Hello!! It’s good to be back 🙂
I’ve had a few very busy months, but among other things, we finally made it to Canada to visit my sister! What a wonderful trip, amazing country and wonderful family reunion it was, really the holiday of a life-time for us! I will share some photos soon.
Today, though, I’m sharing a recipe to make before you go camping – the nicest, easiest recipe for Healthy Rusks, which make the best breakfast when camping.
Imagine sitting around your early morning camp fire, watching the day come to life, with a cup of freshly brewed coffee in your hand. Now make that image even better and think of having one of these rusks to dunk in that coffee!
Oh my – now I’ve set off a dual craving in me – for camping AND rusks with coffee!!
Rusks are usually hard work – these are not. They are stirred together, baked in a large pan, sliced into ‘fingers’ and dried out. Couldn’t be easier, people!!
But enough chat – on to the recipe:
Healthy Rusks
Ingredients
- 4 cups of whole wheat flour
- 2 cups of self-raising flour
- 2 cups of brown sugar (I like to use 1 cup dark, and 1 cup light)
- 3 cups of bran flakes
- 1 cup of rolled oats
- 1/2 cup coconut
- 1 cup of nuts – your choice, try mixed or even roasted peanuts
- 1/2 mixed seeds – sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, poppy, again, your choice
- 1 cup of dried fruit – raisins, or fruit cake mix, or chopped dried apricots, or even dried cranberries
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
- 250 grams of butter, melted
- 500 mls buttermilk or plain yoghurt
- milk, if needed
Method
- Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl
- Stir in the melted butter, blending well
- Add the buttermilk/yoghurt and mix very well to make a soft dough
- If the mix seems dry, add a little milk
- Keep mixing to make sure there are no dry patches of flour
- Tip the whole mixture into a well-greased deep-sided baking tray (I use my oven’s grill tray)
- Bake at 180⁰C until golden brown and skewer inserted into the rusks comes out clean
- Remove rom the oven and allow to cool a little
- Turn out onto a cooling rack, and allow to cool completely
- Slice into fingers (as in my photo), or how ever you wish – just make them a good shape for dunking!
- Lay the rusks out onto large baking sheets, leaving a gap between each one for air to circulate
- Place the trays in a cool oven and prop the door open slightly with a tea towel
- Dry out for several hours, or overnight, until the rusks are crisp and dry
- Turn off the heat and leave the rusks to cool in the oven
- Pack the cold rusks into air tight containers
- Make some coffee and
- Enjoy!!
I can’t claim this recipe as entirely my own, but I’ve tweaked it so much over the years that it feels like mine. Sadly, I have no record of the blog it originally came from, so can’t even pass on credit. If it seems familiar to you, let me know!
Til next time, happy camping…