These pineapple upside down sugar cookies combine a classic sugar cookie base with coconut-covered pineapple and maraschino cherries for a delicious mashup loaded with all your favorite flavors.
Treats like cranberry pecan snowball cookies, cranberry pecan sandies, and homemade peppermint bark are always great choices for the holiday season. They’re easy, delicious, and perfect for snacking and mingling.
Our pineapple upside down sugar cookies are perfect for the holidays or any time of year, with a soft, sugar cookie base and a sweet topping of coconut-covered pineapple and maraschino cherries.
These cookies are the perfect treat for your holiday table or a dessert after meals like slow cooker pot roast, chicken cobbler, or ham broccoli rice casserole.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple Ingredients: It only takes a handful of simple ingredients to make this recipe, and almost all of them are kitchen staples.
- Easy to Make: If you can make cookies, you can make this recipe!
- A Delicious Combination: Buttery sugar cookies and a topping of pineapple, coconut, and cherries create a delicious mashup of two classic desserts.
- A Year-Round Treat: These flavors are perfect for holidays, special occasions, or any time of year.
Key Ingrdients
You’ll find a full list of ingredients and their amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Pineapple: Pineapple rings add sweet, tropical flavor to the cookie topping.
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar adds more sweetness to the pineapple and helps the coconut stick to it.
- Coconut: The pineapple rings are coated in shredded coconut for more sweet, tropical flavor.
- Maraschino Cherries: Maraschino cherries in the center of the coconut rings complete the look and classic pineapple cake flavor for these cookies.
Variations
- Plain: The cookie base is so good; you can make it on its own for a delicious plain version.
- Chocolate Chips: Pineapple and chocolate are a classic combo, so try adding chocolate chips to the sugar cookie dough.
- Cookie Cake: The pineapple upside down cake theme is even further enhanced by baking the cookie dough in a sheet or round pan and topping it with the coconut-coated pineapple.
How to Make Pineapple Upside Down Cookies
- Whisk the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
- Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy in another medium bowl. Then, beat in the eggs and vanilla.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Then, chill.
- Dip the pineapple rings in a bowl of brown sugar followed by a bowl of coconut, and place them on a lined baking sheet.
- Place a maraschino cherry in the center of each ring.
- Press cookie dough onto the rings and bake at 350°F until the coconut cookies are golden and the coconut is browned.
Expert Tips
- Chilling the dough is key to this recipe. You want it to remain on top of the pineapple rings, not spreading out over them.
- Line your baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup and to ensure the cookies release easily.
- Thoroughly drain your pineapple and place it on paper towels before making the recipe to ensure the dough doesn’t get soggy.
Pineapple Upside Down Cookies FAQs
Pineapple upside down cookies are a combination of sugar cookies and pineapple upside down cake topping. Pineapple rings are coated in brown sugar and coconut, and a cherry is placed in the center. Then, they’re baked until golden and the coconut is toasted.
It’s important to thoroughly drain your pineapple rings and pat them dry to ensure excess moisture isn’t absorbed by the cookie dough as it bakes.
If you don’t chill the cookie dough, it will spread too much as it bakes. It’s important to get it nice and cold to inhibit its spread.
These cookies will last for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. They must be refrigerated due to the pineapple and cherries used in the recipe.
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Pineapple Upside Down Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup coconut
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 16 pineapple rings, drained
- 16 maraschino cherries, drained
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt together.
- In another medium bowl, cream butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.
- Next, add egg and vanilla, and beat until combined.
- Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Stir to combine. Chill
- In a small bowl, add brown sugar.
- Dip each pineapple ring into the brown sugar followed by dipping it into the coconut.
- Place coconut side down on the prepared baking sheet.
- Place a cherry in the center of each pineapple ring.
- Cover and press cookie dough onto the rings.
- Bake for 14 minutes or until the coconut has browned.
Notes
- Chilling the dough is key to this recipe. You want it to remain on top of the pineapple rings, not spreading out over them.
- Line your baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup and to ensure the cookies release easily.
- Thoroughly drain your pineapple and place it on paper towels before making the recipe to ensure the dough doesn’t get soggy.
These ar so yummy, and I love how easy they were to make!
Nice! I made these last night, and they really are the perfect marriage of two of my favorite desserts.
Pineapple upside-down cake is such a timeless favorite! I love that beautiful caramelized fruit topping. This looks so delicious!
The aroma of pineapple flavor plays a big role in its appeal. It smells fresh and fruity, which enhances the overall tasting experience.