Luxury Nutty Crunch Rusks
Coffee and rusks, anyone?
Vegan rusks are hard to find. Generally, store-bought rusks have dairy or other non-vegan additives. Therefore, without doubt, it’s best to bake your own. These rusks make wonderful last minute Christmas gifts. If you’re looking for a stocking filler or a gift for someone who has everything, then you can’t go wrong with these delicious, luxury crunchy rusks.
These rusks are super easy to make, so baking them is a great activity to get the kids involved in; you, simply, mix everything together and bake them. However, rusks take time to bake because you have to dehydrate them in a cool oven for 4 (or more) hours; so give yourself time to bake them - it’s often best to make them late in the day and then leave them in the oven overnight.
Once you’ve made these rusks, however, they “keep” really well (2-3 months) in an airtight container and 2-3 weeks in a box.
This recipe is packed with goodness and crunch, lots of nuts, raisins, oats, bran and coconut. I’ve used all purpose flour but you can use wholewheat if you prefer. The recipe yields 24 medium-sized rusks.
🍪 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪
🌱🌿🌱🌿🌱🥜🌿🌱🥜🌱🌿🥜🌱🌿🌱🥜🥜🎄🎅🌱🌿🎄
Ingredients
½ cup maple syrup (make sure it’s vegan; check the ingredients and method of production)
¾ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons margarine (vegan)
3 cups of flour
1 cup bran flakes
1 cup oats
1 teaspoon flax seed powder
¾ cup raisin and peanut mix (use a regular packet of salted peanuts and raisins) 🥜
¼ cup cashew nuts
1 cup dessicated coconut
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
½ teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
1 teaspoon baking powder
Method
Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add oats, sugar, coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg, flax seed powder, baking powder, baking soda and cream of tartar.
Crush the bran with the back of a fork and add.
Pulse the nuts in a blender to break them up (slightly)(it’s fine if there are a few whole nuts still in the mix), add the raisins and nuts to the mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl add the maple syrup, water, oil, vanilla essence. Leave this combination to diffuse for about 10 minutes.
Melt the margarine (in a saucepan) and add to the syrup mixture.
Add the syrup mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Spread the mixture, evenly, over a greased oven baking tray.
Bake for 45-50 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or until lightly golden (and a toothpick inserted into the rusks comes out clean.)
Cool for 5 minutes in the tray. Score and cut (use a sharp knife), into squares.
Place the rusks on an oven rack and dehydrate in the oven for 4-5 hours at 100 degrees Celsius. Leave the oven door slightly ajar.
Cool completely then store in an airtight container (sealed tin or mason jar)
If you use a pretty glass jar and tie a ribbon 🎀 around the top, a few of these rusk will be a delightful gift.
All images are mine, shot using my iPad and manipulated using ArtStudio
Christmas stickers added to the feature images are from Pixabay