Filled Raisin Cookies

Okay, I taunted you with the photo yesterday.  Here's the recipe.  It's one of those old-fashioned family recipes.  I'm not sure whether it was from Great-Aunt Laura or another of the Granger/ Maffett/ Cordier/ Clester connection, but I do know I copied it from my Grandma Maffett's recipe file.  The first time I made it, I learned by trial and error because the original recipe left a lot of steps out.  This is how I make it. 

Filled Raisin Cookies

Dough:
2 C sugar
1 C butter-flavored Crisco (or 1/2 C regular Crisco and 1/2 C butter)
2 eggs
1 C sour milk (buttermilk, regular milk with 1 T vinegar added, or even yogurt)
1 T baking powder
5 1/2 C flour

Cream sugar and Crisco; then add eggs and beat well. Add other ingredients and mix to make a very soft dough.  Chill dough for several hours or overnight.

Filling:
1 pound raisins (about 2 C)
1 C water
1 C sugar
2 t. vanilla
4 T flour

Put raisins and water in blender and pulse until the raisins are coarsely chopped.  Pour raisin/water mixture into saucepan, add sugar and flour, and bring to boil.  Remove from heat; add vanilla and stir in.  Let filling cool.

Roll out dough about 1/4 inch thick with plenty of flour.  Dough will be soft and sticky (but it is probably the best dough for snitching raw ever!).  You will need a doughnut cutter with removable hole attachment:

... or you can improvise something else.  Cut bases for the cookies and transfer to an ungreased baking sheet; place a heaping teaspoon of filling on the center of each, and cover each with a "lid" that has the hole cut out.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.