This Rum Raisins Cookies Recipe comes from Romania. The cookies are flavored with rum, are very easy to make, and taste delicious.
Serve them next to a cup of your favorite tea or coffee and enjoy an old recipe that is very traditional in Romania.
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What Makes This Recipe Special
This recipe of rum and raisins cookies is very close to my heart. While growing up, I remember that this recipe was made in every household as a quick sweet snack.
My mother used to make the cookies all the time, so they taste like "home" when I make them.
The cookies were also available for purchase in every pastry shop or bakery in Bucharest. This cookie is as traditional for Romanians as the chocolate chip cookie is for Americans.
Holiday Delights
We make them on Sundays, for parties and family reunions or holidays, and anytime we are in the mood for something sweet and easy to put together.
We like cookies, but as far as I know, Romanian cuisine does not have a lot of cookie recipes.
We usually call them "fursecuri" and they are more like a fancy treat and an inspiration from the German, Austrian, Hungarian or French cuisines.
These cookies are crunchy outside and soft inside, and the rum flavor makes them different from any regular cookie I had before. As you can tell, I love them.
The recipe is also easy to make. My nephew, who is 10 years old, knows how to make them, and he also asks for them when he goes on trips with his school.
He loves to snack on them on the bus while he travels, so his mom always makes a batch for him before the event.
This recipe calls for two cups of powdered sugar. The amount of sugar might seem high, but I assure you that it is the right amount for the recipe.
After all, we don't need to eat all the cookies in one shot, and it is the perfect treat when you have a sweet tooth.
Notes and Tips
- This dough spreads a lot in the oven. One secret would be to keep the dough in the fridge and move quickly when you make the cookies.
- The other secret is not to bake them for more than 10-12 minutes. The idea is to take them out of the oven when they are light brown around the edges.
- They will be very fragile, so leave them for 5 minutes on the baking tray to cool, then move them to a cooling rack.
- Don't forget that the rum flavor is what makes this cookie special. Without the rum flavor, they are quite plain. You can replace the rum flavor(extract) with actual rum if you prefer. Place the raisins in a bowl, pour 2 tablespoons of rum over and allow them to hydrate for about 30 minutes.
Raisins Substitutes
If you don't care about raisins, replace them with other dried fruits, like cranberries or tart cherries.
Chocolate chips might go well, too; I personally did not try that because traditionally, the cookies are made with raisins. Walnuts or pecans are an excellent choice too.
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I hope you enjoy them!
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📖 Recipe
Rum Raisins Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups of powdered sugar
- 2 sticks of unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 tablespoon rum flavor or 2 tablespoon real rum
Instructions
- Cream the butter with the powder sugar until smooth.
- Incorporate the eggs one by one.
- Add the flour gradually.
- Add the raisins and the rum flavor to the batter. Mix to incorporate all ingredients.
- Refrigerate the dough for an hour, in the same bowl you mixed it. The dough will be soft initially, but it will be easy to scoop into small balls after refrigeration.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop with the spoon small balls of batter, leaving 1-2 inches distance between them. Cookies will spread a lot.
- Bake the cookies in the oven for no more than 10-12 mins. Keep an eye on them, as they should be in the oven only until they become lightly golden brown at the edges.
- Leave them on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool.
Yulia says
Could you use an actual rum, not the rum essence?
The Bossy Kitchen says
Yes, you can use actual rum, place the raisins in a bowl and pour 2 tablespoons of rum and 1 tablespoon of hot water over them and let them hydrate in that liquid for about 30 minutes. I will add that to the recipe. Great question, thank you! 🙂
Ally says
Can these cookies be made in advance? I'm making Xmas cookie boxes to give as gifts and want to add these. Will they keep for at least two weeks or will they go stale?
The Bossy Kitchen says
They go stale if you make them now, as there is a lot of butter in them. BUT, you can make the dough and freeze it for later, or make the cookies and freeze them for a few hours on a single layer, then move them to a bag and put them back in the freezer until you need them. Don't put them in a bag on top of each other from the beginning, as they will stick together and break. Thaw them at room temperature.
Ally says
@The Bossy Kitchen,
thanks for the tip!
I ended up making a triple batch, rolling them into balls and freezing them. Had some leftover from the first gift bag packing and I see what you're talking about, they're definitely best fresh. Now I have a good stock to pop in the oven spontaneously. Thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe! My husband and I are all over these as soon as they come out of the oven.