18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, January 14, 1914: Did some experimenting in the baking line this afternoon. Didn’t turn out so bad either. That’s ‘bout all I can think of at present.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma—
What did you make? Maybe some Raisin-Filled Cookies? I remember that we often had them during the winter when I was a kid. They made the perfect after-school snack on cold winter days.
Old-fashioned Raisin-Filled Cookies
Filling
3/4 cup raisins
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2/3 cup water
Combine all filling ingredients and cook over medium heat until thick.
Cookie
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cup flour
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine shortening, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and soda; then stir in flour. Roll thin and cut into cookies using a round cutter. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Put a spoonful of filling (don’t overfill) in center of cookie. Top with another cookie that has a small circle cut in the center. Firmly press edges together.
Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until cookie is lightly browned.
I have a set of round fondant cut-out cutters. I used the large cutter to make the cookies—and then cut the hole in the center of the top cookies using the small cutter.
When I was a child we made cookies that were a little larger. We used a doughnut cutter that had a removable hole cutter. We removed the hole cutter to make the bottom cookie.
A Hundred Years Ago 
they sound yummy!
I like these old timey recipes because you almost always have the ingredients in the pantry. They look really generous, that’s my kind of cookie.
YUM.
I was going to say YUM but Gallivanta beat me to it… 😆
Grandma just doesn’t give out much info on anything, does she??
These sound delicious.
Those cookies look perfect for a cold winter day.
I could go for a couple of those cookies and a cup of hot tea right now. Nothing beats home made cookies.
The only way I like raisins is baked into something tasty. 🙂 This might be worth a try!
How fun! thanks for sharing the recipe!
Honestly, it’s as if someone is making Helena pay for every word she writes in this diary! Come on, girl–what did you bake?!
Don’t you just wish, at times, that she’d been a tad bit more elaborate?! 😀
My mother loved making these.
I LOVE raisin filled cookies! They were always one of my Dad’s favorites as well. He says my Grandmother made the very best. Sure wish I had her recipe. I found a recipe online last year, made a batch and sent them to Dad (all the way from Kentucky to Utah). It seems they were popular back in the day. Next time I make some I’ll give this recipe a try. 🙂
It does seems like raisins were more popular years ago than what they are today. Since food options were more limited during the winter months back then, maybe raisins were considered a bit of delicacy back then.
Yes…good point! I think raisins are under-appreciated now and we miss out on these tasty delicacies. There is a baker in the little town that Dad and Mom live in that makes raisin filled cookies. Whenever I am there visiting I make a run to the bakery to pick some up. Pretty uncommon to ever find these goodies. Best hang on to the recipe! 🙂
Raisin filled cookies sound good. I love raisins, but my kids refuse to eat them. They might if it’s in a cookie, though!
I love these cookies, we have also opened a jar of home canned mincemeat (the real stuff with meat) 🙂 and made these cookies as well.!
They are a wonderful old-fashioned cookie. The real mincemeat sounds fantastic, too.
How big a batch does this make?
The number would vary depending up the size of the cookie cutter, but for a 2 1/2 inch in diameter cookie it would make approximately 2 dozen cookies.