When I was young, we used to eat those raisin biscuits that came in long perforated strips that you could easily break apart. I haven't had them in years, but I came across a King Arthur Flour recipe that attempts to recreate these cookies that I so fondly remember: Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies.
I decided to make the dough in the food processor instead of by hand. I put flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the processor; added in cold butter; and drizzled in ice water until the dough held together. I divided the dough in half, formed each portion into a rectangle, and stuck them in the fridge.
After chilling, I rolled out each piece of dough very thin; brushed it with beaten egg; sprinkled on chopped golden raisins; folded the dough in half to enclose the raisins between two layers of dough; and rolled the dough again. Even though the raisins were sandwiched in the middle, the dough was so thin that you could clearly see the raisins poking through the top layer. I brushed the dough with more egg, sprinkled on coarse sugar, cut the dough into rectangles, and put the biscuits in the oven to bake.
Even though I had used golden raisins, they turned dark in the oven, and it looked like I had used regular raisins. The biscuits held their shape and did not rise much; the finished product was quite thin. I loved these biscuits. Even though I haven't had a store-bought raisin biscuit in ages, these cookies instantly brought back the memory of eating one. The raisin filling was marvelously chewy, which was always my favorite feature of a raisin biscuit. The coarse sugar on top added a nice bit of sweetness and crunch.
There is nothing I would change about this cookie, and I plan to make it again and again. As it happens, a few days after I made these biscuits I was in an Asian grocery store, and I saw several varieties of "Sultana Biscuits" in the cookie aisle. They looked just like the ones I remember eating long ago. But I wasn't tempted to buy them -- because now I can make my own!
Recipe: "Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies" from King Arthur Flour.
I decided to make the dough in the food processor instead of by hand. I put flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the processor; added in cold butter; and drizzled in ice water until the dough held together. I divided the dough in half, formed each portion into a rectangle, and stuck them in the fridge.
After chilling, I rolled out each piece of dough very thin; brushed it with beaten egg; sprinkled on chopped golden raisins; folded the dough in half to enclose the raisins between two layers of dough; and rolled the dough again. Even though the raisins were sandwiched in the middle, the dough was so thin that you could clearly see the raisins poking through the top layer. I brushed the dough with more egg, sprinkled on coarse sugar, cut the dough into rectangles, and put the biscuits in the oven to bake.
There is nothing I would change about this cookie, and I plan to make it again and again. As it happens, a few days after I made these biscuits I was in an Asian grocery store, and I saw several varieties of "Sultana Biscuits" in the cookie aisle. They looked just like the ones I remember eating long ago. But I wasn't tempted to buy them -- because now I can make my own!
Recipe: "Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies" from King Arthur Flour.
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