Jumbo Raisin Cookies

The Mission: Cookie Recipe #3!

This is Dad's favorite recipe. He adores them. He loves them. He craves them! Gramma has been making these for a very long time and the recipe has been handed down to me. It's Christmas tradition that I make these cookies for Dad every year. I also make them for Father's Day :) It's a very easy present to make. And there's no chance that the Husband will steal any of the cookies - because they contain coconut.... and the Husband is allergic.



The Ingredients:

• 2 cups raisins
• 1 and 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup shortening (I use butter flavored)
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 and 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 4 cups flour - sifted
  

The Instructions:

What you'll want to do first is boil the raisins so they'll have sufficient time to cool. I'll usually do this the night before and then just stick them in the fridge. ** Cream shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in mixer. Add the cooled raisin mixture (do not drain). Beat in the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix in the sifted flour until blended. Add the chocolate chips and coconut. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet, placing them 2" apart. Bake in a preheated 375*F oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. - Chilling the dough makes it easier.

**Once - many many years ago - Mom and I made these and skipped the cooling step. What could it hurt? Well - it was hot and melted the chocolate chips. Oops. We apparently weren't thinking very clearly. So - do not skip the cooling step! It's important :) Also - do not double this recipe. It's already doubled, and if you try and double it again, it won't fit in the mixing bowl. Yes - I do know this from experience.

The Result: They turned out delicious as always. Since these cookies stay extremely moist, I cut out wax paper to put between each layer as I put the cooled cookies in Dad's special tin. I highly recommend doing this - if you don't, the cookies will stick together and you'll end up with a big glob instead of pretty individual cookies.





The Reviews:
Dad is happy. Mission accomplished. I even took some left overs (the ones that didn't fit into Dad's special tin) to a party. Everyone who thought that they sounded good tried one and liked them. A lot of people don't care for coconut in their cookies - so they're not terribly popular. But everyone who likes coconut raves about them :) HOORAY!





Dad's Special Tin:
My family has a thing about the M&M guys. It all started with a gift set of M&M mugs. A yellow, a red, a blue, and a green. Dad liked the red guy. The blue one was playing a saxaphone, so it went to my sister. Mom got the green girl M&M since, well, Mom's a girl. So I got stuck with yellow. Who is portrayed as a happy-go-lucky character, but not the brightest bulb in the box. Oh well.