Raisin Newtons

During my visit to my sister's house in early August, we made raisin newtons (a take on fig newtons but without the fig). They were fantastic and much better then any newton I've ever had! I'll definitely be making these again soon.



I found the recipe on the Chickens In The Road blog. If you click on the link, you can read the background of this recipe and more thorough step-by-step instructions.

Raisin Newtons

Dough:

4 eggs

3 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. baking soda

1 Tbsp. cream of tartar

6 cups of flour (though you may need a tiny bit more if your dough is too soft.)

7/8 cup melted lard (you could veg. oil or shortening if you don't have lard)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and mix/knead until the dough comes together. Our dough ended up being on the soft side and was a little hard to work with because of that. Next time I'll add flour until our dough is firm but not dry.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for a couple hours.

Filling:

4 cups raisins

2 cup water

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

**This recipe is doubled. You won't have enough filling if you only make a single batch as the original recipe states**

Put raisins and water in a blender or food processor in batches. Blend or process until raisins are in small pieces depending on how chunky or smooth you want your filling.

In a saucepan, combine all filling ingredients and cook, stirring constantly, until the filling is thick (this took a while).

Transfer the filling to a bowl and put in the fridge until cool.

To make the cookies, divide the dough into four equal pieces. Roll a section of dough out thinly (about 1/8" or so) on a floured surface into long, narrow rectangles. Cut this piece in half length-wise with a pizza cutter. Spread filling down the center of each strip. You don't' need much filling. Fold the dough over, crimping to seal. Place rolls seam-side down on a lightly greased baking sheet and press a rolling pin over the strips to slightly flatten the tops. (we didn't have to do this because our dough was so soft). Put plenty of space between each roll since they will spread while they bake.

Bake at 350* for about 15 minutes or until they're golden brown. After taking the cookies out of the oven, while still warm, slice the rolls into small bars about 2 inches wide and let them finish cooling on a wire rack.

These cookies took a little while to make but they were worth it. It made a ton of cookies though I think you could half the recipe without any problem.
These bars/cookies were a little crispy around the edges, softer in the middle, slightly tart from the raisins but the dough is plenty sweet. I just might have to make these again this weekend. They'll definitely last us all of next week for lunch boxes and mid morning snacks.... as long as I can keep my hand out of the container of them!