You can call these tea-time treats ‘Rusks’, but if you want to be accurate, you should really call them Beskuit.  Looks a little bit like biscuit, doesn’t it, but they aren’t biscuits.  Biscotti?  Almost, but not quite.  Beskuit is a South African treat that will make even the most manly Boer’s knees go a little bit weak.  They are slightly cakey, slightly bready and completly hard – a little bit like Terry Pratchett’s dwarf bread but way more tasty.  Sort of like Hobnobs, but bigger and way more healthy.

They are traditionally dipped in a cup of steaming coffee (or tea if you must) before being gobbled up.  And there is a bit of an art to dunking beskuit.  If you dip it too long, it breaks and you end up with clumps of soggy crumbs in the bottom of your cup.  If you don’t dip it long enough it will be too hard to eat comfortably.

You have to dip it just so…ever so gently… and when you bite into it, it should be soft around the outside (not soggy) and just a little firm on the inside (not hard).  And if, at the end of your cuppa, you get up with nary a crumb on your lap, well, then you simply haven’t done it right!

I’m afraid no amount of lip-service will do this treat justice, so you are just going to have to make it and see what you think…

If you would rather have the recipe in Afrikaans, you can find it here.

Buttermilk Rusks Recipe

{Karringmelk Beskuit Resep}

Makes 36 rusks

These rusks take an hour to prepare and bake.  They take 6 hours to dry out (in a cool oven).

Ingredients

• 500 g self-raising flour
• 2 ml salt
• 125 ml butter/margarine
• 250 ml bran
• 125 ml currants (or any other seedless raisins – but currants taste best!)
• 100 ml sugar
• 1 large egg, whisked with a fork
• 250 ml buttermilk (you can also use a cup of milk soured by adding 1 tsp of vinegar/lemon juice and left for a few minutes)

 Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C
2. Sift flour and salt together and then rub the butter/margarine into the mixture with the tips of your fingers.
3. Add the bran and the raisins and mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and sugar until pale and fluffy and then add the buttermilk
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix to form a dough.  The dough should still be slightly sticky, but you should be able to handle it with relative ease.  If it is too sticky to handle, add a little bit more flour.  If it is too dry, add a drop or two of water.
6. Now pinch off little balls of dough, about the size of an egg, and roll them between your your hands until they resemble eggs in shape as well as size.
7. Place these dough balls in a 20 cm square baking pan/brownie pan, making sure to place them quite close together.  They need to snuggle a bit.
8. Bake at 180°C for 40 minutes.
9. When done, turn the knobbly loaf out on a wire cooling rack and leave to cool.
10. When completely cool, break the rusks apart and dry in a 75°C oven for about 6 hours.

Stored in an airtight container, these rusks will last far longer than it will take you to devour them;  months, I should think, but I’ve never been able to keep them that long, so don’t take my word for it.

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