite mixing bowl, combine your butter and sugars. Whip 'em up nice and fluffy. If it crumbs up, it means your butter was just too cold. Keep beating, it'll eventually soften up.



Next, add your eggs, vanilla, and soda. Continue to beat until well blended. If your eggs aren't room temperature, the mix may look a little curdled. It's not a problem. It'll all come together in the end.



Now. Add your pudding mix and continue beating. Your arm may be getting tired holding up the darn mixer.





If you're using a mixer, you may want to attach a dough hook before adding flour. Your dough will get mighty thick, and some hand mixers won't be able to handle it. I've broken mixers on dough before. Not cool.

Gradually add your flour, mixing well until smooth. When everything's well blended, turn your dough out onto a clean work surface and shape into a ball. Make a well in your dough-ball. You could do this in your bowl if you'd rather, but for some crazy reason, I like working on my countertops. I may have bowl-claustrophobia.



Add your white chocolate, pineapple, macadamias, and coconut into the well. Fold the dough around the good stuff, and knead it all in until evenly distributed.





Scoop a handful of coconut onto your work surface. Using a cookie baller (haha, cookie baller!) or just pinching off small portions of dough, roll them into balls and smush the tops into the coconut.





Put your coconutted dough balls (weirdest phrase ever) on a parchment lined cookie sheet. They won't spread much, so you can place them fairly close together. Bake at 375 until tops are golden and coconut is slightly toasted.



Cookies continue to bake even after you've taken them out, so don't overbake. They may not look "done" in the oven. That's okay. In fact, that's ideal. I baked mine about 8-9 minutes.

Transfer to cooling racks. Ha! As if you could wait for them to cool. ;)

Aloha, and happy eating!