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One Badass Cookie — Raisin Cookies

• by Nancy, January 05, 2009

Photo credit: My son, Max, one badass photographer

One Badass Cookie is proud to present its first Reader’s Recipe of the New Year! Congratulations to my friend, Michele Kishita of Philadelphia, Pa. for sending in her mother’s Raisin Cookies. Michele told me that her mother baked these cookies during Michele’s childhood and that they were so delicious she craved them all her life. Though her mother left her the recipe, Michele rarely bakes and hadn’t had the cookies in years. When I mentioned this to my own mother, she gasped in surprise. “Do you know?” she told me, “Those are one of my favorite childhood cookies too and I lost the recipe. I’ve been looking for it for thirty years.” So Michele dug out her mother’s original recipe, pictured below, and I started baking. I was thrilled to send a big container of the finished cookies to both Michele and my mom. A taste that lasts a lifetime — now that’s One Badass Cookie! I also found this link to a sister cookie that sounds fabulous too for those who like a bit of spice and zest with their raisins. Read on for the updated version of Michele’s recipe, more photos and the Badass Cookie Tip of the Week. Does it work? You bet your badass it does!




I like to use an old jelly jar to cut out round cookies.

One Badass Cookie Tip of the Week:Brush cookies with egg white before baking for a shiny, professional looking finish. Sprinkle the egg white with sugar to add sweetness and crunch if desired.
Raisin Filled Cookies
Makes approximately three dozen 2 to 3 inch diameter cookies depending on size.
Note: Allow time to cook and cool filling mixture ahead of time.
For filling:
2 1/2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups sugar or to taste
2 cups water
6 T. flour
For dough:
1 cup shortening (you may substitute butter but the original texture and taste of the cookie will be changed.)
2 cups white granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
1 t. baking soda
4 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
Egg yolk for sealing dough before baking, and egg white for brushing top of cookies if desired.
7 cups all purpose flour (or 6 cups for making drop cookies without filling if desired.)
1. Combine all filling ingredients in a heavy bottomed saucepan and cook until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens. Allow to cool.
2. Beat shortening and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or by hand with a wooden spoon, until creamy and fully incorporated. Add eggs slowly a little at a time, mixing well between additions.
3. Combine vanilla extract and milk and set aside. Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Using lowest speed on mixer or gently by hand, add dries to shortening mixture in three additions alternating with liquid, beginning and ending with flour (1/3 of flour, then 1/2 of milk, then 1/3 of flour, then the rest of the milk, then the last 1/3 of flour.) Do not overbeat.
4. Divide dough into three disks, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled enough to roll out.
5. When dough and filling are ready, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper, nonstick pads, or grease sheets and set aside.
6. Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick and use a round 2 or 3 inch cutter to cut dough. On 1/2 of the cookie rounds, place a large dollop of filling. Brush egg yolk or water around edge of cookie dough to help seal it, then place a plain cookie round on top and press to seal. Cut a slit in the top dough to allow steam to escape and brush cookie with egg white if desired. Continue until all the dough has been rolled, filled and seal. Place cookies on prepared sheet pans and bake for approximately 15 minutes or more until golden top and bottom. If you double your sheetpans under the cookies and rotate pans during baking top to bottom and back to front it will help ensure even baking. Cool on wire racks and store in an airtight container.


Leave a little margin of cookie dough around the filling so that the top dough can have enough room to seal properly.


Cutting a thin slit like this in the top of filled cookies helps steam escape but keeps the filling from burning or drying out.


Oh baby.


Here is Michele and her brother in a photo she sent me next to the cookies I made for her. How fun is this?

Got a cookie recipe badass enough for One Badass Cookie? Send it to us and we’ll test it. If it’s badass enough we’ll post it as a reader’s recipe and you’ll win a prize of Nancy’s book.

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