My Mother's Raisin-Filled Cookies Recipe

GWP email to family on April 24, 2013

Dear Family,

My sister Madelyn gave me a copy of our mother's (Cree) recipe for her delicious raisin-filled cookies. This is a copy of the original recipe in Mom's handwriting with some of Madelyn's notes to the side. I've also included a copy of Mom's peanut cookies recipe. Hopefully, you'll be able to read them. I thought family members might be interested in these. They[re an interesting piece of our Karl and Cree Probst family history. I have vivid memories of Mom's great cooking and these were my favorite cookies. I remember eating some of these cookies at 4:00 AM with Dad as we headed out for the first day of fishing season to the ranch up Snake Creek. Those were great times. I think I was about 12 years old, so that would have been in 1948.

I sent the recipe to my daughter Charmain (in Texas) a week or so ago. She made some cookies and sent me samples. They tasted great and brought back some wonderful memories. I've included a clipping from my personal history about this experience.

Como Siempre,

Glen W. Probst

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My Mother's Special Treats

©1998 Glen W. Probst

As long as I can remember, when I was a child, Mom Probst made this very special treat. Mom was an excellent cook and made many things totally from scratch. One of these was raisin cookies. Some people like Dick Ballou—Director of the BYU Marching Band, called them little pies. They were made of the best tasting crust that was soft and filled with cooked raisins in a pudding. They were especially good when first out of the oven and still hot. Mom made these cookies often because we all liked them so much. In fact, Mom generally had a bunch of them stored away for a cookie emergency!

I remember specifically one day when Dad and I were planning our trip for the first day of the fishing season. It was about June the fourth, Friday, and we were planning to go up Snake Creek for the opening day. The year was probably 1948. I would have been almost twelve years old. Mom put our lunch together and included a bunch of raisin cookies. At four o'clock in the morning Dad and I were driving along the road to Snake Creek in the old '41 Ford Coupe.

We were just coming to the crossing of the creek above Sticky Wilson's by the old Pea Vinery and Alma Huber's field. We reached down in the sack and started eating those cookies. They were just too good to wait any longer. We ate them all the way to Snake Creek!

Whenever I think of the opening day of fishing season, I think of Mom's raisin-filled cookies and how often I had them as a special treat.

Homemade root beer was another of my mother's special treats. She made it often, especially in the summer. There were times when we actually put the stuff in pop bottles and capped the bottles with a hand-operated device. Most of the time, however, Mom made root beer and put it in one-gallon glass jugs. She put in the extract, made the root beer, filled the jugs, tightened on the lids, and then waxed the lids to make them airtight. After about two weeks the root beer would be "seasoned" and ready to drink.

My biggest problem with Mom's root beer was liking it so much that I drank it too fast, and it gave me severe stomachaches. These were painful and didn't pass quickly! Even though I knew what would happen, I repeatedly drank the root beer, and the same pains occurred. That stuff tasted so good! It was especially good during the hay hauling season when it was hot. Mom made about five gallons at a time. The five gallons would last about two weeks, and she'd make another batch. The suffering was worth it.