I love rusks especially Ouma rusks. It reminds me of late nights at the shop with my father in winter. He would often crack open a box of buttermilk ones and we would dunk it in tea together while cashing up.

This recipe is my sister’s and she would make it often during my teenage years. I’m not sure where she got it from but I made it for the first time back in 2012 and would later evolve the recipe to make it sugar-free.

Ingredients

4 cups of flour

4 tsp baking powder

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 cups of xylitol/sugar

4 cups of crushed All Bran Flakes

100 g raisins (optional)

1 tsp salt

500 g butter

2 eggs (optional)

1/2 cup oil

500 ml milk mixed with 2 tbsp lemon juice/500 ml buttermilk

Method

1. In a bowl, mix the lemon juice and milk and let it stand for 5 minutes.

2. In a very big bowl sift flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt and rub in butter and sugar.

3. Add crushed All bran flakes and raisins to the dry mixture.

4. With a whisk, mix together eggs, milk and lemon juice (should resemble buttermilk), and oil.

5. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. With a spoon mix well.

6. Pour the dough in a deep sheet pan. I usually use a roasting pan and it comes out perfect.

7. With a floured knife mark the size of the rusks in the dough.

8. Bake for 45 minutes in a 180 degree oven.

9. Remove and cool completely before cutting the rusks that you marked earlier.

10. Separate and dry out in a warm oven overnight or for 8 hours at 80 degrees.