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Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
It has been a long 20 years in the breakfast desert for those of us who loved Hardee's Cinnamon N' Raisin Biscuits. First introduced in the 1980s, the raisin-studded biscuits were beloved by loyal fans of the fast-food restaurant. But in 2002, Hardee's axed these adored breakfast breads from their menu, putting to an end what I firmly believe is the greatest breakfast invention since, well, biscuits.
What made these biscuits so special? Each one was buttery as any good biscuit should be, but they were swirled with cinnamon and dotted with juicy, tart raisins. Lastly, the baked biscuit was topped with a sweet, vanilla-y glaze that could better be described as a blanket of sugar, or a sweet hug of sugar, or just pure love.
The biscuits themselves are delicately sweet, so if you wanted a lot of glaze, the way Hardee's did it, go for it. But a light drizzle is more than plenty to get the balance of sweetness and tartness with the buttery, rich biscuit.
Ingredients for Cinnamon-Raisin Biscuits
If you were planning to make biscuits for a weekend or holiday breakfast, you can add a few ingredients and make this recipe for cinnamon-raisin biscuits inspired by Hardee's original instead. Here's what you'll need to get started:
- Butter: The colder, the better, so freeze it if you have time.
- Self-rising flour: This cuts down on some ingredients and steps.
- Granulated sugar: Add sweetness to the biscuit dough and makes them tender.
- Ground cinnamon: Essential.
- Raisins: Also essential. These are named cinnamon-raisin biscuits after all.
- Whole buttermilk: Also important for the buttermilk to be cold cold cold.
- Egg: You'll need one.
- Water: This is used to create an easy egg wash for the top of the biscuits.
- Powdered sugar: The primary ingredient for the biscuit's glaze.
- Vanilla extract: Adds loads of warm vanilla flavor to the glaze. You could also use vanilla paste. In that case, you might need more buttermilk, but only a little bit.
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Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
How To Make Cinnamon-Raisin Biscuits
You need not be an experienced biscuit maker to try your hand at this recipe. While there are some classic biscuit-making steps (such as cutting in butter to make the dough), we've outlined the full recipe with images further down the page to make it as easy as possible. Here's just a quick overview:
- Step 1. Prepare the butter: Grate that cold butter on a boxed grater. Keep it frosty in the freezer until time to use.
- Step 2. Make the dough: Combine dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, and sugar) in a bowl, then cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or knives until the mixture resembles pebbles. Then add the raisins and buttermilk, stirring until a shaggy dough forms.
- Step 3. Roll out the dough: Lightly flour your work surface, then turn out the biscuit dough. Knead the dough until it comes together, then roll it into a rectangle. Cut the rectangle into fourths, stack the four pieces, and pat the dough back into a rectangle. (This is how the flaky layers are made.)
- Step 4. Cut biscuits: Roll the dough out evenly, then grab a 2 1/2-inch cookie or biscuit butter (or a glass). Cut out 20 biscuits. Stack and pat out dough scraps as needed to get to 20. Put biscuits on a parchment paper-lined tray, then freeze them for 10 minutes.
- Step 5. Add egg wash: Brush the tops of the biscuits with an egg-water wash, then bake about 15 minutes in a 425°F oven. Let cool slightly. (Repeat as needed with other trays of biscuits.)
- Step 6. Make glaze: Combine remaining buttermilk, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract, and drizzle the glaze over warm biscuits.
Make-Ahead Tip
Unbaked biscuits can be frozen in a ziplock freezer plastic bag for up to 1 month. If baking from frozen, add 5 to 10 minutes to bake time, until biscuits are risen and golden brown on tops.
Tips for the Best Cinnamon-Raisin Biscuits
Our Test Kitchen experts shared some advice to make sure your batch of biscuits is the best possible:
- Cold butter is essential. When we suggested freezing your butter and the biscuits before baking, we're not kidding. The cold butter helps make these biscuits fluffy and flaky. Warm butter will melt quickly, leaving the biscuits a little flat and sad.
- Stack, don't fold. Many traditional biscuits create layers by folding dough over and over—and we love that method, too. (Try it in our top-rated Buttermilk Biscuits recipe.) The cut-and-stack technique gets the same flaky results, just with a little less hassle.
- Brush with an egg wash. Before the biscuits are baked, you'll want to give them a quick egg wash topping. This helps the tops look golden brown and shiny. Is it necessary? Not strictly speaking, but does it make these biscuits really, well, shine? Yes, absolutely.
Editorial contributions by Kimberly Holland.
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Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Ingredients
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1 cup (8 oz.) unsalted butter, frozen
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4 cups (about 19 oz.) self-rising flour, plus more for work surface
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1/3 cup granulated sugar
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2 tsp. ground cinnamon
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1 cup raisins
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1 1/2 cups, plus 2 to 3 Tbsp. whole buttermilk, cold, divided
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1 large egg, lightly beaten
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1 Tbsp. water
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1 cup (about 4 oz.) powdered sugar
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1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions
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Grate butter:
Preheat oven to 425°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside. Using large holes of a box grater, grate butter into a medium bowl. Place bowl, uncovered, in freezer until ready to use.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
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Combine dry ingredients, then add butter:
Whisk together flour, granulated sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Add grated butter, and cut in with a pastry cutter or 2 forks until crumbly.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
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Add raisins and buttermilk:
Add raisins and 1 1/2 cups of the buttermilk to flour mixture.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Stir together until mixture resembles a shaggy dough.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
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Knead dough:
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead until dough comes together and there are no stray, shaggy, or floury bits remaining, about 3 times. Pat dough into a 1-inch-thick rectangle, adding additional flour to dough and work surface as needed to prevent dough from sticking.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
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Stack and pat dough:
Cut dough evenly into 4 portions.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Stack portions on top of each other. Re-pat into a 1-inch-thick rectangle, and repeat process once.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
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Cut biscuits:
Roll dough into a 3/4-inch-thick round. Using a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut out 20 biscuits, rerolling dough and sprinkling with flour as needed.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Arrange biscuits at least 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets, and place, uncovered, in freezer for 10 minutes.
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Add egg wash:
Whisk together egg and water in a small bowl. Remove 1 of the baking sheets from freezer, and lightly brush tops with some of the egg mixture.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
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Bake the biscuits:
Place baking sheet in preheated oven, and bake until biscuits have risen and are golden brown on top, about 15 minutes.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Remove from oven, and transfer biscuits to a wire rack.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Remove second baking sheet from freezer; lightly brush biscuit tops with remaining egg mixture, and repeat baking process.
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Make the glaze:
Whisk together powdered sugar, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of the buttermilk in a medium bowl until smooth, adding remaining 1 tablespoon buttermilk if needed to reach desired glaze consistency.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
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Add glaze to biscuits:
Drizzle warm biscuits with glaze, and serve immediately.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Frequently Asked Questions
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No, they discontinued the beloved cinnamon-swirled and raisin-studded biscuits in 2002. They've been replaced with other breakfast sweets, including cinnamon rolls.