Garibaldi slice

The first time I ever heard of Garibaldi cookies was many, many years ago, on my dear friend Valentina’s blog – I wasn’t very fond of raisins then, I thought the cookies looked good but I never considered the idea of actually making them.

Through the years I learned to like raisins, then I tried dried currants for the first time eating scones in London (with loads of clotted cream – the thought of it makes me drool already) and now I love using them in cookies (these are my favorite cookies with raisins) and even in bread.

When I saw this Garibaldi slice on one of the most beautiful cookbooks I own I could not resist: the recipe calls for dried currants, raisins and golden raisins (sultanas) and they are cooked in sherry before becoming the filling for the bars – I had to make them! The bars turned out delicious and they are a treat for those of us who like raisins.

Off topic: as I browsed Amazon to get the link for the cookbook I saw that they have cast Diego Luna to play Casanova – that is wrong in so many ways words fail me.

Garibaldi slice
from The Baking Collection (The Australian Women's Weekly)

Pastry:
300g all purpose flour
75g granulated sugar
pinch of salt
180g unsalted butter, cold and diced
2 egg yolks
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon iced water

Filling:
240g dried currants
80g sultanas
75g raisins
½ cup (120ml) water
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 egg, lightly beaten with a fork, for brushing the pastry
2 tablespoons granulated sugar, for sprinkling the pastry

Pastry: place flour, sugar and salt in the food processor and pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg yolks, vanilla and water and pulse until a dough starts to form (add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, if necessary). Form dough into a ball, divide in two equal parts and wrap in cling film. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Filling: in a medium saucepan, combine currants, sultanas, raisins, water and sherry. Stir over low heat for 8-10 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and fruit is soft. Transfer to the food processor and blend until creamy. Cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20x30cm baking pan, line with foil leaving an overhang on two opposite sides and butter the foil as well.

Roll one portion of the pastry between two pieces of baking paper, flouring it a little if necessary (don’t use too much flour or the pastry will dry out) until it is large enough to line the base of the baking pan. Transfer pastry to the pan and trim to fit. Prick pastry all over with a fork, then spread with the fruit filling. Roll the other portion of pastry until large enough to cover fruit filling, place on top of it and trim to fit. Press down to enclose the filling. Wish a sharp knife, cut the top layer into 24 rectangles. Prick the pastry all over with a fork, brush it with the beaten egg and sprinkle with the extra sugar. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack, then cut into slices using the cuts previously as a guide.

Makes 24