Nanny's Raisin Filled Cookies: Old Fashioned Recipe (2024)

Published: Last updated: by Shelby Law Ruttan · As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

This is Nanny's recipe. My only changes are the butter (she used margarine) and rum (she used water). For decorating purposes (frosting not needed) I made some butter rum frosting and glazed a few of them. I will include the frosting recipe but you do not need it on these cookies :)

Nanny's Raisin Filled Cookies: Old Fashioned Recipe (1)

Nanny's Raisin Filled Cookiesare an old fashioned cookie recipe with a soft cookie dough filled with a rum soaked sweet raisin filling . This raisin cookie is one of my favorite cookies my Nanny would make and brings a little bit of nostalgia with every bite.

❤️Why you'll love it

Memories in every bite:​each bite brings back being in grandmas kitchen with a warm raisin filled cookie in your hand!

Versatile: the cookie filling is easily adaptable to using your favorite dried fruits, nuts, or chocolate.

Soft filled cookies: each cookie is soft with a delicious sweet rum flavored raisin filling!

Nanny's Raisin Filled Cookies: Old Fashioned Recipe (3)


🥘Ingredients

Unsalted butter

White sugar

Light brown sugar

Large eggs

Pure Vanilla extract

Baking soda

Baking powder

Salt

All-purpose flour

Sour milk

Applesauce

Raisins

Rum

Powdered sugar

🔪Instructions

For the filling:

  1. in amedium saucepanovermedium heat, stir together the applesauce, raisins,brown sugar, rum, and butter.
  2. Bringraisin mixtureto a boil, then turn heat down to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until mixture is thick and raisins have plumped.
  3. Setraisin mixtureaside to cool.

For the cookie dough:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lin a largecookie sheetwith parchment paper and set aside.
  2. In alarge bowl, using anelectric mixer, mix together butter,white sugar, andbrown sugarcreamy.
  3. Add eggs, one at a time and mix until well blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract.
  4. In aseparate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  5. Adddry ingredientsto wet ingredients 1 cup at a time. Add sour milk a little at a time after each flour addition.
  6. By the time you are ready to add your last cup of flour, the dough should be sticky, but starting to stiffen some. Once you have added 6 cups, roll dough out onto a floured board and lightly knead the remaining ½ cup of flour into the dough.
  7. Divide dough into quarters and using a rolling pin, roll out to about ⅛-inch thicknesson afloured surface. Using around cookie cutter, cut two cookie rounds out for each cookie.
  8. Place 1 cookie dough round oncookie sheet. Top with 1 tablespoon of raisin filling. Place another cookie round on top of cookie with filling. Press with thumb to seal.
  9. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Transfer cookies tocooling rackand cool completely.

To Make the Frosting

  1. In a medium bowl, using anelectric mixer, combine the butter, powdered sugar, and rum together until well combined.
  2. Add more sugar or rum as needed to make frosting thin enough to run just a little when frosted.
  3. Let frosting sit while cookies are cooling and it will thicken up some and not run down the sides of cookie when frosting.

🥄Equipment

Medium saucepan

Wooden spoon

Largecookie sheet

Large Bowl

Medium bowl

Electric mixer

Rolling pin

Parchment paper

Tablespoon

Cooling rack

🥫Storage

Room temperature:store cookies in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Freezer:store in a freezer safe container up to 3 month.

📖Variations

Date filled cookies:substitute chopped, pitted dates for the raisins.

Rum free version:substitute water for the rum

💭Tips

  • Allow frosting to dry completely before storing cookies.
  • When storing cookies, place a piece ofwax paperover each layer to prevent frosting from sticking to stacked cookies.

If crispy edges with chewy centers are your thing, then you want to try these Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Cookies.

This recipe for Nanny's Soft Oatmeal Cookies are another childhood favorite.

If you love rum in your sweet treats, then these Banana Rum Coconut Raisin Cookies are a must try!

My whole family loves this Best Carrot Cake with Raisins and Walnuts.

🍽Serve with...

Serve cookies with a glass of milk, cup of hot coffee or a hot buttered rum! They also are perfect for holiday gatherings, their versatile nature makes them a delightful treat all year round.

Don't forget to check out my Amazon storefront for some of my favorite products!

When you make these raisin filled cookies, please comment below and let me know what you think. I'd love it if you tag me on Instagram @grumpyshoneybunch or #grumpyshoneybunch so I can see your photos!

If you love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating

📖 Recipe

Nanny's Raisin Filled Cookies: Old Fashioned Recipe (9)

Nanny's Raisin Filled Cookies

Shelby Law Ruttan

This is Nanny's recipe. My only changes are the butter (she used margarine) and rum (she used water). For decorating purposes (frosting not needed) I made some butter rum frosting and glazed a few of them. I will include the frosting recipe but you do not need it on these cookies 🙂

4.38 from 35 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Cookie Recipes, Desserts

Cuisine American

Servings 36

Calories 173 kcal

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Ingredients

For the cookies:

For the Filling:

For the Frosting:

Instructions

For the filling:

  • in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together the applesauce, raisins, brown sugar, rum, and butter.

  • Bring raisin mixture to a boil, then turn heat down to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until mixture is thick and raisins have plumped.

  • Set raisin mixture aside to cool.

For the cookie dough:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lin a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

  • In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, mix together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar creamy.

  • Add eggs, one at a time and mix until well blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract.

  • In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

  • Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients 1 cup at a time. Add sour milk a little at a time after each flour addition.

  • By the time you are ready to add your last cup of flour, the dough should be sticky, but starting to stiffen some. Once you have added 6 cups, roll dough out onto a floured board and lightly knead the remaining ½ cup of flour into the dough.

  • Divide dough into quarters and using a rolling pin, roll out to about ⅛-inch thickness on a floured surface. Using a round cookie cutter, cut two cookie rounds out for each cookie.

  • Place 1 cookie dough round on cookie sheet. Top with 1 tablespoon of raisin filling. Place another cookie round on top of cookie with filling. Press with thumb to seal.

  • Bake for 17-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Transfer cookies to cooling rack and cool completely.

For the Frosting

  • In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, combine the butter, powdered sugar, and rum together until well combined.

  • Add more sugar or rum as needed to make frosting thin enough to run just a little when frosted.

  • Let frosting sit while cookies are cooling and it will thicken up some and not run down the sides of cookie when frosting.

Notes

The frosting recipe does not make enough to frost all of the cookies. If you want to do this, please double your ingredients. I tend to only frost a portion of my cookies for this recipe.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookieCalories: 173kcalCarbohydrates: 30gProtein: 2gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 26mgSodium: 123mgPotassium: 76mgFiber: 1gSugar: 19gVitamin A: 165IUVitamin C: 0.3mgCalcium: 46mgIron: 1mgNet Carbohydrates: 30g

Keyword cookie recipe, filled cookies, Raisin Filled Cookies

Tried this recipe?Mention @grumpyshoneybunch or tag #grumpyshoneybunch!

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About Shelby Law Ruttan

Shelby is the author/owner of Grumpy's Honeybunch. Established in 2007, she shares and preserves family recipes as well as recipes for cooking light and keto. She has authored the One-Pot Paleo Cookbook and The Pescatarian Keto Cookbook. She is an experienced, self-taught home cook who loves to share recipes with others. She also authors the websites Honeybunch Hunts and The Best Vegetarian Recipes. You can see her work on websites such as Veal Made Easy, Parade, Community Table, SoFab Food, Yummly, and FoodGawker.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Connieph9

    Nanny's Raisin Filled Cookies: Old Fashioned Recipe (14)
    These were just like I remembered from Oakmont Bakery in PIttsburgh. I had leftover frozen peaches and some chestnut spread so made the three different fillings. Thanks for sharing- I loved them! Also love your Rhubarb Keto dream bars 🙂

    Reply

    • Shelby Law Ruttan

      Hi Connie! Thank you so much for sharing, love that you made different fillings and happy you love the Rhubarb Keto Dream Bars also 🙂 Shelby

      Reply

  2. Polly Hastings

    Hi Shelby, I am a new subscriber to your website! Looking forward to exploring your recipes! My Mother in the 1950s and 60s made these exact same cookies with a prune filling. Do you suppose I could substitute the prunes for the raisins without much fuss or changes? Have you heard of prune filled cookies? Mother's cookies looked exactly like yours. Polly

    Reply

    • Shelby

      Hi Polly, I think you could probably use prunes, but may need to increase the sugar a little since they aren't as sweet as raisins. Thanks for subscribing and I hope you enjoy my posts!

      Reply

      • Ken Mitts

        I am 80 years old and live in Texas. I grew up in Pennsylvania and love raisin filled cookies but cannot buy theme here. Could you possibly tell me where I can buy them and have them shipped to me.

      • Shelby Law Ruttan

        Hi Ken, I would be honored to make some and send them to you...free of charge! If you email me your address, I will make some and ship them asap! Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Shelby
        P.S. My dad is also 80 years old, he will be 81 next month!

  3. Jeri Tachappat

    These are childhood memories for me also. My Grandparents were deceased before I was born. My Mother used to make these and someone lost the recipe . The only thing different that I remember is I used to help Mother grind the raisens, grinder hooked onto the edge of the table, I still have her grinder. Thank you so very much.

    You say sour milk, would that be milk with vinegar or lemon?

    Reply

    • Shelby

      Hi Jeri, Thank you 🙂 Yes. I mean milk with vinegar or lemon.

      Reply

  4. Cheryl

    This looks like my Grandma's most-loved cookie. She always made two batches for holidays: 1. date-filled, + 1. apricot-filled. I'd be willing to bet she used what she called 'oleo' too. She also had a trick to form them more efficiently: instead of picking up another disc, she'd use a bit less filling, and fold them over turnover-style. Thank you so much for posting the recipe; I can't wait to try it.

    Reply

    • Shelby

      Hi Cheryl, I hope you enjoy the cookies! My mom used to fold the cookie in half also for turnovers 🙂

      Reply

  5. Lauren @ Sew You Think You Can Cook

    My grandma didn't have a "cookie jar" (although she made incredible cookies) but she had a "candy drawer" that we were always eager to delve into.
    I love how close your family is, and that your boys got the opportunity to know their great-grandparents in an intimate way. <3

    Reply

  6. Caroline | carolinescooking

    What lovely memories you have shared, and so nice that you got to spend so much time with them. These cookies look great as well. I am not sure I have had filled cookies quite like this before (although British mince pies are along the same lines, just more filling) but they look and sound great!

    Reply

  7. Cindys Recipes and Writings

    Boy Shelby do these ever bring back sweet memories!

    Reply

  8. cathy branciaroli

    My grandmother made a raisin bar, not a cookie, and while everyone raves about them, no one remembers how they were made - darn!

    Reply

  9. Serena | Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch

    Wonderful!

    Reply

  10. Laura Dembowski

    These cookies sound delightful. I love that you added frosting and those fun sparkles.

    Reply

  11. Sarah | Curious Cuisiniere

    These sound amazing! They're going on my Christmas cookie list for sure!

    Reply

  12. Liz

    Oh, what sweet memories! And your cookies look like the perfect autumn treat!

    Reply

  13. Susan 30A Eats

    What a sweet post, and I'm not just talking about the cookies, though I could devour a bakers dozen right now!

    Reply

  14. Wendy, A Day in the Life on the Farm

    How lucky you were to have such a great relationship with all of your grandparents. I only had my Mom's mom but the memories are priceless. I love these cookies. Thanks for the recipe.

    Reply

  15. Stacy

    You brought tears to my eyes, Shelby. What a sweet post and delightful cookies!

    Reply

  16. claudia

    These sound so good Shelby can't wait to try them I love that filling with Morgan in it! WOW!

    Reply

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Nanny's Raisin Filled Cookies: Old Fashioned Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What makes cookies fluffy baking soda or powder? ›

Baking soda is generally about three times stronger than baking powder, so adjust your recipe accordingly. Baking soda and baking powder can produce cookies with different textures. Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies.

Why do many chocolate chip cookie recipes contain baking soda and brown sugar? ›

As the butter melts, the cookie's structure loosens, so that the water in the dough is able to combine with the baking soda, dissolving it. The baking soda then reacts to the acidic components present in brown sugar, creating gases that cause the cookie to rise.

What happens if you use baking soda instead of baking powder in cookies? ›

However, if you're in a pinch, the substitution is one teaspoon baking soda equals three teaspoons baking powder. Baking soda is also much stronger than baking powder and, by trying to provide enough leavening, you may wind up with an unpleasant metallic, salty taste in the final baked product.

How can I make my cookies fluffier instead of flat? ›

Butter keeps cookies fluffy in two ways. First, creaming cold butter with sugar creates tiny, uniform air pockets that will remain in the dough it bakes up. Second, cold butter naturally takes a longer time to melt in the oven.

What does baking soda do to gray hair? ›

Regarding using baking soda for gray hair, experts endorse its potential benefits such as controlling pigmentation loss, lightening the strands, and providing texture. It can be used on coarse grey locks to make them smoother too by eliminating product buildup from oils or soaps.

What does extra brown sugar do to cookies? ›

Brown sugar, meanwhile, is dense and compacts easily, creating fewer air pockets during creaming—that means that there's less opportunity to entrap gas, creating cookies that rise less and spread more. With less moisture escaping via steam, they also stay moist and chewy.

What does too much brown sugar do to cookies? ›

Brown sugar adds a beautiful color as well as a more complex flavor. They'll also make cookies chewier, softer, and thicker than white sugar. Adding too much can result in dark brown cookies. Adding too little results in paler cookies.

Does baking soda make cookies fluffier? ›

Baking soda

When added to dough, baking soda releases a carbon dioxide gas which helps leaven the dough, creating a soft, fluffy cookie.

What makes a cookie fluffy? ›

We get that you're anxious, but if you want fluffy cookies, you seriously need to chill… the dough. Why? Because of that whole issue with butter melting prematurely. Refrigerate your batter for at least 10 minutes before scooping it onto a baking sheet.

Does baking soda or baking powder make cookies crispy? ›

Brown sugar contains significant moisture thanks to the molasses. Skip it and use only granulated sugar to create crispy chocolate chip cookies. Baking soda only: Baking powder gives cookies a cake-like texture. To avoid that softness, skip it and use baking soda only.

What makes cookies thick and fluffy? ›

Use a mixture of baking powder and baking soda as leavening agents. Baking powder provides lift and helps create a fluffy texture, while baking soda helps to densify the cookie and create a chewier texture.

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