Description
Rusks are a winter treat. These are a South African staple. Hard, crunchy, nutty biscuits great for dunking in a mug of tea or coffee anytime of the day. They are my favourite breakfast (cheat!). However, being a gluten intolerant person finding a tasty rusk on the shelves of the health stores or supermarket poses a problem. They all taste very bland. This recipe was given to me by my second cousin Anne Donovan many years ago and I have fiddled around with it over the years. I now have a perfect gluten free version adapted from the original.
Ingredients
Scale
- 500g melted salted butter
- 1kg flour – I used 500g rice flour and 500g potato flour
- 10ml salt
- 300g brown sugar
- 125ml psyllium husk
- 700ml oats
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 10 teaspoons baking powder
- 10ml xanthan gum
- 1 cup sunflower seeds
- 60g desiccated coconut
- 3 eggs
- 250g natural yogurt
- 500ml buttermilk
- 250ml dried cranberries – any dried fruit can be added to give different flavours
- 250ml cashew nuts roughly chopped – any nuts can be added to give a different flavour
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180 degrees.
- The method is very simple – simply add all the ingredients together and mix thoroughly. As it is such a large volume of ingredients the mixing is best done is a very large bowl and it can take a while to get all the flour incorporated. Add the buttermilk slowly as you may not need it all if the mix come together. It should be a thick dough, not too wet. If your mix is too dry after adding all the wet ingredients, simply add a little more yogurt.
- Press the dough into baking tins, it will fill about three tins to a height of about 5cm. Press down firmly.
- Bake in the oven till brown,
- When cooked allow to cool and then cut into the size rusk you desire. Place these onto trays and allow to dry out in a cool oven or warmer draw, approx. 50 degrees for about six hours! They should be hard and dry.
- Store in an airtight container for up to three months.
Notes
Adapt to a non GF vision using normal flour and omitting the Xanthan gum.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 6 hours