Rusks are a big South African favourite, as much a cornerstone of our food culture as evening braais and malva pudding. At least in Western Cape towns like my hometown, Oudtshoorn!
Most of us enjoy them with a morning cup of coffee or tea, but they’re also popular at tea time, or as a snack when you’re running empty between meals.
The most popular South African rusk is simple buttermilk rusks. But these can be a little plain, and they’re not the healthiest. So our muesli rusks are the perfect alternative. They also use buttermilk, but it’s accompanied by honey, oats, seeds and nuts, making for a healthy, flavourful little coffee-dipper!
How to make rusks
Most people just buy rusks from the shops – but these are almost always made with oil rather than butter, and often mass-produced. If you do want to buy rusk, I’d highly recommend buying them from a farm stall or local goods store, as these will be homemade – and much better.
If you’re making them yourself, the only thing you need to know beforehand is the double-baking. First, you bake your rusks like any other cake or loaf. Then, when it’s cooled down, you cut it into fingers, spread it out on a bigger tray, and bake it again! This time for four to eight hours.
Everything else about baking rusks is easy – I don’t even use a measuring cup, just a normal mug! I also change it up every time, and it’s hard to fail.
Quick history of rusks in South Africa
South African rusks are originally Afrikaans, and come from our country’s colonial Dutch heritage. The Afrikaans word for rusks is beskuit, adopted from French biscuit which means twice baked! Rusks have been helpful for generations as a hardy, long-lasting food, often made with little more than flour and water. They came in very handy for long sailing expeditions and wagon trails.
Healthy muesli rusks recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups flour I use half white cake flour and half whole wheat or nutty wheat
- 4 tsp baking powder You can also use self-raising flour instead, but then you need to add baking powder for every cup of wheat flour you use
- 1 ½ cups oats
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup honey If you want a more honeyed flavour you can replace some of the sugar
- 1 cup cranberries I don’t like raisins and I find cranberries add a sharper, nicer flavour, but raisins are also a good option here!
- 1 cup seeds and nuts I usually add sunflower seeds, almonds, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds, but these are really up to what you love
- 125 ml coconut Also optional but it’s a lovely addition
- 250 ml buttermilk My mom often replaces this with half yoghurt half milk; this will produce a slightly different flavour, but it works great
- 125 gr butter melted
- 2 large free-range eggs
- ⅓ cup sunflower oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
- Line a baking dish of approximately 25cm x 30cm with baking paper