When I think about the Romanian raisin cookies, I have a smile on my face. They remind me of the end of the school year when my grandparents would come to visit and see me receive my diploma for my accomplishments that year. They always bought raisin cookies and Joffre cakes with them and would buy them from a highly rated confectionery shop in Bucharest, famous for their high-quality cakes and cookies. It was the only time of the year when I would have them
The years passed, and the cake shop closed down. But the raisin cookie remains a symbol of a worry-free childhood; the freedom of summers spent with my grandparents, playing outdoors with my friends until the sunset.
What are the Romanian Raisin Cookies
The Romanian raisin cookies are different from any other cookies you have ever had before. They are quite small, have a soft interior and chewy edges. The more raisins cookies have, the better they are in my opinion. They have a vanilla taste and are simply delicious.
How to Make Romanian Raisin Cookies
Making Romanian raisin cookies is so easy. You will only need 6 ingredients for this recipe: butter, icing sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla essence, and raisins. For a successful result, make sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature. I took them out of the fridge about an hour before I started baking.
The first step of this recipe, and the hardest in my opinion, is creaming the butter with the icing sugar. Make sure the butter is as soft as possible, but not melted. You can use a mixer, but I like to do it by hand to reduce the amount of dishes I have to wash at the end. I mixed for a good 10 minutes until I obtained a very creamy consistency, as the sugar combined with the butter. Next, add the eggs one by one, and incorporate them well before adding the next one. The next step is to add vanilla essence and then incorporate the flour. You can add all the flour at the same time, it doesn’t matter. Once you get a creamy but consistent dough, add the raisins.
Some people like to soak the raisins in water or rum essence for a while before adding them to the mix, but I don’t. Whilst we do use a lot of rum essence in the Romanian desserts, I feel that it wouldn’t work with this recipe.
The last step in making the Romanian raisin cookies is baking them. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees and place parchment paper on a couple of baking trays. I use two spoons to take the dough from the bowl and place it on the tray. Make sure you leave enough space between the cookies, as they will expand in the oven.
Bake the raisin cookies for 10 minutes and let them cool down before you taste them. They are wonderful alongside a cup of coffee. Enjoy!
Romanian Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
- 140 gr flour
- 100 gr icing sugar
- 100 gr butter
- 150 gr raisins
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Cream the butter with the icing sugar. You can use a blender but I find it easier to do it by hand. Make sure the butter is very soft when you start this process, and that it has been out of the fridge for at least one hour before you start baking.
- Add the first egg, then mix well until you add the second. Combine well.
- Mix in the vanilla essence and then add the flour. Mix well until you have a creamy dough.
- Add the raisins to the mix.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and prepare a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Add small scoops of the dough to the paper, and leave a space between as they will expand in the oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then take the tray out and let the cookies cool down before enjoying them.
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