Pineapple-filled Cream Cheese Delights

makes: 10 large cookies

filling
1 cup crushed pineapple with juice
1 cup granulated sugar
2-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup water
cookie
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon soda
⅔ cup butter or margarine
1, 3 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
icing
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate

Make the filling: Combine crushed pineapple with juice, sugar, cornstarch, butter and water in saucepan. Cook, stirring until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool. Make the cookies: Combine flour, baking soda, salt and sugar; set aside. Beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, lemon juice and lemon peel. Add dry ingredients. Cover and chill for 15-30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease baking sheet. Use a fourth of the dough at a time, keeping the remainder refrigerated. Roll to ⅛ inch thick on a flour surface. Cut into 2 inch rounds. Place half of the rounds on baking sheet. Place about ½ teaspoon of filling in the center of cookies. Cover cookies with the remaining cookie rounds and seal the edges. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire rack and let cool completely. Make icing: Sift powdered sugar. Cream in the butter. Add vanilla and orange juice concentrate. If icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar; if too thick, add more orange juice. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Comments:
Sandee McCarron from Rocledge, FL says: Great tasting cookie that ends up being as big as a small pie! I doubled the recipe BUT found two problems: (1) Even after refrigerating, dough was very sticky. Had to keep working more flour into it to be able to roll it out and (2) I had 1/2 bowl of filling left after doubling recipe so I had to do ANOTHER double dough recipe to use it up. I would suggest making a single filling recipe with a double cookie recipe. I didn’t make the frosting as they were great without it!