Put raisins in a bowl and cover with rum. Let them soak over night. For a quicker version, put the bowl in the microwave for 20 seconds or half a minute, so that the rum comes to a quick boil. Let raisins soak at room temperature for 2 hours.

Toast the chopped almonds in a pan without oil on medium heat for 2 minutes or until they start to smell fragrant. Do not burn the nuts. Put them aside.

Preheat the oven to 200 Celsius. Prepare two cookie sheets and line them with parchment paper. Scrape out the vanilla bean and add the vanilla (or extract, if using) to a bowl together with butter, eggs, and sugar. Beat everything until very well combined and fluffy.

Mix flour, salt, spices and baking powder and add to the wet batter. Stir until the batter starts to come together. Do not overmix.  Cut the apple into quarters, peel and core. Chop into small pieces and add apples to the batter, along with almonds and raisins including remaining rum from the bowl. Stir to combine.

Shape little dough half balls, using 1 tbsp of batter at a time. Place balls on the cookie sheet and bake them for 10 minutes. Insert a toothpick to check for doneness. Let cool a bit and dust with icing sugar.