Stuffed Pineapple

I have another recipe you will want to make for your 4th of July picnic next week! As I mentioned yesterday, my mama came up for a visit. David made her smoked baby backs and I made a side order of smoky pineapple baked beans and for dessert, I made this deliciously stuffed pineapple.

Mama loves pineapple and tropical fruit because it reminds her of Hawaii. My parents were blessed enough to have gone on two trips to Hawaii. The first time they went was in the 80’s. They left my older brother and sister to stay at my grandparents just down the road while they were away. That was the time my long-lost cat “Kitty Boo-Boo” showed up at my grandparents’ house and had 10 black cats!! Yes, 10!

The second time they visited Hawaii was in the 90’s and they went for free! My daddy was a farmer and he won the trip through an Ag Supply vendor. By then, my brother and sister had moved out, but I again was left to stay at my grandmama’s house. That time there were no 10 black cats. I’m sure my grandmama was glad of that!

The trips to Hawaii and my mama’s love for tropical fruit is the reason I chose to make this stuffed pineapple for dessert.

Here’s how I made the Stuffed Pineapple:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Stir together coconut, gingersnap cookies, and nuts. Set aside.

Whisk together sweetened condensed milk and rum. Set aside.

Using a large sharp knife, slice the pineapple in half with leaves intact. To do this, place the pineapple on a cutting board with the bottom facing you. Start the knife in the center of the pineapple and cut toward the bottom. Remove the knife, spin the cutting board around, so that the leaves are facing you. Start at the center and work your way towards the top of the leaves, until the pineapple is split in half. Cut the core from each pineapple half and discard. Using a smaller sharp knife, cut the remaining pineapple out of the shell, into 1-inch cubes. Using a spoon, spoon out the cubes the best you can.

It doesn’t have to be perfect and if it comes out that way, let me know how you did it because I would like to know.

Arrange pineapple halves skin side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill each half with pineapple cubes.

Drizzle each pineapple with half of the sweetened condensed milk mixture.

Top the pineapples and milk mixture with the coconut mixture. Drizzle with the remaining milk mixture.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

The longer this is in the oven the better. Loosely cover with foil the last 10 to 15 minutes if the coconut starts to get too brown.

Every time I see a macadamia nut, it reminds me of my daddy. According to my mama, on their first trip to Hawaii, my daddy was bending over to pick up some macadamia nuts off the ground from a macadamia tree. As he bent over, he split his pants open in the back. He had to walk around the rest of the afternoon with her jacket tied around his waist so that he wouldn’t expose his drawers to all of Hawaii. I can only imagine how funny that was and I giggle every time I see a macadamia nut.
My daddy was a mess!

Making this recipe, I found out that I’m not that big a fan of macadamia nuts. I am not so sure the ones David bought from the store were as fresh as they should have been even though the date on the package was ok. David, mama and I all agreed that PECANS should be used next time this is made. It may not be the nut of choice in Hawaii, but we all three agreed that this dessert would be better using pecans instead. (Plus pecans are cheaper than macadamia nuts.)

I’ll let you decide what type of nuts to use, but you need some type of nut for added crunch.