Trick-or-treat: Giant Raisin Cookies give us something good to eat

Last month I asked you to send me your favorite zucchini recipes, and Daily Herald alum Joan Broz was kind enough to share one of hers. If that weren't enough, she also offered to share her recipe for Giant Raisin Cookies that she makes for Halloween each year. I quickly took her up on her offer and am so glad.

With a degree in Home Economics and a Master's degree in journalism, Joan wrote for the Daily Herald for 25 years, primarily for the Neighbor section. But she would also occasionally interview home cooks for the Cook of the Week column of the Food section.

Writing occasionally for the Food section was a perfect fit for Joan, who loves being in the kitchen and creating recipes, especially for those with food allergies. The beneficiaries of Joan's efforts are definitely her family and friends.

She has been making these Giant Raisin Cookies for years and has had the recipe as long as she can remember. She began making them instead of birthday cakes for her own children's birthday parties.

After rolling out the dough, she would use a 2-pound coffee can as a cookie cutter, resulting in approximately 6-inch cookies. She stacked the cookies on top of each other to form a "cake" and when it was time for dessert, would distribute one to each guest. She recalls how much her guests liked this, as it was different from the usual cupcakes.

In addition to birthdays, Joan has a tradition of making these for Halloween, but instead of using the coffee can as a cutter, she uses a jack-o'-lantern cookie cutter instead. Her treasured cookie cutter is 30 to 40 years old and cuts eyes, nose and mouth at the same time as the perimeter of the pumpkin. But Joan is quick to note, you can also use a knife to add facial features, as it is nice if they all look different and have their own personalities. No frosting or sprinkles are needed as the raisins add texture reminiscent of an actual pumpkin.

Joan prefers golden raisins in this recipe because regular raisins seem too dark. She cautions to always check the raisins for stems prior to adding them to the cookie dough.

I had to test the recipe myself, but when I began assembling my ingredients realized there were no golden raisins in my pantry. I used regular raisins, thus the darker colors in my cookies.

My pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter does not include facial features, so I rummaged through my gadget drawer and used a combination of an apple corer, melon baller, V-shaped cutter and a paring knife to make the eyes and mouths. My cookies lacked a little dimension as I forgot to use a knife to make shallow cuts in the top of the unbaked cookie to mimic the ribs of the pumpkin, so please learn from my mistake.

While the cookies don't spread much, they do puff up a bit, which caused my cookie's facial features to become smaller than I had anticipated, but they all look different and are still cute.

The ingredients are minimal: butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour and golden raisins. In case if you are curious, the recipe is correct. There is no baking powder or baking soda. The result is a melt-in-your-mouth cookie with a bit of chew from the raisins.

In the spring Joan makes this same recipe but without the raisins. She cuts the dough into ovals and, once baked, pipes on frosting in a zigzag pattern to mimic a decorated Easter egg.

Joan's oven is probably on right now with trays of these smiling treats inside as she includes them in college care packages, a tradition started with her own children and now continues with her 12 grandchildren, nieces and nephews. The lucky recipients and their roommates receive Joan's cookies along with her husband's special Rice Krispie Treats and whatever candy they will be handing out on Halloween.

While we may not be on Joan's care package mailing list, we are lucky to be able to make the same recipe so we can share them with our family and friends, too.

I'm sending a big thank you to Joan for sharing her delicious recipe with all of us. I hope you enjoy these Giant Raisin Cookies as much as I do.

• Penny Kazmier, a wife and mother of four from South Barrington, won the 2011 Daily Herald Cook of the Week Challenge. Contact Penny at DhCulinaryAdventures@gmail.com.

Giant Raisin Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups pre-sifted flour

1½ cups seedless golden raisins

Cream butter and sugar until light using a mixer. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat. Add vanilla. Add sifted flour slowly. Stir in raisins making sure there are no stems. Chill dough at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough to 1/2-inch thick in 12-inch oblongs. Cut with a pumpkin shape cookie cutter.

Give pumpkin shape a personality by adding facial features and vertical ribbed texture of a pumpkin. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake 10 minutes in a preheated oven. Allow to rest on the baking sheet before moving the cookies to a cooling rack.

Makes 10 large cookies.

Joan Broz