Grandma's Yeast Cookies

I always make these at the holidays without fail.  I would make them all year round but then I would be eating them ALL the time and my waistline just can't be having that.  There is little to no self-control when I'm around these cookies I love them that much.  When others have them they give me that puzzled look and ask, "What is that in there? Fig? Date?"  No and no.  It's full of prunes!  It is because of these cookies that I developed a fondness for prunes - I kid you not.  They really are that good.

Grandma's Yeast Cookies is a recipe my mother got from her mother and it's quite possible it was handed down from her mom, Great-Grandma Carney (who immigrated to Williamsburg, Brooklyn from Poland with the Carney clan in the early 1900's).

Anyhow, I'm pleased to be sharing such a special family recipe with you...

GRANDMA'S YEAST COOKIES
 
INGREDIENTS:

5 or 6 cups of flour
1 lb margarine (butter, spry or Crisco will also work fine)
4 eggs
1 can prune filling (or puree a bag of Sunsweet prunes in the food processor)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup of warm milk, diluted with one packet of yeast
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS:
Mix flour with 1 lb margarine and salt, mix well.

Add eggs, mix again.

On the stovetop, heat the milk and vanilla (it only needs to be warm, not hot).  Pour in yeast to dilute.

Add milk/yeast/vanilla mixture.  Knead dough until it comes clean away from the bowl. 

Cover with waxed paper and chill for about 6 to 7 hours, allowing the yeast to rise.

When ready to make the cookies, mix 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup sugar together.  Sprinkle on a board and roll out a small amount of dough.  Cut into squares (about 3"x3"), place 1/2 tsp of prune filling in one corner and roll them.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes (although I usually check on them around 6-7 minutes). I consider them done once the bottoms are golden.

Recipe yields approximately 100 yummy cookies (although I make them a little bigger so I'd say about 50-60 :)