From as early as I can remember, I was in the kitchen making something. Out of necessity, I learned to cook the meals at home when I was still in grade school. Mom was…ummmm….challenged in the kitchen, as it were. Her culinary concoctions were enough to make me beg her to let me go to the cooking school for kids at our local community center one summer. Things were much better around the table at our house after that.

As with many of us, this challenging year has driven me back to the kitchen and to my roots. As I was preparing to bake cookies this week, I was reminded of Grandma’s favorite cookie. She made a huge batch of Raisin Filled Cookies whenever my Uncle Bud and his family came to the farm for a visit. My uncle would whisk in, wrap his mom in a big bear hug, and reach around her for a handful of these delectably soft cookies before he headed back out the door to empty the car.

My uncle lost his wife a couple of years ago, then continued to care for his sister…my Aunt Peeps…till she finally had to go into a nursing home. My aunt passed away this summer, and Uncle Bud has been on his own for the first time in his life. He was one of those men who honestly didn’t know his way around a kitchen. Aunt Viv was a stay-at-home mom and always took care of everything. As I went through my list of cookies I like to make, I thought of my uncle alone up on that mountain and decided I’d make Raisin Filled Cookies for him.

These were never my favorite cookie. Grandma always used black walnuts in them because that’s what she had available. Back then, you used what you could produce on the farm and we had vast woods around us. My Uncle Bob would gather walnuts every fall…rubbing the husks off them till his hands were stained brown. They were like that for months. Then, in the winter, Bob would crack the walnuts and Grandma would pick the nut meats out and freeze them for use throughout the year.

Black walnuts make my mouth sore when I eat them. I get blisters and I really don’t like the flavor as they’re quite strong. I called my uncle yesterday and told him I didn’t have walnuts and would pecans be ok. He said he actually preferred pecans, so pecans it was. I cooked the raisin filling and after the news, I made the dough. I ran out of dough and still had three to four cups of the filling left so I may make some Raisin Bar Cookies today.

I was really pleased with the recipe, but they were much sweeter than I remember my grandma’s to be. She was pretty frugal with her ingredients. Even though they’re a little labor intensive, I think they were well worth the effort and I’ll make them again. The sourdough starter is well fed and bubbling so I’m going to make the dough today and bake it tomorrow.

You can get the recipe for the Raisin Filled Cookies HERE.

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“Get a large bowl. Then mix together wheat, barley, beans, lentils, and millet, and make some bread. This is what you will eat for the 390 days you are lying down.”

Ezekiel 4:9 CEV