Day 42: April 4, 2015 - Delicious Lenten Stuffed Raisin Patties / Cookies - Νόστιμα Νηστίσιμα Γεμιστά Πιτάκια / Cookies Με Σταφίδες

The term "patty" often refers to a shape, but it does not always mean that the product has a smooth or that the food is round.  In this case, these are cookies, but they are called patties.  Perhaps it is because they are filled like a meat patty.  And, the filling process is similar, but these are Lenten treats.

When we thought about raisin filling for a cookie, we knew the cookie would not be too sweet, which would compensate for the sweetness of the raisins.  But, when we read the ingredient list, it seemed there would be some deep and complex flavours to enhance the raisins.  So, we set out to make raisin patties.  We had about 3 dozen cookies when this was all done.

For this recipe, you will need the following:

dough:
2 cups oil
1 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup cognac (we used Greek Metaxa brandy)
1 TBSP orange zest
1 TBSP baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 kilo flour

filling:
2 cups ground nuts (walnuts, almonds, or combination)
2 cups raisins
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon ground clove
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

First, make the dough.  Blend the oil, sugar, and orange zest in a bowl.  You can mix by hand or by machine.  We chose by hand because it was a small batch.  If we were to make double the recipe or more, we would use a machine.

Dissolve the baking powder in the cognac.  Let this stand for a moment while you complete the next step.  You will notice how thick the cognac becomes with the baking powder.

Dissolve the baking soda in the orange juice.  The juice will become foamy.  Now, add the cognac and the orange juice to the oil/sugar mixture and mix well.

Now, start adding the flour to the bowl.  Add the flour a cup at a time and mix it well each time.  You want to add enough flour to get a soft dough.  The dough will be soft like an oily play-dough.  We were actually a little surprised with how oily the dough was.  Allow this to sit and rest while you make the filling.

For the filling, put the ingredients into a food processor.  You could probably chop all of this by hand, but it can be difficult to chop raisins, so we found a small food processor made this very easy.  We put the nuts, raisins, lemon zest, ground clove, and ground cinnamon in the food processor and used the pulse function about 10 times.  Pulse or chop enough to have small pieces of raisin and nut that still have some texture.  You want to be able to feel the texture of the filling, not make a paste.

Once the filling is made, it is time to assemble the patties.

Pinch off small balls of the dough, so they are equal in size.  Of course, the smaller the piece, the more cookies you will make.  Each pinch should give you a walnut sized ball of dough.  Roll this in your hand to make a ball.  The dough does not have to be smooth.

Put your finger in the middle of the dough ball and make an indent.  This is the space for the filling.  Then, using a spoon, put the filling into the indentation.  Try to keep the filling in the centre, so it does not make a messy edge.

Now, fold the edges over the filling and pinch closed the seam.  This will look kind of football shaped when you are done.  Arrange the cookies on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, making sure that the seam side of the patty is face down on the parchment paper.

Once all the patties are formed and arranged, sprinkle sugar on the top of the raw cookies.  Bake these in the oven at 375º F (175º C) for 10-20 minutes (times vary depending on the oven).  The raisin patties will turn a light golden brown colour, and when they move freely on the parchment paper, they are done. You will also be able to see the granules of white sugar on top of the golden brown cookies. Our raisin patties took 16 minutes to bake.  Allow the cookies to cool completely before serving.

When you bite into one of these raisin patties, you may be reminded of a personal mincemeat pie.  The dough is not very sweet, but the filling is.  And, the sprinkled sugar on top adds just enough sweetness to make you believe that you are eating a mini cake, even though this is a cookie.  Serve with coffee, tea, or a beverage of your choice, and enjoy.


""But I say to you," the Lord says, "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you." Why did he command these things? So that he might free you from hatred, sadness, anger and grudges, and might grant you the greatest possession of all, perfect love, which is impossible to possess except by the one who loves all equally in imitation of God."

St. Maximus the Confessor

Source of quote: http://theodorakis.net/orthodoxquotescomplete.html