Jumbo Raisin (Craisins) Cookies — Betty H.

For starters, I don't care for raisins, at all!  So I substituted Craisins, which I do love.  The recipe just says to cook for 5 min, without it being clear on what temp or whether it is once it boils or otherwise, so I just cooked the Craisins over high heat for 5 min, basically until they boiled.  Then I moved them to another bowl to cool and put them in the freezer to help them along.  Then I made the rest of the cookies.  When it was time for the Craisins I drained the remaining water and added the frozen nuts, which cooled the Craisins the rest of the way.  Otherwise, I would have had to wait probably another 30 min or so, and I am lazy.  I am assuming that if you were using raisins you may not need to drain any water.  Also, once the Craisins were rehydrated they looked just like chopped cranberries, so I am curious if you used chopped fresh cranberries how that would work.

As for the cookies, the dough was tasty, but a little saltier than I prefer.  Then the cookies got baked and they were hard as a rock.  It may be partly my fault.  I added a little extra flour (2-3 T) since I live at such a high altitude, and drained the water since I was worried the dough would be too runny, so I am sure that contributed.   That said, the flavor as just so-so.  I may try them again just to see, maybe even add almond flavoring.  But they weren't my favorite.

Jumbo Raisin (Craisins) Cookies
1 C Raisins (Craisins)
1/2 C water
1 C sugar
 1/2 C shortening
2 eggs
2 C flour
1 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t soda
1/8 t allspice
1/8 t nutmeg
1/2 C chopped nuts

Pour water over raisins or Craisins and cook for five minutes.  Cool.  Preheat oven to 400-degrees.  Combine dry ingredients.  Cream sugars, shortening, and eggs.  Add dry ingredients, mix thoroughly.  Add raisins or Craisins, vanilla and nuts.  drop by tablespoons.  Bake 10-15 min.