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These Easy Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits are tender, flaky and studded with sweet, plump raisins. Ridiculously easy, ridiculously delicious!
When you need a quick, crazy delicious breakfast treat that will bring rave reviews from everyone, these Easy Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits will tick all the boxes!
Ridiculously Easy
If you're new to The Café you might not know about our category of Ridiculously Easy Recipes. You can read more about them in this post but, in a nutshell, Ridiculously Easy recipes are super simple, yet worthy of the highest accolades. I like to say that these are the recipes "that make you look like a kitchen rock star with minimal effort on your part". Like that? Me too!
Classic Biscuit technique
These biscuits use an unconventional technique to make them flaky and tender. The classic technique for biscuits is to combine cold butter and flour together in a way that maintains little pieces of butter. Similar to the method used with pie crusts, doughs and scones, it's these little pieces of fat (with pie crust, it's sometimes butter, sometimes another type of shortening) that make the finished product flaky and tender.
There are different ways to achieve this effect. Some people use a pastry or dough cutter. Others use their fingers to rub the butter into the flour until it looks like "coarse oatmeal". I've even heard of pie, biscuit and scone makers that freeze the butter (or other shortenings) and grate it, before adding it to the flour. All of these techniques work well and they're not terribly difficult - just a bit too much when life is busy.
A magic trick!
The method employed with all of our biscuits (and also the Café scone recipes) is almost too good to be true: chill buttermilk (or cream, in the case of scones), melt butter and stir them together with a fork.
VOILA! You have the highly coveted little chunks of butter, all set to be stirred into the flour - with almost NO work.
To demonstrate this super easy technique, we've created a quick movie to show you the ins and outs:
See what I mean? Easy, ridiculously easy!
No rolling or biscuit cutters either!
And these easy cinnamon raisin biscuits take the whole easy thing, one step further. Instead of having to roll out the dough and cut out the biscuits, you simply scoop up the dough and place the little mounds on a sheet pan. Bake and wait for the most tantalizing aroma to fill the house. When the biscuits emerge from the oven they have lots of crinkly-craggly crevices to hold the sweet vanilla icing - you'll have a hard time waiting for them to cool!
I've always been a sucker for the cinnamon raisin biscuits at Hardee's. I use a super simple icing on my biscuits similar to the type they use. It's comprised of powdered sugar and milk with a few drops of vanilla. A perfect compliment for the raisin-studded, cinnamon-laced biscuits!
Got company coming? Or maybe you just want to treat family or friends to something special. Whip up a batch of these wonderful (and ridiculously easy) cinnamon raisin biscuits. It will take you less than 15 minutes (plus baking time)! Oh, and a little secret? A batch of these biscuits, baking in the oven is a sneaky (but delicious) way to get even the sleepiest heads out of bed in the morning as the amazing aroma wafts through the house.
Café Tips for making these Easy Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits
- Don't worry if your raisins look dry and/or shriveled. The simple plumping technique will transform them and they'll taste nice and fresh.
- If you don't have buttermilk, make your own. Place 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice or vinegar in a measuring cup. Fill to 1 cup level with milk and stir well. Allow the mixture to sit for 5-10 minutes or until slightly thickened. Use in recipes in lieu of buttermilk.
- This is REALLY important - don't skip chilling the buttermilk! It makes this recipe work! If the buttermilk is not really cold, the little butter globules won't form.
- When mixing in the cinnamon/sugar, you want the dough to have ribbons of the cinnamon mixture. You don't want it completely incorporated into the dough so don't over-mix. That being said, you don't want a lot of loose cinnamon/sugar in the dough which can burn on the bottom of the biscuits. So don't under-mix either. Folding the dough over 3-4 times should be perfect!
- Our daughter lived in London for 7 years. During my visits there I learned the UK all-purpose flour (plain flour) is a bit different and it seemed I needed more, probably closer to 2¼ cups.
- These biscuits freeze well, either baked or unbaked. Just place biscuits on a sheet pan or a plate spaced at least a half inch from each other. Freeze till frozen, then transfer biscuits to a ziplock bag or air-tight storage container. If the biscuits have been baked, allow them to thaw and then warm them in the oven before serving. If you decide to freeze these biscuits unbaked, they can go right from the freezer to the oven. Allow a few extra minutes in baking time.
- I use a large trigger ice cream scooper to scoop up my biscuits into nice consistent-sized mounds. A little trick is to spray the scooper with non-stick cooking spray for easy scooping.
- For a pretty presentation, I love to bake and serve these cinnamon raisin biscuits on a cast iron griddle pan. This pan is also wonderful for grilled sandwiches, pancakes and pizza. It would make a fun gift for a cooking friend or family member!
Thought for the day:
We have this Hope
as an Anchor for the soul,
firm and secure.
Hebrews 6:10
What we're listening to for inspiration:
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Ridiculously Easy Cinnamon Raisin Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
For the biscuits:
- ⅓ cup raisins
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1 cup cold buttermilk
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
For the cinnamon swirl:
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 2 teaspoons water
For the icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the biscuits:
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or spray a sheet pan with cooking spray.
- Combine the raisins and water in a microwave-safe bowl or cup. Cover with a small plate or plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Remove from microwave, uncover and stir with a fork to loosen and separate. Set aside to cool.
- Measure 1 cup of buttermilk and place it in the freezer while prepping other ingredients (you want it to be in the freezer for about 15 minutes).
- Place butter in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with a paper towel and heat on high for 40 seconds. If not completely melted, return to microwave for 10-second intervals till melted. Set aside to cool.
- For the cinnamon swirl, stir together cinnamon and sugar. Add the 1 tablespoon melted butter and water. Stir until combined. The mixture will be the consistency of wet sand. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add raisins and stir to coat.
- After the buttermilk has been chilled in the freezer for 10 minutes, combine it with the 8 tablespoons of melted butter (step 4). Stir with a fork until butter forms small clumps or globules. (See picture in the post.)
- Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with a silicon spatula or wooden spoon just until all flour is incorporated. The dough will be fairly stiff.
- Scatter the cinnamon sugar mixture over the top and, with a rubber spatula fold the dough from the bottom of the bowl over the cinnamon/sugar mixture on the top. Repeat. Don't stir the dough, just fold it 3-4 times until it's incorporated in the dough in ribbons. You want the cinnamon/sugar mixture mixed into the dough, but it should be in raggedy ribbons throughout the dough.
- Scoop dough up into 8 (or 12 for smaller biscuits) mounds on the prepared sheet pan. (I like to use a retractable ice cream scoop for this.)
- Adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven and heat the temp to 400°F.
- While the oven is preheating, place the sheet pan in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. (This will keep the biscuits from spreading out too much in the oven.)
- Bake until tops are light golden brown and crisp, 14 to 18 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool, then drizzle with icing.
For the icing:
- Combine powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and vanilla and whisk together until smooth. The mixture should be thick, but pourable. If too thick, add a little more milk.
- Drizzle over biscuits in the desired amount.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Last week I made Chicken and biscuits for my sons birthday...his choice. I had some biscuit dough left over so I portioned it out and put it in the freezer. When frozen I put them all in a zip lock and put them back in the freezer. This week I would take 2 out and pop them in the air fryer for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. They were delicious. Looking over your biscuit recipes today I saw your melted butter and cold milk method and decided to try it. What a game changer!! No food processor to clean just one bowl and one cup. They are in the freezer now and I suspect they will be just as good, if not better, than the ones made with the food processor. Thank you for all of your great recipes.
That's great, Jean! Yes, this recipe is a game changer!
For the icing can i just use 1/4 cup of sugar instead of 1 cup
Hi Abby, it would be very thin. You could just leave it off if you don't want icing.
I'm looking forward to making your Cinnamon Raisin biscuits.
I think, for the holidays it might be nice to substitute using cranberries, zest of orange, and maybe just a bit of orange extract added to the batter.
I think I could get a little crazy using all kind of different dried fruits, nuts, and different flavored extracts, for a variety of biscuits to serve, or to give as gifts!
Great idea, Julie! Enjoy!
I tried soaking the raisins in bourbon, the taste was delicious.
Yum! Sounds delicious, Barbara!
Delicious. Unfortunately, I made 3 different batches and they all spread pretty significantly despite 15 min refrigeration prior to baking. Help!?
Hi Kim, I'm sorry you had trouble with these scones. Scones can be a little tricky, depending on the flour (how you measure) and butter (how much water content). You might want to add a little extra flour next time.
Please disregard previous comment. I found it and it was my issues not yours . Sorry
Glad you found it, Lisa.
Do you think you can swap out the AP flour with a gluten free flour blend?
Hi Peggy, yes, I have prepared these biscuits when we've had guests who prefer to eat GF and the recipe works well. Actually all of our biscuit and scone recipes work well with AP GF flour!
These were delicious. I was distracted and the prepared batter sat on the counter for 2 hours. Scooped and baked them anyway, without the frig. suggestion. They didn't spread too much. But... the best part was some of the cinnamon-sugar mixture oozed out and made a nice crispy brown sugar "skirt". All of the recipes using the "butter clumps" method have been divine.
Thanks for letting us know, Anna Marie!
They were excellent - couldn’t stop eating them! Thanks for sharing.
I'm so glad! Thanks, Carolyn!
The biscuits were delicious. Whoever came up with pouring melted butter into cold buttermilk is genius.
Yay! So happy you enjoyed them, Bob!
I haven't made these yet, but they're in the queue! My comment is a suggestion you might like to try: for a subtle flavor boost, you can soak your raisins in not just boiling water, but in strong earl gray tea! It's lovely in scones / sweet biscuits.
That sounds wonderful, thanks Margo!
Just made these and very tasty but mine did spread out. Not sure why.
Hi Claire, the only thing I can think of is that the biscuits got too warm before baking. You have to work fairly quickly or just refrigerate them for a stint before baking.
Mine also spread out quite a bit. The buttermilk-butter mixture was COLD, I did not take overly long mixing up everything, and put in the fridge for the specified time before baking. I do not live in the UK, but would add more flour if I make these again. Another drop biscuit recipe I saw uses 3 cups flour for a cup of buttermilk and stick of butter. That is the same as rolled-cut biscuit recipes I have seen, so I would probably go somewhere in between.
It also needs more raisins. I used closer to 1/2 C, but would prefer more.
Lastly, I started with 1 Tablespoon of milk in the icing, thinking to add more as I mixed for proper consistency, but it was plenty, almost too runny even for thoroughly cooled biscuits.
Thanks for sharing your results, Momcat.
I love this SIMPLE idea of putting melted butter into the buttermilk.So much EASIER than using hard butter to incorporate into the flour mixture! Thank YOU! It’s genius! Now if you can come up with a simple recipe on this order for making pie crust.....would absolutely love that too!
Thanks so much, Rita! I love this technique too! It would be nice if this technique worked for pie crust, however, since there's not much liquid it's not possible. If I discover a super easy technique though, I will be sure to share it!
I don't think you can title this "Ridiculously easy" because there is a book on all the (13)steps to take to make these. I made a batch using a recipe with only 3 steps.
Haha! You're right, Shane there are 13 steps. I write a lot to ensure that my readers have success. I could have probably have written up this recipe with a lot fewer steps but I don't want those who make these biscuits to stumble over something I could have easily explained.
And compared to regular biscuits, they are truly ridiculously easy! If you check out the comments you'll see what I mean, many others agree.
Mine totally spread out too. Followed directions exactly so can’t figure out what went wrong.
Hmmm, I'm not sure why this happened. I'm going to re-visit the recipe and see if I can figure it out.
Mine did not spread. I did add the quarter cup flour u suggested for UK!. I did pop them in the fridge for 15 mins as oven heated. Delicious!! Thanks for a fab recipe and such good hints xx
Thanks so much, Bev, for sharing your results! So happy you enjoyed them!
Mine did not spread out x I did add the quarter cup of flour on like you suggested (as am in UK). I did put them in fridge for 15 mins while oven heated , like you said. Oh what utter bliss ! Absolutely delicious!! Thank you so much! So easy!
Thanks, Bev!
I cannot wait to try these Chris! I love anything with cinnamon and raisins! Such a great little breakfast treat!
What a neat idea for the butter 'globules'! Your biscuits look ridiculously delicious,took Chris 😉
I'm all about ridiculously easy and these look so delicious! Wonderful to enjoy any time of day, too 🙂 Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I'm confused. Melted butter is mentioned in both step 5 and step 7.
Hi Laura, there is melted butter in both the biscuit dough and also a tablespoon in the cinnamon swirl. I've tried to make that a little more clear in the recipe. Thanks for pointing that out.
I love your recipes and have made SO many of them witn high compliments.
I just made these today and followed the directions exactly.
Half of them spread out almost like a cookie...any idea what I did wrong.
Thanks for all your amazing recipes!
Kathryn
Hmm... I'm not sure exactly what could have gone wrong, Kathryn. These biscuits will spread out a bit (more than rolled biscuits) but shouldn't look like cookies. The only thing I can think of is that the dough got too warm before baking and the little butter globules softened too much.
What a delicious treat these would be - and I don't want to wait for company to try them! Great recipe Chris - pinning!
Cinnamon bun and biscuit are two of my favourites! This is perfect for the holidays or any day!
Could you use fresh apple cubes in place of raisins and could you add nuts?
Yes, apples and nuts would be wonderful. But since they only bake for about 18 minutes (or less), I would not use a super firm apple. Maybe something like a golden delicious.
I made a cobbler topping using this same biscuit technique! They were so tender and flaky. I know your biscuits will turn out perfectly!
Hi Chris,
These do look ridiculously easy but you make everything look so easy.
Wondering if it would be possible to sub the raisins with something else such as blueberries or dried apricots maybe? Raisins aren't as popular in our house but I love the concept of these biscuits.
Any dried fruit would be wonderful in these Xena! I think apricot sounds delicious as does dried blueberries!