Tastes of Hawaii Recipes – Grove Farm Ice Box Cookies, Tutu’s Sugar Cookies and Dole Pineapple Whips

Before I end my year-long blog of Old Kauai Plantation Recipes, I’d like to answer the requests from readers who were hoping to find “specific old Hawaiian recipes!”

Special Request Hawaiian Recipes From Readers

The recipes I’m going to feature in this blog are:

• Grove Farm Ice Box Cookies
• Tutu’s Super-Crispy Sugar Cookies
• Dole Pineapple Whips

Grove Farm Ice Box Cookies

I received a request for a sugar cookie a visitor enjoyed years ago while visiting a Kauai Plantation that was made using raw cane sugar and baked in a wood stove. I’ve researched and I believe I found what this reader was looking for. I’m going to try these myself as they sound delicious.

These were a favorite of owner Mabel Wilcox, which she served from her Kauai plantation kitchen along with Grove Farm Mint Iced Tea. The tea’s proportion:

• 2 cups minted water (pour boiling water over mint and allow to steep for about an hour, then strain)
• 4 cups water
• 4 tablespoons Lipton Iced Tea Mix

Grove Farm Ice Box Cookie Recipe

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups raw sugar (see note)
• 2 beaten eggs
• 2-3/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Mix ingredients together and roll into a cylinder about the size of a quarter in wax paper. Chill in refrigerator for about an hour, or freeze for future use.

When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet and place thinly sliced cookie dough about 1 inch apart for baking.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes in a 325- to 350-degree oven. Cookies will appear very lightly browned when done. (Ours took 15 minutes. They emerge soft from the oven, crisp when cooled.) Remove from cookie sheet immediately.

Notes: Your cookies will be good, but not quite like those baked in the wood stove. Do not use regular brown or dark brown sugar – it’s the coarse raw sugar that gives the cookies their special taste. Sugar needs to be COARSE. You can purchase raw sugar in most health food stores and some grocery stores on the mainland. (You can use mostly Maui Brand Premium Washed Raw Sugar, plus enough Sugar in the Raw, described as “Turbinado Sugar from Hawaii,” to complete the requisite 2 cups.

Tutu’s Super-Crispy Sugar Cookies

BONUS: While searching for the above recipe, I came across this one that looks equally interesting! Here is how this cookie story goes:

“When I lived on the island of Hawaii, every Sunday I would buy cookies at the farmers’ market from an elderly woman everyone called Tutu, or “Grandmother.” She would sell only one bag per person until she ran out, which took about 30 minutes.

Before I moved away, I asked her for the recipe. She gave it to me on the condition that I couldn’t share it with anyone for 25 years. Time has passed, and now I’d like to share it with your readers.— Charlie Griggs; Hoodsport, WA.” (Thank you Charlie for sharing this old recipe!)

Tutu’s Super-Crispy Sugar Cookie Recipe

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300°. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar and salt until smooth and fluffy. Mix the baking soda with the vanilla, then add to the butter mixture. Add the flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing well between additions. Gently stir in the Rice Krispies.

2. Lightly butter 2 baking sheets. Spoon 2-tablespoon-size mounds of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 3 inches apart.

**Note from Contributor: The recipe says to spoon two-tablespoon-size amounts of dough on cookie sheets. The only problem is, a dough hardly forms after everything is mixed together! It looks more like wet sand. Just taking a spoonful of the dough in this manner and slapping it on the baking sheet will not make a cookie. Instead, measure out two tablespoons of dough-sand into one hand, then pushed it together into a ball. It will do this easily. I then put the cookie-balls onto the baking sheets.

3. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the pans from the oven. Gently flatten the cookies with a spatula. Rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back and continue baking until the cookies are lightly cracked on the top and golden brown on the bottom, about 25 minutes longer. Let cool slightly, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Dole Pineapple Whips

I also received a request from a reader who was looking for a delicious smoothie recipe called “Dole Pineapple Whips.” What I found is this is one of the Hawaiian visitor favorites when they visit the Dole Pineapple farm on Oahu. This is the most delicious smoothie you will ever taste!

Dole Pineapple Whip Recipe

• 2 (20 ounce) cans dole crushed pineapple
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped

Directions

1. Drain pineapple; reserve 2 tablespoons juice. Set aside.

2. Place pineapple, lemon juice, lime juice, sugar and reserved pineapple juice in blender or food processor container; cover and blend until smooth.

3. Pour into two 1-quart freezer zipped bags and store bags flat in freezer.

4. Freeze 1.5 hours, or until slushy.

5. Stir pineapple slush gently into whipped cream until slightly blended, in large bowl.

6. Return to freezer until completely frozen, about 1 hour and serve.

I truly hope you have enjoyed these Old Plantation recipes during this past year as much as I have enjoyed rediscovering them! Bon Appetite!

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