1 teaspoon vanilla extract
cup white (granulated) in a small bowl to coat the dough b.a.l.l.s Hannah"s 1st Note: Hank, the bartender down at the Lake Eden Munic.i.p.al Liquor Store, suggested that you could soften the raisins in brandy or rum, instead of water. (I used water.) Put the raisins and the water in an uncovered saucepan. Simmer them on the stove until all the water is absorbed. (This took me about 20 minutes.) Move the saucepan to a cold burner, or place it on a potholder on your counter, and cool the raisins for 30 minutes. (If you"re in a hurry, you can speed up this cooling process by sticking the pan in the refrigerator until the raisins are approximately room temperature.) In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. (I stir mine gently with a whisk so that everything"s mixed together.) Set the bowl aside.
Hannah"s 2nd Note: I used an electric mixer for this part of the recipe. You can do it by hand, but it takes some muscle.
Mix the softened b.u.t.ter and sugar together on HIGH speed until they"re light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and mix on MEDIUM speed until the mixture is a uniform color.
Take your bowl out of the mixer and blend in the raisins and the vanilla extract by hand.
Fold in the flour mixture carefully. The object is to keep the dough fluffy.
Put approximately cup sugar into a small bowl. Drop the dough from a teaspoon (or Tablespoon if you want large cookies) into the bowl of sugar. Form the drops into b.a.l.l.s with your fingers and move them to a lightly greased cookie sheet (I sprayed my cookie sheet with Pam), 12 cookies to a standard-sized sheet.
Bake the Raisin Drops at 350 degrees F. for 9 to 10 minutes, or until just lightly browned.
Lois Brown"s Note: I bake just a few at first to make sure there"s the right amount of flour. If they spread out too thin, add another Tablespoon or two of flour. I have been making this recipe for my family for 40 years.
Yield: 5 to 6 dozen deliciously soft raisin cookies.
* RASPBERRY VANILLA SWIRLS.
DO NOT preheat oven - cookie dough must chill before baking.
1 cup white (granulated) sugar
1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces, pound) salted b.u.t.ter, softened
1 large egg
teaspoon salt
teaspoon baking powder
teaspoon vanilla extract
2 and cups all-purpose flour (scoop it up and level it off
with a table knife don"t pack it down in the cup)
1 teaspoon raspberry extract
1 teaspoon red food coloring
1 Tablespoon seedless raspberry jam
cup (2 Tablespoons) all-purpose flour (that"s in addition
to the flour you added earlier)
powdered sugar for rolling out the dough Hannah"s 1st Note: This is easy with an electric mixer, but you can also do it by hand.
Place the sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Add the softened b.u.t.ter and mix until it"s light and fluffy.
Add the egg and mix well.
Sprinkle in the salt and the baking powder. Mix until they"re thoroughly incorporated.
Add the vanilla extract. Mix it in well.
Add the flour by half-cup increments, mixing after each addition.
Sc.r.a.pe down the sides of the mixing bowl and give the dough a final stir by hand.
Place a sheet of wax paper on the counter. Dust the wax paper with powdered sugar.
Remove HALF of the cookie dough from your mixing bowl and place it on the wax paper. Pat it out like pie crust with your impeccably clean hands and then dust the top with more powdered sugar.
With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle that is approximately inch thick. Cover the dough with another sheet of wax paper and store it in the refrigerator.
Go back to the dough in the mixer. This will be the raspberry part of your cookie pinwheels.
Turn the mixer on LOW and add the raspberry extract and the red food coloring. If you bought it in one of those little squeeze bottles, you don"t have to measure out a teaspoonful. Just keep adding drops until you think it"s the right color for your pinwheels.
Heat the Tablespoon of seedless raspberry jam in the microwave for a few seconds until it reverts to a liquid. Then add it to your mixing bowl and mix it in.
You"ve added more liquid to your cookie dough, so now you must add a bit more flour. Sprinkle in the additional eighth cup of flour and mix well.
Tear off a sheet of wax paper and spread it out on the counter. Dust it with powdered sugar and roll out the pink half of your dough. Again, form a rectangle that is approximately inch thick.
Cover the raspberry half of your dough with another sheet of wax paper. Place it on top of your vanilla cookie dough in the refrigerator.
Chill both halves of your pinwheel cookie dough for at least 2 hours.
After your cookie dough has chilled for 2 hours, tear off another sheet of wax paper and spread it out on the counter. Dust it with powdered sugar. This will hold the cookie roll you"re about to make.
Grasping the raspberry dough by the corners of the wax paper, carefully slide it off the vanilla dough and place it to the side on the counter. Then peel the top sheet of wax paper off the vanilla dough, working slowly and carefully so that it doesn"t tear.
When the vanilla dough is bare on top, position the long end of the raspberry dough rectangle next to the long end of the vanilla dough rectangle. Peel the top layer of wax paper from your raspberry cookie dough.
Dust the bare top of your raspberry cookie dough with powdered sugar. Then cover it with the sheet of wax paper you tore off earlier. Grasping both sheets of wax paper, the one on the top and the one on the bottom, flip the raspberry dough over so that the side you dusted with powdered sugar is now on the bottom.
Hannah"s 2nd Note: Believe me, this is harder to explain than it is to do. I wish I could just come over to your kitchen and show you!
Peel off the top sheet of wax paper and slide the raspberry dough on top of the vanilla dough. Working carefully and loosening the wax paper as you go, push your raspberry cookie dough off the wax paper and onto the bare vanilla cookie dough.
If the edges of the dough are uneven, trim them with a sharp knife. Use the pieces of dough you"ve trimmed for patches if there are any holes.
Working from the long side of the rectangle, roll up the dough so that it forms a log. This will create a pinwheel later when you slice the log into cookies.
Roll your cookie log in a piece of wax paper, twist the ends to keep the roll from coming undone, and refrigerate it for another 2 hours. (Overnight is fine, too.) Hannah"s 3rd Note: At this point, you can even freeze the dough log if you put it into a large freezer bag that"s airtight. Thaw it in the refrigerator 24 hours before you want to bake the cookies.
When 2 hours have pa.s.sed, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or spray it with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.
If your cookie roll has flattened in the refrigerator, you can roll it a bit on the counter to round it out.
Using a sharp knife, cut inch slices from the cookie dough log. Cut only as many as you can bake at one time and return the log to the refrigerator between baking.
Place the Raspberry Vanilla Swirls on the cookie sheet, twelve to a standard-size sheet.
Bake at 375 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the oven and cool them on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Yield: 4 to 6 dozen pretty and tasty cookies that everyone will love.
RED VELVET COOKIES.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
2 one-ounce squares unsweetened baking chocolate
cup b.u.t.ter (1 stick, 4 ounces, pound) at room
temperature