Easter Biscuits

Even though we now live in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, and have embraced the differences in food and culture and all the other things that make this wonderful country different from England, every now and again I like to bring a little bit of 'the old country' back into my kitchen.  These buttery, subtly flavoured biscuits (yes, biscuits, not cookies :o), bring back sooo many memories of Easter growing up as a child.  Variations of these would be in EVERY bakery and grocery store in the southwest of England, as I'm sure they still are, and they would come out as dessert most nights around the Easter holidays.

Easter Biscuits
makes 30-35 biscuits

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
4-6 Tbs milk
3/4 cup raisins

• preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• in an electric stand mixer on medium speed, beat the butter for a couple of minutes until smooth.
• add the sugar and continue beating until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Stop and scrape the sides down halfway through.
• mix in the egg yolks and vanilla until incorporated.
• in a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon.
• add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg mixture and beat on medium speed until incorporated.
• while the mixer is running on low, pour in the raisins and enough milk to form a fairly soft dough.
• on a floured surface roll out the dough to 1/4" thickness and cut out biscuits using a 3" scalloped cookie cutter;  arrange about 2" apart onto cookie sheets.
• lightly beat the egg whites until frothy and brush over the tops of the biscuits;  sprinkle a little white sugar over the tops if wanted.
• bake for 12-15 minutes - they will stay fairly pale in colour.

 Easter Biscuit ingredients.

separate your eggs.

beat the butter until smooth.

after you've beaten the sugar into the butter add the egg yolks and vanilla.

in a separate bowl whisk the flour, salt and cinnamon.

mix the dry ingredients into the butter mix and once incorporated add the raisins and milk until....

....a soft dough is formed.

on a floured surface roll out to 1/4" thickness.

cut out the biscuits using a 3" scalloped cutter, re-rolling the scraps to make about 30-35 biscuits.

place on cookie sheets, brush with slightly beaten egg whites and sprinkle with sugar.

bake for 12-15 minutes, let cool on the sheets for a couple of minutes, transfer to wire racks and...

enjoy with a nice mug of coffee.