About 1882, Henry Schust, a Swiss immigrant, purchased a neighborhood bakery on Lapeer Street. By the early twentieth century, the business had grown tremendously. Schust, along with his three sons, Edward, Henry and Frederick, marketed the firm’s products throughout the state. While specializing in biscuits – a term for crackers, the company made many other products including candy.
In 1914, the Schust Company had a new factory constructed on Michigan Avenue. Articles describe the company as embracing, “Mass production on a scale comparable to the methods of an automobile factory.” In 1930, the company became part of the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company. Loose-Wiles changed its name to Sunshine Biscuits in 1946. Members of the Schust family remained active in the management of Loose-Wiles Biscuit and continued after the name change. The Sunshine name is a reference to the design of the chain’s original plant. It featured large expanses of windows. In the early twentieth century, daylight was equated with cleanliness and wholesome working conditions - and suggested safe, pure food. The Schust’s 1914 bakery was designed by the Saginaw firm of Cowles and Mutscheller and featured similar expanses of windows.
In 1937 the paper reported:
“Animal crackers at the rate of 2,2601,600 each eight-hour day are made to delight the children at the Schust bakery of the Loose-Wiles Biscuit company – and it is only one of the several major lines of biscuits baked in Saginaw’s largest such plan[t].
The Schust bakery manufactures 190 kinds of biscuits. Biscuits, cookies and crackers are made in various periods, an eight-hour run seldom being made on the same type.” The Saginaw News, April 17, 1937.
According to the Saginaw News, “During the war [World War II]. Sunshine products were a stock item in military ration kits and the firm stands ready to serve the nation at any time with speeded facilities, increased personnel and a stand-by production system convertible almost instantly to such service.” The Saginaw News, July 2, 1961.
The same article noted: “Enough Krispy Crackers are produced every day at the Sunshine Biscuit Company at the foot of Congress Street to reach from here to the metropolis [Chicago] on the shore of Lake Michigan.”
Sunshine Biscuits thrived into the 1960s.
“The nearly 300 employees of the Sunshine Biscuits Inc. learned Wednesday that the company’s plant at 405 Congress in Saginaw will be phased out of operation by the end of the year.
A Sunshine spokesman, who noted that sales and distribution operations will continue unaffected, said ‘the company stated its regrets that economic factors arising from geographic location and the now obsolete (1914) multistoried Sunshine Biscuits building in Saginaw prompted the decision to discontinue manufacturing activities. In recent years bakery production at the Saginaw plant has been limited.’” The Saginaw News, August 1, 1968.
After the plant closed, the building was purchased by Art Sample Furniture. In February 1970 they announced that they had moved their store from North Washington Avenue to the former Sunshine Biscuit Building.
The Recipe: Sunshine Golden Raisin Biscuits (An Interpretation)
In preparing this week's recipe post, the Castle Test Kitchen decided to go on the hunt for another Schust/Sunshine recipe to compete with our epic Schust's Graham Roll episode. What we found was a cult following for something known as "Golden Raisin Biscuits"--a thin, crisp, fruity cookie that was discontinued after the Keebler Company purchased Sunshine Biscuits in 1996. Those elves have no taste!
While we don't have the actual Sunshine Biscuits recipe, we do have a variety of recipes from beloved fans internet-wide who desperately miss this delightful cookie of their youth and have tried to recreate it. This was the best version we found, from theMondayBox.com --and we think you'll like it too.
Ingredients:
1 C. all-purpose flour
3 T. confectioner's sugar
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
6 T. unsalted butter (cold)
3 T orange juice
1-2 T. ice water
1 1/2 C. raisins (golden, black, or currants)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Directions:
Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.
Chop the cold butter into small chunks and distribute over the dry ingredients in the food processor. Pulse until the butter is worked into the flour mixture and the dough is crumbly.
Add the orange juice and pulse just until the dough comes together in a ball. If the dough appears dry and doesn’t hold together, add ice water (1 tablespoon at a time) until a soft, cohesive dough is achieved. (The CTK did not need to add any additional water).
Divide the dough in into two disc shapes, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.
Place the raisins into the food processor bowl. It is not necessary to wash it after making the dough. Pulse just until the raisins are chopped.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350° F.
Cut two sheets of parchment the size of a large baking sheet. Place one of the pre-cut sheets of parchment on the counter. Dust lightly with flour.*
Place one piece of dough on the parchment and roll it out into a thin (⅛”) rectangle approximately 8”x12”.
Lightly brush the dough surface with the beaten egg glaze, then spread half of the chopped raisins (¾ cup) onto half of the dough sheet down the long side of the rectangle. Cover the raisins with a piece of wax paper and press gently into the dough.**
Lift one side of the parchment to help fold the empty half of the dough sheet over the raisins. Roll out the layers of dough again into a rectangle about 6”x15”. Some raisins will show through the top of the dough.
Brush the surface with the beaten egg glaze.
Use a pizza wheel to make straight edges and cut into rectangular biscuits or squares about 2”x2”. All edges and rectangles can be left in place for baking. The cookies expand minimally and can be separated after baking.
Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet.
Repeat the process with the remaining dough and raisin filling.*
Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. If baking both pans at once, rotate the pans after 8 minutes.
Cookies can cool completely on the baking sheet, or the parchment can be slid onto a counter for cooling.
When the cookies have cooled completely, break apart into individual biscuits and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
Notes:
*At the climax of the recipe the CTK found that it was out of parchment paper. We substituted in wax paper (which we always seem to have an overabundance of, despite the fact we rarely use it) for the parchment for the purposes of rolling, pressing in the raisins, and transferring to a baking sheet. We wanted to remind our fans, however, to NEVER bake on wax paper. It is not heatproof and can catch fire.
**After the parchment paper debacle, the CTK was flustered and forgot the egg wash on the first round of biscuits. We corrected ourselves on the second half of the dough. The non-egg washed biscuits were still delicious, but lacked the luster of egg wash. We experimented by sprinkling some decorative sugar on some of the egg-washed biscuits, as well. All were addictively delicious.
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