Hi everyone! How have you been? Wow, can you believe that it’s almost the end of 2016 already? I often say the time flies, but this past year was a crazy busy year for my family. Bryson is enjoying his 1st grade life. Logan gets extra love from mom when dad and Bryson are not at home. My husband just finished his Master’s degree. There are so many things to be thankful about. I wonder how you are doing too. I hope you can share your story for the year briefly with us too.
Today, I will share one of my husband’s favorite cookies recipes that I learned from my mother-in-law. I heard my husband talk about raisin filled cookies many times before. He told me how much he likes them. It was a holiday food that his grandmother made many years ago, and nobody makes them now because they are difficult to bake. So, it was on my list of foods to make someday for him someday, which I finally got around to a few weeks ago. I can see why he said they are precious cookies after I tried to bake them myself. lol It is time-consuming and the process is a little more complex than normal cookies. However, the cookies are so unique and delicious, I wouldn’t mind making them for special occasions. hehe I’m not a sweet tooth, and it is not often that I find a dessert that I like, but when I took a bite from this cookie, I just loved it. My first bite was the cookie part with a little bit of the sweet syrup. It was like eating like a normal cookie, but then my next bite was a piece with softened raisins with more syrup. Wow, it was not like eating plain raisins. The texture and flavor of the raisin are changed after they cook in the sugar syrup. I want you to try them for yourself someday. 🙂
I know there are many out there that visit my blog and use my recipes. Thank you very much. I always love to communicate with you through comments, so please leave a comment before you leave. 😉 Stay warm and happy.
Yield: 2½ Dozens
Short Korean Lesson
- GeonPoDo (건포도) = Raisin
- GeonEoMul (건어물) = Dried Seafood
Video Instructions
Dough Ingredients
- 5 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 2 Cups White Sugar
- 1 Cup Milk
- 1 Cup Salted Butter (Softened)
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 Pinch Salt
- Extra All Purpose Flour (for the Dough)
Filling Ingredients
- 2 Cups Raisins
- 2 Cups Water
- 1½ Cups White Sugar
- ¼ Cup All Purpose Flour
Directions
Start by making the raisin filling. To do that, add ¼ cup of all purpose flour into 2 cups of water. I recommend using a wide-bottomed pot for better results.
Stir it until the flour dissolves. Then, add 1½ cups of white sugar and stir it until it dissolves.
Boil the mixture on medium-high. Once it starts bubbling, add 2 cups of raisins into it.
Cook for about 8-10 minutes, or until it thickens. Occasionally stir it.
When the raisin filling is done cooking, let it cool. I put the hot pot in ice water for this step.
While the raisin filling is cooling down, make the cookie dough. To do that, add 5 cups of flour, 2 cups of white sugar, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of softened salted butter, 2 eggs, 1 Tbsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of baking soda, and 1 pinch of salt in a large mixing bowl.
Knead the dough for several minutes, or until everything forms into a ball. I used an electric mixer for this step, but you can just use your hands, or a cooking tool like wooden spatula.
This recipe makes a moist dough, so use some extra flour when working with the dough. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on a mat before rolling out the dough.
Pull off some of the dough (about ⅛ of the dough) and knead the piece again with some more flour to get thick cookie dough. Repeatedly, sprinkle some flour on the rolling mat or dough so that it will be easier to work with.
Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Roll the dough into about a ¼ inch thickness.
Obtain a 4-inch diameter round cookie cutter. If you do not have one, like me, you can use a similarly sized bowl or metal lid.
To prevent the bowl from sticking to the cookie dough, put some flour on it.
Cut the dough into several round shapes with your cookie cutter.
Place the round dough pieces on lightly floured wax paper. We will prepare 16 pieces at a time.
Grease a baking sheet, then place a piece of dough on it. Put a spoonful of the cooled raisin filling in the center of the dough. Wet the outer edge of the dough with water, so that the top and bottom dough pieces will stick together better. It will probably still seal well enough if you don’t want to be bothered by that step.
Put another piece of dough on top of the raising filling. Seal the outer edge with your fingers. For a better shape, press down on the top dough piece, along with the raisin filling. Then, seal the outside of the dough with your fingers by pinching and pressing it. You can make a cute hat shape from it.
Repeat the same process and make 8 cookies in all.
Put the raisin filled cookie dough into the preheated oven. Bake for about 14-16 minutes. Depending on your oven, you may have to adjust the baking time.
While the cookies are baking, prepare the next batch. Make 8 more cookies. 16 minutes later, take out the cookies. They should be just barely a lightly golden brown color. They will smell delicious.
Place the baked cookies on a cooling rack. Once the cookies completely cooled down, move them into a cookie jar or tin.
These soft and chewy cookies are filled with softened raisins and a sweet syrup that will make your mouth and tummy very happy. These cookies taste best a couple days after you bake them. So consider that if you are planning on baking these for your Christmas party. I’m very happy to share this delicious recipe with you. Please try this recipe and share these yummy cookies with your loved ones this Christmas.
the 1/8 of the cookie dough and the rest of the 7/8 of the cookie dough is confusing me as I was reading your recipe. what are you doing with the thicker one-eighth of the dough?
when you are making the cookie round shapes, are the top and the bottom the same kind of dough or is the bottom the thicker dough and the top layer is the stickier dough?
the recipe sounds delicious, I was actually wondering if you would ever add nuts into it — and if you were pre-roast pieces of walnuts or pecans into it — like of like a cookie pecan/raisin tart version :o)
hi Julie,
I’m sorry to make you confusing. Hmm… the cookie dough for top and bottom are the same thing. You just take out some of the dough and roll it thin.. and cut round shapes and use them for both bottom and top. You do the same process with rest of the dough you have. I didn’t think of put nuts because I just loved the way it is. thanks
I am teaching English in Beijing now. There are some great Korean restaurants here but I still like to make my own Korean food. ^^
hi Suzanne,
I’m so happy to get your comment here. I bet many of your family and friends miss your Korean food in your country. 🙂 Thanks. Happy new year. 🙂
Is your husband’s family from PA? My grandmother was and she made these and they are so delicious! I make them every Christmas. I love to see older recipes move to new generations. Thank you for sharing.
hi Suzy,
Wow, yes you are right, my husband is from PA. lol 🙂 I’m glad to meet somebody who knows how delicious this cookie is on my blog..hehe thanks
My great grandmother and grandmother made these delicious cookies and passed recipe to my mom. I am 71 and make them at Christmas. I add chopped walnuts, chopped dates and 1/2cup orange juice to filling. Dont know if my daughters will continue tradition.
Hi
wow, you have a good Christmas tradition.. I bet your daughters will keep it since they will always remember the good memories eating your delicious raisin filled cookies when they were growing up.. 🙂 thanks for sharing your story.
Raisin filled cookies have been a family favorite as long as I can remember. All of my relatives are from PA, so every visit, we always made at least one trip to the bakery for these cookies. I have never found them anywhere else but PA.
I’ve been going to make these for years, but I’ve never taken the time to do so until today, for my dad’s 79th birthday! I came across your recipe and found it the easiest to follow and most accurate to what I was looking for. Thank you!
My first batch, I used the 4 in. diameter and found them to be way too big for my liking. Seemed like a whole lot of cookie and not much filling when they were done. Plus they were giant. Lol! I got just under 2 doz cookies out of that batch and had a little bit of filling left over.
Next batch, I used a little over 3 in diameter, got 2 1/2 doz cookies, the dough to filling ratio was perfect; no extra leftovers of either. The cookies turned out wonderful!
I found chilling the dough made it much nicer to work with. While cutting and filling a tray of cookies, the other dough was placed in the fridge.
I think my dad will be pleasantly surprised with his birthday treat!
hi Bethany,
Wow, I love your comment. My husband wants the cookie hu~~~ge maybe because his childhood memory for it is like that. lol Anyway, it was helpful for me and other viewers about the size for the dough.. thanks. I’m so happy to hear that your cookies turned out wonderful.. especially it will be a surprise for your dad. You are so sweet. Thanks and happy birthday to your dad… let me know how much he enjoyed your cookies later..hehe
Thank you for your nice reply. My dad’s eyes got big as saucers when I handed him the container full of cookies! Needless to say, he was very surprised and happy and has been enjoying them every day since. 😀 Thanks again for the wonderful recipe.