Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies

Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies(Garibaldi Biscuits)- Bet you can't eat just one! Crisp,thin dough filled with a naturally sweet raisins!

If you like raisins, you will love Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies. In many cookies, raisins are almost an afterthought. Not so, with Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies.  Raisins are the star of the show, filling the middle and boldly popping through the thin, crispy biscuit crust on the top and bottom.

Have you ever had the experience of not realizing you were missing something until someone mentions that something? Then, suddenly you are craving a taste of that distant memory. That is what happened to me with Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies. 

I was reading the King Arthur baking blog, when I came across a version of these biscuits. Due to a liberal sprinkling of large crystal sugar, the cookies in the recipe photo and the name didn’t ring a bell. However, when I read the recipe introduction and the dozens of nostalgic comments that followed, my taste buds were flooded with memories of a childhood favorite that I hadn’t tasted for a very long time.

Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies, also known as Garibaldi Biscuits, were invented in England in 1861 and are named after an Italian general famous as a strategist in the unification of Italy. I have no idea why a thin biscuit consisting of raisins sandwiched between crispy dough would be named after General Garibaldi, but the cookies were wildly popular. They are still made today by some British brands. In my American childhood, they were made by Sunshine and later (after a buyout) by Keebler. Then sadly, they were discontinued.

Reading the recipe reviews brought back memories of long, shiny, smooth strips of cookie with perforations to easily divide the strip into five cookie rectangles. The barely sweet dough had just a bit of a crunch, but gave way easily to the naturally sweet raisins within.

My version of Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies are a combination of the King Arthur recipe and several others. They are close enough to my memory of the packaged cookies that I can’t tell a difference. In my opinion, King Arthur’s choice of sugar topping is all wrong. The originals didn’t need it and neither do these. The raisins need to be peaking through the dough.  

I changed the preparation methods to simplify the process and create less mess. The dough and the filling are both made in the food processor with no washing necessary between the two. The dough is rolled out on the same parchment it is baked on. These cookies are best when the dough is rolled out as thin as possible. The parchment paper makes it possible to fold over the dough without tearing and then transfer the parchment with the cut dough onto a baking sheet without mangling the cookie squares.

As a child, I enjoyed my Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies with a glass of milk. As an adult, I think they are perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. If these cookies start nostalgic cravings, bake a batch and see how close they are to your remembered Raisin Biscuit. If you are a raisin lover who has never tried these, get baking! You will be delighted. Sharing Golden Raisin Biscuit Cookies is also easy because they travel well and stay fresh for at least one week.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold butter
• 3 tablespoons orange juice
• 1-2 tablespoons ice water
• 1 1/2 cups raisins golden, black, or a combination
• 1 large egg lightly beaten

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