Vivian's Spice Drop Cookie Recipe

I love these cookies.  This was my great aunt Vivian's recipe.  One of those good old fashioned recipes that calls for oleo and "handfuls" of things.  I made minor changes only to make this dairy free.  I switched out the oleo for Earth Balance vegan margarine and I use chocolate chips made without dairy ingredients.     I have great memories of them and I make them every year for Christmas.

These cookies are soft and cake with warm spices, raisins, chocolate and nuts.  I hope you give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.



Ingredients
4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) Earth Balance Dairy free margarine *sub butter if you would like
2 cups raisins
1 cup chocolate chips *Ghiradelli semi sweet chips have no dairy ingredients (made on shared equipment)
1 cup chopped walnuts

In a small sauce pan combine the raisins with about 2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes until the raisins begin to plump up.  Reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid and cool this liquid and the raisins.

Combine the dry ingredients

Cream the margarine and sugar for 2 minutes, scrap the bowl and continue to cream until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, allowing them to fully incorporate after each addition.

Spoon the dry ingredients into the creamed ingredients in 2-3 additions, alternating with the cooled raisin juice.

Fold in the cooled raisins, chocolate chips and walnuts.

Chill dough for 1-2 hours (or longer) then scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone baking sheet.  Allow room for the cookies to spread.

Bake at 350 F for 12-14 minutes until they begin to brown.

Cool completely on a wire rack then store in a airtight plastic container.  Lay wax paper or re-use the parchment paper from the baking sheet between the layers of cookies to prevent them from sticking to each other.

Check out the other great cookie recipes all Cookie Week long!